In the face of depressing news I always ask myself: What can we set against it? And I always end up with the same answer: The pursuit of beauty and [...]
My favorite photo from our walk along the Regent's Canal Towpath: My brother bending his way through one of its tunnels. I have another virtual trip for you: [...]
Whenever I think of the Ballestas Islands, I see this image in my mind. It is my favorite photo of our entire trip to Peru. As we are [...]
Having a friend in prison has been an illuminating experience for me. I have been contemplating and learning about what that life means, on a day-to-day basis, by corresponding and [...]
War time diary of 12-year-old Sheila Cohen, living in London, 1940 (Jewish Museum, London - I took this photo in December 2018) Be sure to keep a diary [...]
"May you live in interesting times" is purported to be a Chinese curse but it actually isn't. Nevertheless we currently live in interesting times, and it does feel like a [...]
It's the time of year again! The Jewish holiday of Purim is around the corner. I have shared why it took me a while to get into giving Mishloach Manot [...]
My ever handsome friend Larry Palmer (on the left) with his niece and younger brother. I'm very proud that his excellent family memoir Scholarship Boy is coming out in [...]
If you want to write your family history and are floundering with where to start, look no further! Sign up here to receive my booklet 10 Unusual Prompts to Start [...]
This summer, I finally had to give you up. I embarked on my trip to Peru with a new version of you, Just as comfortable and snug, but water tight. [...]
The new edition of my Writer's Workbook is here! All you gotta do to receive it is subscribe to my newsletter. If you are a subscriber, you will have received [...]
Family stories aren't always happy go lucky.* Welcome to installment one of my new advice column where I answer any question readers ask about writing compelling stories from family history. [...]
Snippet of my grandmother's original handwritten recipe For Chanukah it was become a tradition in my house to make one of my German grandmother's recipes, Gebackene Mäuse. The [...]
This week I was immensely shocked and saddened to learn that my mentor Michael Steinberg died. I found out via a Facebook post from a mutual acquaintance. I had just [...]
I am happy to announce that the ebook as well as the paperback versions of How to Write Compelling Stories from Family History are published and LIVE (as they call [...]
Last week, after two months of much back and forth with my book production team at Inspire Books, I finally signed off on the cover of my forthcoming book How [...]
My husband and I with our first two kids and my in-laws (Nana is on the left), April 1999 Seminal moment for me today: I filed a Doing Business As [...]
One of my favorite stretches through the woods I have been out in the country, reveling in the glory of autumn. The fall foliage spectacle is on full display on [...]
Lately, I have been taken with books by young female dynamos: Tami Lahren's Never Play Dead captivated me in August, and now I have a new one to share: Girl, [...]
This is the season of honey cake, one of my favorite things in the world! And so I am happy to find myself in the kitchen today, baking honey cake, [...]
Wedding picture in my book A book is a connector. That's one of the surprising things I learned after Jumping Over Shadows came out in April 2017. But now it's [...]
Excellent view of the White House and the Washington Monument as we were flying out of Washington, DC, and I was reading this book... I am not usually one to [...]
I used to work in consulting as a project manager, so I should know this: Life is easier with a plan. Without a plan, all those tasks you should be [...]
Farewell old fridge, and thanks for your service! I have to admit: My heart sank when the delivery guys carried out our old fridge. After serving us faithfully for 24 [...]
Row Houses on St. Lawrence Ave, Pullman Historic District, Chicago Chicago is like that: In its farther reaches, bland wide streets lined with strip malls or highways with twisting on- [...]
This Wednesday was the one-year anniversary of my hip surgery. Unfortunately, this anniversary makes me sad. Recovering from this surgery sent me through hell and back, and I am not [...]
View of Sand Beach, Acadia National Park, Maine, May 2019 Before we left on our recent trip to Acadia National Park, an acquaintance recommended I read Evangeline - A Tale [...]
Get going on the road to writing (Empty road in Nevada, August 2011) Last Thursday, I was at a loss what to write for Friday's blog post. Uninspired, I thought, [...]
My writing studio in the attic of the Hemingway Birthplace Home, back when I was writer-in-residence. While I didn't particularly enjoy Roger Rosenblatt's Unless It Moves the Human Heart - [...]
I just clicked the Send button to submit my last book review. Until now I told myself that this would be my last. I don't want to have to read [...]
Jumping Over Shadows in Karlsruhe (photo by Barbara Jester) As a writer, there is nothing I like more than connecting with a reader. So I was thrilled when Ellen Amarnek [...]
When you arrive in Petra, you have a fairly long walk from the visitor center to the actual archaeological site. Along the way, however, you can already see multiple cave [...]
If our first stop in Jordan, Jerash, was windswept and chilly, it was downright cold at the Amman Citadel. The Amman Citadel has been a site of fortresses dating back [...]
This past January I was fortunate enough to be able to cross one of the places I always wanted to see off my bucket list: Petra, Jordan. Mind you, this [...]
Every Passover, I bake my German grandmother's signature Hazelnut Torte. In my family, it wouldn't be Passover without it. I included the recipe in Jumping Over Shadows because it [...]
Writing Morning Pages is still the practice I most recommend to anyone who wants to bring writing into their life, and to anyone who wants to live a more deliberate [...]
Hitler himself visited Reichenberg on Friday, December 2, 1938. His visit was geared to rally the populace for the supplementary elections to the Reichstag, to be held the following Sunday, [...]
Purim is coming up — this year it begins on the evening of March 20 — and I’ve been busy planning what to put in my Mishloach Manot, the small [...]
A writer should always keep a notebook. And I do! But what if you keep more than one? What if one notebook simply isn't enough to sort your thoughts, ideas, [...]
Parc Montsouris, Paris, September 2017 I have a new essay published in Bella Grace Issue 19, which hits newsstands today! I can't even begin to tell you how [...]
It seems to me that a good part of life is spent trying to figure out how to best manage yourself. At least that's the case for me. Every New [...]
I was driving to my cousin's house for dinner last week when two warning lights came on in the car. Then the instrument panel went dead. When I put on [...]
The actual House of Windows as far as we could tell Have you ever traveled in the footsteps of a book? Visited the location where a character lived? [...]
The WhatsApp message that began the daily ritual: "Here a photo for you, view from our hotel, you also sent me such nice photos of the big wide world [...]
One of the things I love about Jerusalem is that you stumble upon historically significant sites all the time. Such was the case last weekend, when my husband and I [...]
I just lived without my main email for almost two weeks, and that turned out to be quite nice. Just before I left on a longer trip, I messed up [...]
The new edition of the Writer's Workbook is here! All you gotta do to receive it is subscribe to my newsletter. If you are a subscriber, you will have received [...]
Christmas at the Hemingway Birthplace Home where I was fortunate to have been writer-in-residence four years ago! Giving up Christmas is one of the advantages of converting to [...]
I baked cookies for Chanukah on Monday, all by myself. It was odd to cut out cookies without my kids, but I missed nibbling on our traditional cookies when my husband [...]
Once in a while, one of Seth Godin's daily missives sticks in my mind, such as his idea of focusing on creating assets. That's how I understood his post The Daily. [...]