picture book

One Week Till the Release of HOW TO WELCOME AN ALIEN!!!

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Lots of exciting stuff happening around the release of my next book, HOW TO WELCOME AN ALIEN!

I was interviewed—twice! The first interview was by the always-lovely Barbara Bietz for Jewish Books for Kinds…and more!. You can find that interview here. And the one with Kylie Ora Lobell appeared in the Jewish Journal last week. You can read that one here.

Photo by James Lee on Pexels.com

Additionally, I got lots of help from my writing group friends (plus my pal Merri Ukraincik, who has a fantastic newsletter for Jewish creatives) to polish up a personal essay called “My UFOs.” It details my attraction to aliens, UFOs, and all things sci-fi. Even though I wrote it a while back, it also addresses many of my complaints from my last blog post. It went up on the Paper Brigade Daily blog by JBC yesterday. Go ahead and check it out if you haven’t yet.

And, finally, there’s another review out, this one from the Sydney Taylor Schmooze. Read that here.

Don’t forget to place my book on pre-order if you haven’t yet! It’s available on Bookshop, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble. If you want to help me out, you can also ask your local library or bookstore to order it. And if you’ve already ordered the book, you should be getting your copy next week. When you do, I’d love it if you snapped a picture with your book and tagged me on your social media pages!

Kirkus Review Is Up!

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Reviews in Kirkus can greatly influence people’s interest in a new title, particularly the interest of bookstore managers and librarians. Therefore, I was greatly relieved to see a postive review for HOW TO WELCOME AN ALIEN up on their site. If you want to read the review in full, you can find it here.

The Kirkus Review is up for my upcoming book!

There was another supposed alien sighting in Vegas a couple weeks back, so maybe that will increase sales, too. (My best friend called it an extraordinary marketing effort.) Remember: Preorders are available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Bookshop.

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.

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 →

Analysis: My first writing workshop for adults

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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 →

Still need a daisy? 6 years of Raizy

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My picture book, A Dozen Daisies for Raizy, has now been out for six years. With Shavuos just around the corner, I know that parents and teachers will be teaching about the holiday –some using my book, some not — and I thought I’d provide a few links to help them. Continue reading →