Sharing a Tried-and-True Writer’s Tool to Review the Old Year and Plan for the New One: the Writer’s Workbook
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 it already. This is my 7th year of sharing my end-of-the-year review process with the Writer’s Workbook. I hope it helps you review this past year, take a close look [...]
How Should You Handle Blemishes on Your Family’s History? Write About Them or Not?
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. Jim asks: As a general rule, are you okay with leaving out the blemishes in family stories? (I'm not talking about something horrific that is required to be included in [...]
Sharing a German Grandmother’s Recipe that Became a Jewish Family’s Favorite Treat on Chanukah
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 recipe itself has nothing to do with the holiday. However, it involves frying delicious yeast dough in oil, and what could be more appropriate for Chanukah than that? As with [...]
In Memory of Michael Steinberg, One of the Greats of the Creative Nonfiction World, and a Most Generous Man
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 corresponded with him in October about my new book coming out! How could he be dead now? He'd told me about his upcoming partial cornea transplant, which is why he [...]
My New Book is Published! How to Write Compelling Stories from Family History is LIVE! And the Kindle edition is FREE today!
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 it in the KDP publishing platform) on Amazon. To celebrate the book launch, the Kindle version is free today, December 6! For one day only, so be sure to grab your [...]
Coming Up with the Cover of my Next Book: How to Write Compelling Stories from Family History (First Few Pages Available for Download!)
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 to Write Compelling Stories from Family History. I wanted to share the story of how this cover came about right away but alas, I was simply too exhausted to put that [...]