First-Person Writing that Sells – new class this September
The last session this year for Adair Lara’s popular writing class…
First-Person Writing That Sells
A Course on Essay and Memoir with Adair Lara
Ten Tuesday evenings in San Francisco
September 7 to November 23
“Half the people I know seem to have taken classes and workshops with San Francisco’s legendary writer and teacher Adair Lara. She is very savvy and smart and hugely entertaining. I admire her greatly.”
– Anne Lamott, author of Bird by Bird
A note from Adair: You will come out knowing how to make yourself write, how to nail a piece, how to sell it. I would say that 95% of my students have been published (for one thing, I make them send their work out to publications). It is gratifying rare for anyone to drop out, and gratifying common for writers to take the course again and again. You will end with a large binder full of new writing (as well as revised old pieces that are now ready to sell) will have had a series of stimulating evenings and made new friends.
Some comments from Adair’s students:
When I took Adair’s classes, which I did over and over again, her enthusiasm and understanding of the process of writing led me to make that quantum leap to being a published author.
– Jacqueline Winspear, author of the Maisie Dobbs series
When I was driving home from class on Saturday I thought: I have met one of the most important persons in my life.
Your buoyant, generous, smart, kind, funny self and your incredible ability to get to the core of what we’re looking for, is responsible for my new lease on life. Oh, yes.
The way you question the sticky bits of our work, never a put down, always constructive, makes us safe. Makes ME safe. The “is that necessary right there?” sentence that you occasionally toss to us gives me pause. The work we just did on the scene, as I’ve already told you, was the most important work I’ve done with you.
You give me the feeling that you care about what we do. How about that?
– Barbara Cressman
You could teach a rock to write. Tone is everything and the tone of this class is savvy, smart and generous. I roughed out the toughest chapter in my book in this class. I found that stepping outside my project into someone else’s, in this particular class, helped me to come back to my work more focused. The essay classes were so much fun, I kept getting distracted from my project. This venue works best for me.
Above all, I feel that I am not alone out here with this book. Have you ever seen a porch being repaired? The roof is shored up by the scaffolding so soundly that the damaged columns can come out safely. That’s how I feel about your coaching. You’re holdin’ up the roof so I can get the work done.
– Lee Anna Hedges
You are smart, funny and kind. I live for your scrawls on my work, I have finally figured out what belongs where and why. During this class, I have produced over 125 pages of new text. In the two weeks I wrote to my writing partner, my life changed. The inertia I had been experiencing lifted, and I felt a sense of purpose I do not recall ever feeling before.
– Joan Winman
