What with COVID and its negative effects on society, I generally try to balance my kvetching with expressing  my gratitude for the good that I see in my world.  This past couple weeks, I’ve had some reasons to kvell rather than kvetch – due to new and exciting things.

First, my book! Yes, it’s true. It’s coming very soon. Like next week. Like right before Purim. Best Foot Forward, my book is coming out in stores and online and I’m going to put a link very soon on the cover page of this blog. This book is the story of how my broken ankle seven years ago  (an ankle story fills an entire book?) changed my life forever. If that sounds like an unlikely premise, well  you’ll have to read the book to find out what happened. And if you do, you’ll note that today’s date has particular significance in my story.

Next, podcasts. I’ve been involved in a new hobby these days of listening to podcasts. It’s interesting because I never really took advantage of this technology until a friend, Rivki Silver of lifeinthemarriedlane.com fame, started one with her partner in creativity, Alexandra (“Alex”) Fleksher, entitled “Normal Frum Women.” Until I heard their podcast which is informative, engaging, and relevant, I barely knew what a podcast was. And now I have a whole list of podcasts that I follow. All because of their creation of this stimulating listening experience.

So not only did Rivki and Alex  get me hooked on their content, but they made me curious about the entire medium of podcasts. With podcasts you can listen while driving or cooking (not that I do so much of the latter!). It’s great!

Their podcast – replete with lively conversations, interesting guests, and interviews of various people— is geared towards an audience of Jewish women who are trying to balance the demands of being a “frum” (colloquial Yiddish for Orthodox Jewish) observant of Jewish laws woman with living a healthy and happy life. What I love about their topic is the nuance and complexity (two of the words they use in their tagline) they bring to the table. They embrace (another positive word I love that they use!) the many ways of viewing a topic, offering  fresh and practical takeaways to dilemmas posed in their lively conversations. Some topics they’ve explored so far are “what is normalcy anyway?” and “how to say no without feeling guilty.” If you’re a Jewish woman in any stage of life, you’ll find something to relate to in “Normal Frum Woman.” No matter what, you’re bound to feel very normal (whatever that is!!!) by the time you’ve listened to even one episode of this podcast.

Stay tuned for more reviews here on other favorite podcasts.

Finally, I won a writing contest and I’m very excited about it. Esther Kurtz, noted author, writer and magazine columnist held a cute email contest. She challenged her followers to revise an email she had drafted by changing the target audience of her original email. If this sounds confusing to you, you might enjoy following Esther on Instagram. Check her out. She gives online writing classes. And yours truly has now earned a free zoom lesson for winning the contest. Yay!

So, there you have my success stories of the week. Book release, cool podcast listening and contest win. For these and other blessings, I’m grateful.