My most recent book review: Calling Out to You by Tehilla Edelman

Last week, The Jewish Home L.A. published my book review of Tehilla Edelman’s new anthology about depression and anxiety disorders in the Orthodox world, Calling Out to You.

Here’s the review.

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Calling Out to You

Not only is the book an amazing resource for observant Jews with mental illness, but it’s also essential reading for their rabbis, principals, therapists, family, and friends. The format is innovative as it contains not only articles about treating depression, OCD, and the like, but also poems and narratives written by patients themselves. Highly recommended.

Novelization of Glixman in a Fix: contract signed, book IY”H due out next year

For a while now, I’ve been sitting on a little morsel of news, because I’m exceedingly paranoid about the evil eye (embarrassing, but true): I’ve signed a contract with Menucha Publishers for the novelization of Glixman in a Fix, my serial from Binah BeTween.

This morning, I received the list of changes the editor would like to see in the novelization. The list is totally reasonable, and mostly consists of changes I suggested in the first place, mostly fixing loose ends I dropped and introducing an idea earlier in the text so that it’s less surprising when it pops up near the end.

For some reason, I feel short of breath and ill to the stomach, like I’m about 5 minutes away from a panic attack. I’m not sure if it’s excitement or fear of failure triggering my parasympathetic nervous system. I’m pretty sure I’m experiencing both.

Assuming I complete the changes and everything else (editing, book design, proofreading, etc.) runs on schedule, the book will – G-d willing! – be published next summer-ish. You’ll get updates on all breaking news as the situation develops. 😉

I’m on a mission from G-d. (Only half joking, folks.)

Another writing gig landed at my feet, and it connects to the theme of the last article I published: female leadership in the Orthodox community. Meanwhile, half the things I’ve read in the last couple weeks seem to touch on the topic of leadership. I feel like G-d is sending me a little message: WRITE ABOUT THIS.

I wrote about feminism in the Jewish context a while back, in the form of a personal essay. I’ve wanted to write more about the particular spin I have on feminism for a while – a spin that has made me unpopular with some readers and a bit of a heroine with others. Unfortunately, Continue reading

Writing about women’s leadership and education in my synagogue in today’s Jewish Home L.A.

That article I mentioned in a recent post appears in this week’s edition of The Jewish Home – L.A. If you want to read it, click here for a link to an online version.

I’ve got another interview for another article lined up. I’m a bit nervous because I’ll be interviewing someone who I admire and who is a bit of a celebrity in the English-speaking Orthodox world.

It’s a good thing I’ve got that gig lined up, too. I’m definitely still struggling to write fiction. My brain is deep in the Fall Fuzzies.

Writing lesson: Do your interview and only then decide what kind of article you’re writing

As I mentioned in a post a few days ago, I pitched a short feature to a magazine and had it accepted. It required some interviews. I did three of them this week, and then sat down to write.

When I originally conceived the article, it was to promote a program in the “Happenings” section of the local Jewish paper. But as I read over the notes I’d taken, I realized the content of the interviews had a deeper significance than the simple 5 Ws and an H about the event. Continue reading