Klempner

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.

All sorts of great news to share

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Yes, I’ve been AWOL again. And yes, I have all the usual excuses. And I have news–lots of it!

  1. I’ve finally got a title for my new middle-grade novel, coming out, G-d willing, this fall: Adina at Her Best. Look for it in Menucha Publisher’s fall catalogue. I’m not sure that it will be out in time for Rosh Hashanah, but it should be available by Chanukah time.
  2. I finished the second draft of my first novel for adults, and I’m getting a lot of feedback from beta readers. It’s been rather harrowing — there’s lots and lots to fix. (I’ll admit to some public ugly-crying.) But hopefully this is another step pushing the book closer to completion.
  3. It might not all pay off, but two weeks ago, I sent off a picture book submission to an agent, an article submission to a Jewish magazine, and short story submission to a secular venue in a matter of four days: bam! bam! bam! The article was, thankfully, accepted, and I’m very excited. I’m very doubtful about the others–they are definite long-shots–but I’m proud of myself for pushing myself.
  4. One of my editing/coaching clients is now nearly done with the second volume in their series of picture books! They’ve been working hard for months, and I’m super-excited to see the reaction with the next book hits shelves.

I’m not getting much creative work done. It’s summer and the kids are all home from school. But I’ve been doing a bunch of editing and picked up another client for picture book coaching. Now I’ve just got to figure out how to get the mental space and time alone to revise my novel…

What are you up to this summer? Do you have more or less time for creative endeavors during the summer? And do you have any exciting news?

New Edition of Mazal’s Luck Runs Out and more

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As usual, my absence on this blog means I’ve been busy someplace else. While I’ve been getting feedback on the novel I finished a couple months back, and digesting it, I’ve been completing revisions for Menucha Publishing on the novel I wrote for NaNoWriMo. (I’ve also been brainstorming new titles — the working title was unpopular, to say the least.) G-d-willing, that book will be out later this year. And I also revised and created a new cover for my book, Mazal’s Luck Runs Out. I decided the old one wasn’t engaging enough, so I put a girl on the cover who could pass for Mazal looking right at the viewer. I think it makes a big difference. What do you think? Mazal's new cover

And, of course, there was Purim…and Pesach.

Basically, it’s been busy.

Anyway, I’ve got some goals for the next few months. Continue reading →

Where have I been?

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As usual, I have lots of good excuses for going missing on this blog. I completed my manuscript for NaNoWriMo, then immediately started work on some short stories…and THEN I started working on *another* novel, which I am hoping will hit the 50,000 word mark (G-d willing!) by the end of this week.

Many of my FB friends, family, and colleagues know I’ve been slowly shifting my writing away from venues which don’t include images of women or older girls. That means I’ve had to find new publications to publish my short stories, which used to appear primarily in Binah and Hamodia. Recently, I had a second piece appear on Hevria, and now I’m privileged to be the first fiction writer featured in the new women’s magazine, The Layers Project Magazine. My story featured there is entitled, “Taking the Plunge.”

One of the perks about this switch of venue is that I get to talk about all sorts of topics not usually covered in Haredi magazines. Even though a lot of my writing is for children, the two stories I link to above are for readers 16 years old and up.

While the piece on Hevria is free, to read the second story, you have to pay a subscription. The Layers Project Magazine would like to be able to pay its writers and staff, and so just like the print mags charge a fee for you to buy them, they are asking for a subscription. For a month, it’s $5.99 for unlimited access, and you get three free articles without subscribing. However, if you consider it’s a replacement for four issues of Binah or Mishpacha‘s Family First, or the like, it’s a cheaper option. (UPDATE: Accessing the story “Taking the Plunge” is now free!)

Shavuos almost here…

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With Shavuos starting tomorrow night, that means school librarians and parents have been reading A Dozen Daisies for Raizy to their younger ones. I keep having kids come up to me, “Mrs. Klempner, did you really write about Raizy?” and “When will Raizy have another adventure?”

It’s very touching, but also frustrating. I’ve tried to sell other stories about Raizy to the publisher – with no success – and the book sold out about a month ago. You can’t buy it for any kind of reasonable price on Amazon anymore. And the publisher hasn’t decided whether to issue a new edition or not. I’d LOVE it if they did. Next year will be Raizy’s 10 anniversary, I think, and wouldn’t it be amazing if they re-issued it, maybe with an update?

Right now I’m brainstorming a sequel for Glixman in a Fix as well as working on my long-suffering adult novel. I really, really want to finish a complete first draft by next Rosh Chodesh (the beginning of the Jewish month of Tammuz). If I can send it off to a publisher by the end of the summer, I will be overjoyed.

Also, if you have picked up Glixman, and you or one of your kids or your students have read it – it would be amazing if you could mosey over to either website you purchased it from or Goodreads and write a review. Your reviews will help Glixman find other readers!!!

At last! Glixman is available in the States!!!

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Copies of Glixman in a Fix are in the U.S. now, and they will be available for purchase starting this week at Jewish bookstores nationwide, and on the Menucha Publishers website. The continue to be available at select locations throughout Israel.

Glixman in a Fix is the novelization of my Binah Between serial (which concluded two years ago). Mendel Glixman is a teenager with a secret, a secret which prevents him from making – and keeping – friends. But when trouble comes along, he’ll need some friends to get out of his terrible fix.

At 278 pages, Glixman in a Fix, makes a perfect read for readers ages 9 to 14 years old – and anyone else who likes a book with a few thrills and a big heart.

See here for purchasing details!

(I’m still waiting for my copies to arrive, but nonetheless, this is a step in the right direction!)