Glixman in a Fix on Approach: Got the Cover for My Next Book & Checked the Proofs

February 13, 2017beccakinla new, new book, new release, news, Uncategorized Tags: book, frum, glixman in a fix, jewish, new, rebecca klempner, teen 14 Comments

glixman31 Yesterday, I turned in my comments on the proof for my next book, the novelization of Glixman in a Fix. It’s weird reading something I wrote a couple years ago, already. I think the manuscript is in pretty good shape. We’re IY”H expecting the book to hit stores just before Pesach.

The good news is that I made myself laugh more than once, and I still find the characters charming after all this time. When I read the last page, I contemplated writing a sequel just so I could hang out a little longer with Mendel, Ari, Ilan, and Yehudis.

The bad news is that friends and colleagues are now telling me how they all want to buy my book. This leads to a potentially awkward conversation.

Some of the aforementioned friends and colleagues primarily have read my adult work. They read my essays in Tablet, my fiction in Inyan. I think that many of them expect me to sound the same in this book…but since the initial audience was so different, I sound very different in Glixman. I’m kinda afraid how they will react to it.

Readers out there, have you read something from a favorite author that just didn’t strike your fancy?

And writers, have you written something and then felt the desire to warn your usual readers away from it?

Signs you might want to buy one of my new books

September 20, 2015beccakinla books, chareidi, children, children's books, clean, finish that novel, Jewish, Jewish writing, Orthodox, recommended reading, teens, tweens Tags: anthology, author, binah magazine, binyan, book, Chareidi, children, family, glixman in a fix, hareidi, jewish, kosher, mazal's luck runs out, middle grade, new, new book, novel, orthodox, reading, rebecca klempner, short stories, sliding doors, teens, Torah, tweens 5 Comments

BOTH MY NEW BOOKS ARE UP AND RUNNING ON AMAZON! WAHOO!

(Do I sound excited?)

Mazal’s Luck Runs Out is for ages 8-11.

My life is being taken over by marketing (What? Did you say there’s a Jewish holiday coming? More than one? You mean I have to cook, too? ARGH!). Also, I’m working on no budget here, but at least people can actually buy both Mazal’s Luck Runs Out and Sliding Doors and other stories online now.

With no further ado… Continue reading →

Oh, all right, I’ll spill the beans.

September 10, 2015September 20, 2015beccakinla good news, news, upcoming Tags: aim!, binah, binyan, books, createspace, fantasy, jewish, kids, new, rebecca klempner, sci-fi, science fiction, self-publish 4 Comments

So, yesterday’s post mentioned that I’ve been working on a few big projects. I can’t tell you about all of them, but I can tell you about two:

I’ve compiled several of the stories I have published previously in international Jewish kids’ magazines into an anthology, selecting the ones that got the most fan mail, and which teachers have mentioned they’d like to use in their classrooms. I’m self-publishing it, IY”H. Target audience: readers age 10-16. We’re just waiting on the proofs – which I’ll have to proofread – before they will be up for sale.
Also on the self-publishing front, many years ago, I had a number of stories starring two characters, Esti and Bluma, which ran in a local-to-L.A. Jewish magazine. Those stories got lots of fan mail here in L.A., so I started to shop around for a publisher. I had a couple near-misses, where a publisher said they were very interested, but then backed out pretty late in the game. After that, I added some more material, changed some things around to make it more like a middle-grade novel, as opposed to a short story collection, and tried yet another publisher. As they say in Yiddish: gornisht. My husband, though, really believed in the book, and my beta testers – kids from around the neighborhood – enjoyed it thoroughly. Doing Maker Camp over the summer really inspired me, as well as this post on Positive Writer, so after working on the anthology, I pulled out this older manuscript and started editing that one.

G-d willing, I’ll have news for you soon about these upcoming releases. I’m hoping to have them available online and at bookshops in L.A. Keep your eyes peeled for updates! (And prayers for the success of this project are welcome.)

Passover looming ahead: Not quite panicking yet

March 23, 2014beccakinla Jewish, Jewish writing, literature, los angeles, magazines, newpapers, newspaper, Orthodox, serial, teens Tags: 2014, 5774, action, binah, binah between, Binah Bunch, children, interview, jew, jewish, judaism, kids, Klempner, literature, Menucha Publishers, new, orthodox, Passover, Pesach, picture books, rebecca klempner, serial, suspense, teens, tweens, Tzivia Erlich-Klein Leave a comment

Due to the onslaught of housework, etc., that Pesach entails, as well as some nifty work assignments, I’ll be posting less for the next month or so. However, I do want to share with my readers several bits of good news: Continue reading →

4 Questions for author Tamar Ansh about her new Passover cookbook

March 17, 2014March 3, 2014beccakinla book, books, children, children's books, Jewish, Jewish writing, Judaism, kids, kosher, literature, parenting, parents Tags: 2014, advice, author, book, children, cookbook, interview, jewish, kids, new, Passover, Pesach, preparation, recipes, Tamar Ansh Leave a comment

I recently conversed via email with the enormously popular author, Tamar Ansh, about her new cookbook. Let My Children Cook! is her first cookbook for kids, and it tackles a particularly pertinent area of Kosher cuisine for this time of year: Passover.

Tamar Ansh’s latest cookbook, out in time for Passover!

4 Questions:

Rebecca:

What made you want to write a cookbook for children this time? And why specifically one for Passover?

Tamar:

For this book, Let My Children Cook!, Hashem sent me the inspiration from a totally unexpected angle. Continue reading →

I stepped up to the challenge…but did I succeed?

May 5, 2013beccakinla failure, frustration, submissions, submit, success Tags: author, challenge, difficult, failure, fear, feature ideas, hard, literature, new, not in our hands, publishing, stretching, submissions, success, trying, vent, write, writing 2 Comments

Well.

A couple months ago, I challenged writers to try something new: a new genre, new POV, new publication, anything that would help us to stretch our wings.

Since I threw down the gauntlet, I had to participate in this challenge, right? So I thought about a couple possible places to sub a feature, a genre I hadn’t published in at least two years. Then I brainstormed a few feature ideas, and I sent our queries based on them.

Guess what.

I got nada.

I know that my ultimate success isn’t in my hands, so I feel like I did my share and can take no responsibility for the rest. And I plan to try for features and other new things, too. In fact, I heard about a poetry contest that sounds so interesting, I’m thinking of attempting serious poetry for the first time in many years.

So, is this a success–because I did try something new–or is this a failure–because I didn’t get responses to my queries?

What do you think? (Please post comments below.)

Never made it off the launch pad.

Rebecca Klempner

Author page of Rebecca Klempner

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Glixman in a Fix on Approach: Got the Cover for My Next Book & Checked the Proofs

Readers out there, have you read something from a favorite author that just didn’t strike your fancy?

And writers, have you written something and then felt the desire to warn your usual readers away from it?

Signs you might want to buy one of my new books

Oh, all right, I’ll spill the beans.

Passover looming ahead: Not quite panicking yet

4 Questions for author Tamar Ansh about her new Passover cookbook

4 Questions:

Rebecca:

Tamar:

I stepped up to the challenge…but did I succeed?

Readers out there, have you read something from a favorite author that just didn’t strike your fancy?

And writers, have you written something and then felt the desire to warn your usual readers away from it?

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4 Questions:

Rebecca:

Tamar:

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