2021 will be a year of containing the pandemic and a new US president but for me the year when my book will get published Yes, I just signed a publishing contract. It is exciting. Of course, there will be plenty of work- editing, proofreading of typeset, choosing cover, helping with marketing. But I can’t wait. ( Of course I will have to wait.) But … Continue reading The reason I am happy and looking forward to 2021

I am thinking about racism, and how the Europeans very often pretend to themselves that it is just an American and South African problem. I read this article. It surprised me, I knew about racism the West Indian immigrants encountered in the UK in the sixties. But I never realised that it wasn’t just racist landlords with their ” No dogs, no blacks” on the … Continue reading Racism, only small steps to make it disappear.

My book is ready for publishing. The question is, are the agents or publishers ready for my book? Sending submissions seems to be a full time job. Every agent wants something else. First 30 pages, first 50 pages, synopsis, some as attachment some in the body of the email.And allegedly the agents have about 7 minutes to decide whether they want to even read the … Continue reading Will anybody publish my book?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolperstein It is such a marvellous idea. We are going to pay for these being installed n the pavement in front of the house in Prague where my family lived before deportation to Theresienstadt in 1943. The stones will have names of my grandfather and my mother’s brother. Now we were asked if we want to get the stones made also for my grandmother and … Continue reading I have been thinking about Stolpersteine.

I have participated in webinars, courses, read the https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Guide-Getting-Your-Published/dp/076116085X Still, it is daunting. what’s the problem? The brevity. I am a woman of many words, Writing the whole summary of my family saga in 250 words seems impossible. So I am editing my pitch, cutting, changing, but it seems so hard. Will any agent bite into my hook? I have never been good at fishing … Continue reading Getting the book published seems harder than writing it

The main characters are a mother and daughter. Zuzana is a pork-eating, Christmas-celebrating Jew. She escapes from Communist Czechoslovakia to England at age nineteen, officially because of politics. In fact, she is seeking asylum from her mother Magda, a formidable and unbearable Holocaust survivor. At age 12, Magda is told she can no longer attend school. Always the kid with her hand up first, and … Continue reading What is my book about?

With all my travelling, I haven’t written or edited my book since I came back from the Greek writing retreat with Women Reading Aloud, organised by Julie Maloney. I go every year. On the island of Alonissos, we write to prompts in the morning, but I still managed to work on my novel in the afternoon after I came back from the beach. So why … Continue reading Summer- seems I am on holiday from writing, and are facts important in a novel?

I never thought I will ever be affected by antisemitism. I grew up in Prague, and I don’t remember hearing any anti- Jewish jokes or comments as a child. Well, there were some, but somehow, I never connected it with antisemitism. “This is like in a Jewish school” – Czech idiom about noisy environment when everybody is talking at the same time. That is one … Continue reading “Don’t tell your children they are Jewish, there is antisemitism everywhere”, said my mum. Was she right?

So, I have seen the film Green Book, and I thought the film was fantastic. I know people like Spike Lee were saying it was just a film to make white people feel good. Well, I am white, but I am also Jewish, and, in my opinion, it was a wonderful story of two very different people learning from each other, fight their prejudices and influencing … Continue reading Green Book- is it anti-racist enough? I think so!