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Who’s talking? POV, Voice, and Narrator as explained in Anne Lamott’s Bird by...
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott There are few books that come up with my writer friends more often than Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird. In the same way that I feel like I’m not quite smart enough because I’ve...
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Fans, friends, and trolls–publishing my first piece on Tablet
So, Tablet published a piece of mine this week. It’s been a crazy experience. In the first place, writing the piece was a bit out of my comfort zone. While I usually write fiction, this is a personal...
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Background on my new story: “Just Perfect” (or why I believe we all live in a...
This week, Hamodia‘s Inyan Magazine published my new short story (and it’s actually for adults!), entitled “Just Perfect.” The original version of the story was explicitly a piece of fantasy, but as I...
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Soul-bearing writing–writing personal essays that are a little too personal...
Tablet published a new piece of mine today, about the untidy family life of a person who is an Orthodox Jew with relatives who are devout Christians. The comments are busy, and no trolls have appeared...
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Helping out the illustrator, even when you don’t know who they are yet
I’ve been working on a new picture book manuscript, my first one in a while. It’s a poem that came out of experiences with my kids and with others’ and the troubles they face. I put it away for a...
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Considering my last year of literary pursuit
Since there are just two weeks left of the Jewish year of 5773, I’ve been looking back at the last year and evaluating my life on every level: spiritual, physical, and even professional. And one goal...
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My first foray into playwriting: lessons learned about writing and directing...
As I mentioned last week in passing, I spent a good chunk of time between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur preparing a play for the kids at my synagogue. The topic: the story of Jonah, which is read during...
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The Rejection Letter that’s Good for You
Yesterday, I got a rejection letter. Yes, it happens a lot. I’ve argued in the past that rejection letters are good for you, and I’ve gotten better at taking them in stride, but this one went even...
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Is poetry as we know it dead? Goldsmith speculates the “meme machine” has...
This week, The New Yorker book blog published a post by Kenneth Goldsmith about the proliferation of rather un-poetic ”poetry” spreading across the internet. He writes: [T]he Canadian media scholar...
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Soul-bearing writing–writing personal essays that are a little too personal...
Tablet published a new piece of mine today, about the untidy family life of a person who is an Orthodox Jew with relatives who are devout Christians. The comments are busy, and no trolls have appeared...
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When it rains, it pours!
I’m having a crazy week, and not just because of the upcoming Thanksgivukkah extravaganza we’re experiencing here in the U.S. My latest essay on Tablet popped up on their front page at 12 am EST. No...
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10 Great 2014 Anniversaries to Write About in the Months Ahead
Following up on a suggestion (I wish I could remember who passed along this hint!), I was scoping out historically significant anniversaries occurring in 2014 as potential topics for my writing. St....
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My latest obsession: comparing the numbers of comments to the numbers of “likes”
Okay, I’ll admit it: there are better ways to spend my time. But for some reason, I have recently become obsessed with the following question: Why do some articles get many “likes,” but few comments,...
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Conducting interviews to bring realism to your fiction
You’ll find my story “Duck and Cover” in this week’s Binyan. While I lived through the tail-end of the Cold War, I’m not old enough to have survived the Cuban Missile Crisis, the setting for my story....
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Two places to find me in time for Tu B’Shevat!
Hey, everyone. Don’t forget to eat fruits from trees on Wednesday night/Thursday in honor of Tu B’Shevat! It’s my not-so-little secret that I’m kinda obsessed with Tu B’Shevat, the minor Jewish holiday...
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When writing shifts from a hobby to a job: my new essay in Tablet
Meow. Last year, I wrote on this blog that I struggled with creating the annual Purim newsletter I co-write with my husband. Well, this year, I wrote an essay about it for Tablet. You can read it here....
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Writing for Children: not for those who want glory, fame, or big bucks
Last week’s Hamodia/Inyan Magazine had an article by one of my favorite columnists, Rabbi Fishel Schachter entitled “Guided by Tale Winds.” While today Rabbi Schachter is well-known in the Torah world...
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I Live With My Mommy: new Jewish picture book addresses life with a single...
Today, I’d like to share with you this interview with Tzvia Ehrlich-Klein, the author of the upcoming picture book I Live With My Mommy. This new, groundbreaking picture book for the first time focuses...
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Writing conundrum: Leaving behind that outline without creating problems
So, I’m back to cranking out chapters of my serial this week, and this time, I hope to do it a little faster. The quicker I finish the serial, the easier it will be for me to focus on other projects, I...
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Pesach Magazine CRAZINESS!
It looks like I’m not just in one Jewish magazine this Pesach, not in two…IY”H, I’ll be in FOUR. That’s right: You’ll find a sci-fi tale in the Hamodia Story Supplement. You’ll find another short story...
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