Today was a good one on several fronts. I received my first look at JPS's cover for "Rashi's Daughter: Secret Scholar." You'll have to wait a little until it's final and I can post it on my website, but I can tell you that the style is very different from the adult books. Also, I was invited to speak about Rashi's Daughters at the Hadassah national convention this July in Los Angeles, which is quite an honor. On the home front, my 14-month-old grandson Nathan started walking without assistance, suddenly taking five or six steps at a time.
After spending two weeks on it, I finally finished the first draft of a scene in Book III - RACHEL where Eliezer teaches from the first chapter of Tractate Rosh Hanshana and explains how the Jewish calendar is calculated. It's an extremely complicated subject and Rashi's commentary is one of the most abstruse I've ever seen of his, considering his reputation for conciseness and clarity. It took me weeks just to make sure I understood it myself before I could even begin to try to explain it to my readers. This will be one of my longest Talmud sections, which you'll find in Chapter 24. I figured that if I'm curious about how the Jewish calendar works, my readers will be too.
Boy, a month has sure gone by quickly. I was out of town speaking
in Phoenix and Las Vegas, as well as several local gigs. Always the
most popular question, as well as the most common subject of my fan
mail, is: When is Book III coming out?
My contract with Plume says "Book III - RACHEL" is scheduled to be
released in Fall 2009, keeping with the two year span between MIRIAM
and JOHEVED. I am trying to keep that deadline, which involves getting
them the final draft in November 2008, but life keeps getting in the way.
Last month Dave and I closed escrow on a new house in West LA, and
we're now attempting to sell our current abode in Glendale. So I'm
constantly being distracted by urgent real estate paperwork, not to
mention the upheaval of sorting, packing, and moving 30 years worth of
stuff. Once my housing situation sorts itself out, which better be by
Passover, I'll have to put pedal to the metal to finish RACHEL asap.