Today – as part of describing my Virtual Writing Buddies,  I share about my writing buddy, Rebecca Klempner.

In 2010, when I held the first writing group in my home, I had no idea that it would take off and still be running monthly today, three years later almost to the date. Another friend  and I pulled together a group of about five writers, among them one woman, Rebecca, mother of four, blogger and  author of A Dozen Daisies for Raizy, who was not only young enough to be my daughter, but was brilliant enough to be my….well not sure how to finish that sentence, but you get the idea.

The book she had written is a picture book for kids and is perfect for this time of year especially when the Jewish people celebrate the Holiday of Shavuos (mid-May this year).

Anyway, at the time, Rebecca Klempner had several blogs and was working on publishing  fascinating narratives of her childhood, her family and her discoveries and growth (which subsequently were published). We (the group) picked each others’ articles apart, until we realized that we were indeed a group – meant to meet monthly.

We learned to be kinder to each other.  All of us grew from our monthly meetings. We grew thicker skin and better writing skills.

Rebecca ended up publishing a science fiction novella, many sci-fi short stories, lots of non-fiction first person narratives, and short stories for tweens.

Rebecca is a master of versatility. She writes fiction, non-fiction, science fiction, fantasy, and history.

She writes for varied audiences: children, adults, tweens, young adults, young children, young tweens…and everything in between.

She writes for a variety of magazines – both in serious and funny styles. Check out her witty and ironic  piece: a  published article, on Tablet online magazine. Check out her Passover article on the same website.

From Rebecca, I learned to stretch and imagine. Don’t get stuck on one genre or one audience. Don’t worry about rejections, be happy for other people who are successful, and find your own niche.

Rebecca and I belong to some of the same online communities, and have had an overlapping online coach. We also follow the same writing blogger.

Check out Rebecca’s guest post on my blog several months ago.

I salute Rebecca – as I said in one of my blog posts awhile back… “I’m all farklempt”

Write on Rebecca, and write on everyone!

Credit for Photo: Hachai Publications