Analysis: My first writing workshop for adults

May 26, 2014beccakinla authors, teachers, writer, writing, writing groups, writing process Tags: book, california, coaching, crash course, creative, hobby, how to, jewish, juvenile, kid, kid lit, Klempner, learn, learning, magazine, middle grade, picture book, skill, teen, training, tween, workshop, write, writer, writing, writing workshops Leave a comment

Along with writing and editing, I’ve coached writers one-on-one off-and-on for the last couple years. I’ve presented writing workshops and made author visits to groups even longer than that, but those groups always consisted of school children. Yesterday, for the first time, I combined the two and taught a writing workshop for fledgling writers aged 15 and up. Actual grown-ups attended!

The Crash Course

Since my greatest area of expertise is writing for tots, tweens, and teens, I decided to offer a three-hour crash course in writing for those groups. My husband agreed to whisk away the kids who weren’t in school (some Jewish day school kids attend on Sunday mornings), and I prepared materials and advertised.

Overtime

I thought three hours would be enough, I really did. Continue reading →

You’ve got to be a reader to raise a reader: My take on recent research on teens and reading

May 14, 2014beccakinla advice, literacy, parenting, reading, recommended reading, teachers, teens Tags: adolescents, advice, book, common sense media, habit, kids, kids reading material, library, literacy, literature, media, parenting, reading, reading habits, teaching, teens Leave a comment

Common Sense Media recently issued a report about kids and teens and their reading habits. The four principal findings (I’m going to quote CSN directly) were these:

Reading rates have dropped precipitously among adolescents.
Reading achievement among older teens has stagnated.
There’s a persistent gap in reading scores between white, black, and Latino kids.
There’s also a gender gap in reading across ages.

The NY Times and NPR are both aghast at the findings, but their responses focused more on the problem — and how it has arisen — than on solutions. Common Sense Media itself has offered several strategies to increase reading, but I’m going to suggest my own. Continue reading →

Take 2 Books and Call Me in the Morning: British docs prescribe books for patients

December 22, 2013December 22, 2013beccakinla parenting, parents, personal safety, reading, recommended reading, research, students, teachers Tags: alternative, anxiety, benefit, book, books, britain, british, depression, docs, doctor, doctors, eating disorder, england, general practitioner, gp, health, library, mental health, mood, patient, prescribe, prescription, psychologist, psychology, read, reading, recommend, recommended reading program, relationship, research, shrink, social worker, therapist, therapy, uk, united kingdom, wales 1 Comment

Therapeutic reading?

Imagine popping a couple chapters of a book instead of two of these.

Newspapers are reporting that doctors in the United Kingdom will be prescribing self-help and health books as reading material for those suffering from a variety of mild-to-moderate mental ailments, such as mild depression, anxiety and panic attacks. The CEO of the British charity the Reading Agency, Miranda McKearney, explained in an article in The Guardian, “There is a growing evidence base that shows that self-help reading can help people with certain mental health conditions to get better.”

Wales has already started the recommended reading program, with England scheduled to start in a few months. Continue reading →

It’s less than 3 weeks ’til Shavuot and it’s been 5 years of Raizy!

April 24, 2013October 3, 2013beccakinla A Dozen Daisies for Raizy, author visit, authors, shavuos, Shavuot, teachers Tags: a dozen daisies for raizy, art project, books, classroom, day school, hachai, hebrew school, holiday, jew, jewish, judaism, lesson plan, librarian, library, literature, picture book, projects, raizy, rebecca klempner, school, shavuos, shavuot, teaching, writing 1 Comment

It’s the 5th anniversary of my picture book about Shavuos, A Dozen Daisies for Raizy, and I’d like to learn from teachers and librarians what activities they’ve used with the book and how their kids have responded to it. If you have pix of art projects or the like, that’s even better!

You can respond to me in the comments below or privately at beccaklempner@gmail.com.

Who’s talking? POV, Voice, and Narrator as explained in Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird

January 10, 2013beccakinla advice, authors, fiction, finding agent, finish that novel, literature, publishing, recommended reading, review, reviews, style, submissions, teachers, writer, writing, writing process Tags: advice, Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird, character, Ethan Canin, first person, Lamott, learning, Lisa Yee, literature, narrator, novel, point of view, POV, third person, voice, writer, writing, writing process 5 Comments

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 never taken Calculus, I’ve felt like a slacker because I never got around to reading it.

And I should have felt guilty–because it’s great.

Okay, so it has a lot of rather vulgar language, but Lamott’s writing is so funny, and yet so useful, that I’m pretty much in love with the book.

One of the interesting bits of advice that Lamott gives writers is a gem she attributes to the author Ethan Canin. The most important way to improve your writing, he says, is to employ a likeable narrator.

Here’s the thing that struck me about this advice: for many, many years, I always wrote in third person. Continue reading →

Pasedena AJL Conference Info Up on the Web!

March 26, 2012beccakinla AJL, association of jewish libraries, authors, books, conferences, Jewish, june 2012, librarians, library, pasadena, teachers Leave a comment

Schedules and registration forms for the upcoming Association of Jewish Libraries Conference in Pasedena June 17-20, 2012 is now up on the AJL website. This is a great opportunity for Jewish book lovers to share their knowledge and experience.

http://www.jewishlibraries.org/main/Events.aspx

Rebecca Klempner

Author page of Rebecca Klempner

teachers

Analysis: My first writing workshop for adults

The Crash Course

Overtime

You’ve got to be a reader to raise a reader: My take on recent research on teens and reading

It’s less than 3 weeks ’til Shavuot and it’s been 5 years of Raizy!

Who’s talking? POV, Voice, and Narrator as explained in Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird

Pasedena AJL Conference Info Up on the Web!

The Crash Course

Overtime

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Therapeutic reading?

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