Two Classes Offered at UCLA

My infamous Write a Novel In 10 Weeks Class is being offered twice this Winter.  You can sign up here!!!:

WRITE A NOVEL IN 10 WEEKS @ UCLA

BEST KIDS' THEATRE IN LOS ANGELES

I just saw 'OZ' at the 9 O'Clock Players Children's Theatre in Los Angeles.  It brought back so many memories of being part of the theatre. But also, about imagination and how kids don't get to engage in theatre to nurture that imagination.  It's so different to the imagination that is developed with TV, movies and even books.  Get your little one to a fantastic play or musical and help them develop their imagination in a different way - audience and performer merge together to create an unforgettable experience.  There is nothing like it!

CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS TO OZ

How To Make A Country Great...

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

WRITE A NOVEL IN 10 WEEKS SOLD OUT!

My fall class is sold out!  To all of those aspiring novelists who would still like to take my class at UCLA Extension, please sign up for Winter!  

ALLEGRA JOHNSON WRITING PRIZE - WINNER!

It is my absolute pleasure to announce that my student, Elizabeth Ayre, has won the Allegra Johnson Writing Prize.  Liz is a profoundly talented writer who took my class at UCLA Extension Writer's Program last year and her writing took my breath away.  Clearly it had the same effect on the judges. 

Congratulations Liz, and I look forward to seeing your novel on a book store shelf soon!

@writersprogram

MANUSCRIPT ANALYSIS

So you've written a book but want some help navigating on to the next draft?  Or, you think it's finished and want a final critique before you submit to an agent?  I now offer story editing.  

MANUSCRIPT ANALYSIS

4-5 pages of story editing notes 

$1000 - 120 page manuscript

$1500 - 180 page manuscript

$2000 - 250 page manuscript

Send me an email to get started with your book

LA'S COOLEST MOBILE BOOKSTORE

A book store in a van that only sells 20 carefully curated novels - does it get any better than this?  No!  When I stumbled across 20 Stories, LA's Mobile bookstore, parked in front of Proof Bakery in Atwater Village, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.  An amazing selection of excellent fiction to be purchased while getting some of LA's best pastries and coffee - double whammy heaven.  Unlike big bookstores where none of the workers have read anything, it seems, 20 Stories curators have read and loved every book they sell so they can tell you exactly what book to pick depending on your taste.  

Here's a link to their website so you can find out where they will be parked next!

CLICK HERE TO FIND 20 STORIES MOBILE BOOK STORE

THE ONE THING YOU NEED TO WRITE A NOVEL

So you wanna write your first book.  Whether you are a seasoned writer or someone who's been too scared to pick up the pen since high school, you still need the same thing to make it happen.  

DELUSION.  

Yup, to write a novel, you need to push away that awful thought that happens every two minutes that you are a rubbish writer.  Professional writers often have this problem worse than newbies.  Accept that this is par for the course and every time you hear that voice telling you to quit, tell it you're writing the first bad draft of a book, so of course it's rubbish.  Your first draft is supposed to be trash.  It's the draft where you figure out what is working and what isn't.  It's not supposed to be good. 

So get to it.  Embrace delusion, terror, self-doubt and anxiety... and start writing.  

This is how a novel is born.