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Preorders available now for my latest: HOW TO WELCOME AN ALIEN!

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I’m very excited to announce that my upcoming project with Kalaniot Books is now available for preorders! HOW TO WELCOME AN ALIEN will IY”H be published this fall, but preorders are available now on Amazon. It’s illustrated by Shirley Waisman and perfect for kids aged 4 – 7.

Shirley Waisman’s fabulous cover for my forthcoming book, HOW TO WELCOME AN ALIEN

This picture book would never have happened without my writing group friends: Ann Koffsky, Devorah Talia Gordon, Linda E. Marshall, Freddie Levin, Devorie Kreiman, Sarah Pachter, Shayna Horowitz, Jackie Jules, and Yehudis Litvak (that’s two sets of writing group pals!). HOW TO WELCOME AN ALIEN examines themes of hospitality, welcoming refugees, befriending lonely people, and chessed with a sci-fi twist. End matter connects the story to the tale of Abraham and Sarah welcoming three guests in the book of Genesis/Bereishis.

You can find out more about the book here: https://www.amazon.com/How-Welcome-Alien-Rebecca-Klempner/dp/B0BNVC2XHD/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1QSNY556TKKJO&keywords=how+to+welcome+an+alien&qid=1675043451&s=books&sprefix=how+to+welcome+an+alien%2Cstripbooks%2C178&sr=1-1.

Double Dose of Good News!!!

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Announcement #1:

I will be publishing a new Jewish sci-fi picture book with Kalaniot Books in the not-too-distant future. I’m feeling very blessed and can’t wait till I can share more about this book and the story of how it came to be. I will tell you this much: it took over a year of submissions before closing this deal, and I feel like it’s a message that perseverance and faith will pay off, even if it’s on God’s timeline, not ours. As soon as we have an illustrator announced, I’ll let you know.

Me, very excited after signing the book contract.

Announcement #2:

Today, Tablet is running a fun little personal essay by moi about a misadventure I had shortly before Passover. It’s about losing things, finding them, Rabbi Meir Baal HaNess, and how sometimes it’s good to lose things. You can read it here.

Adina at Her Best to Be Offered through PJ Our Way in November!

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Here’s me, looking at the PDF with the digital proof of Adina at Her Best‘s PJ Our Way edition. IY”H, the tweenage subscribers will be able to choose Adina as their free book in just a couple weeks.

My husband claims I was smiling like a Cheshire Cat. I think I look happy, not creepy.

I’ve been in a bit of a mood lately, since I’d gotten out of my writing groove over the summer and I have received a slew of rejections (or just been ghosted) recently. But the email from PJ Our Way folks containing this PDF, and some progress I’ve made on other projects the last couple days, is heartening me a bit. Hopefully, I’ll have more good news soon.

To the best of my knowledge, Adina at Her Best is the first middle grade book selected for PJ Our Way that was originally published by a Haredi press. I hope it’s not the last! [EDIT: I just found out that there have been a few of HaChai’s “Fun-to-Read” titles used for PJ Our Way, so I’m not QUITE the trailblazer I thought I was. ;)] The cover is slightly different, the end of the story has been revised. Significantly, we replaced a lot of the Jewy-ist language so people with little Jewish background will still be able to understand what’s going on, and we improved the story so it’s not a White Savior narrative (I mentioned this on the blog a while back, I think).

Share any of your book-related good news (things you’ve enjoyed reading recently, things you’ve written yourself, etc.) in the comments.

Exciting news for my fellow female Orthodox writers!

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On May 3rd and 4th, JWWS–the Jewish Women’s Writers’ Summit–will be taking place. JWWS is an online two-day event for frum women interested in all things writing, reading, publishing and networking. The seminar is now in its 10th year, its second online.  

Photo by Vlada Karpovich on Pexels.com

It includes presentations by leading names in the industry (see the schedule here), ways to book a private time with different publishers (see that here ), tons of inspiration, writing tips, networking, and valuable information. And this year I’m also presenting!

Come join this incredible event with me. You will get so much out of this unique writers’ summit–I know I will. And I’d love to see your face on my Zoom on May 3rd!

Summer Update

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I’ll hopefully post again soon (maybe with haiku!) but first a confession: I have barely written a word since my kids started summer vacation.

If I start to talk about my feelings on this topic, there will likely be tears involved, and I’m not in the mood. Perhaps I’ll post about it later.

hotrod die cast model on board

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood on Pexels.com

However, I did write something right before school was out, and it ran in Tablet Magazine last week. “Game Over” is a personal essay–a nice, short read–about playing board games on long, summertime Shabbat afternoons and how a recent losing streak revealed a bit more of my inner ugly than I would have expected. You can read it here.

The Ups and Downs of Writing Life

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I was feeling a little cranky earlier today. Okay–more than a little. I’ve hit the point in a particular revision which I’m working on when I have to start writing new material, not just tidying up what was previously written. And I found out this morning that a program which wants to reprint one of my books will be doing so *at least* another year in the future (I was informed I’d made their list a year ago). The program comes with a stipend for authors, and I would love to receive my cash sooner rather than later.

So, yeah, feeling demoralized.

Anyway, last week, I’d noticed that the sales of my first book, A Dozen Daisies for Raizy, had gone up. The book takes place on the day before the holiday of Shavuos, which I figured was boosting sales. I also tried to work a little social media muscle to make sure people knew the book was back in print and how to reach it. I decided at about noon today to check where sales are at THIS week. Continue reading →