Events, Appearances and Classes

First Person Writing That Sells Fall 2008

Note: Those who are already working on a project—a memoir or a series of related pieces say—may take this class and have assignments tailored to them, with the idea of emerging from the class if not finished, then at least knowing exactly how to finish.

The course will meet for ten Mondays beginning on August 25, skipping Labor Day, and continuing until November 3.
$675 (limited to 12)
This popular course by a former San Francisco Chronicle columnist has launched hundreds of writers on their careers. adair.lara@gmail.com
t: 415 626 9157 c: 415 722-6697 -
This course is for those interested in writing and selling essays or memoir. Each class begins with a new element, from angle, scene, revision, publishing, etc, with a short lecture and handouts, followed by readings and in-class exercises. The weekly assignments are designed to pull a lot of great pieces out of you and stretch your notions of what you can do, but you are always encouraged to substitute ideas or projects of your own. Each evening will include two 15-minute in-class writing exercises, many of them designed to give you a head start on the assignment. I will read five pieces from each writer, in addition to class readings, and am available for private conferences before class.
You will come out knowing how to make yourself write, how to nail a piece, how to sell it. Most students publish within a year of taking the class. It is gratifying rare for anyone to drop, gratifying common for people to take the course again and again. You will have had a series of stimulating evenings and made new friends, and found yourself further down the road to becoming a writer. You will have the option of going on as a writing group after the course.
Class will be at my house in San Francisco, 97 Scott Street, from 6:45 to 9:45. Parking is pretty easy. I will accept the first 12 qualified applicants who apply for each course, plus a waiting list. Within a week of accepting you, I'll need a $100 nonrefundable deposit to hold your place, the rest payable before or at first meeting. If you haven’t been in my class before, please email me writing sample—2 or 3 pages of anything at all, as long as it’s first-person writing, when you apply. An email is fine. I can hold your place for a week or so, pending writing sample if you ask me to.
P.S. If you sign up, it’s not too soon to put your writing times, as well as class times, on your calendar. Make it a priority, just for ten weeks out of your life, and see what happens.

Adair Lara
teacher, magazine writer, author 2005-present
Founder Matchwriters. Com
Columnist/reporter San Francisco Chronicle 1989-2005;executive editor, SF magazine 1988-1989;Managing editor, San Francisco Focus 1986-1988
Awards
1990: Associated Press, best columnist in California.;1997: humor columns for newspapers over 100,000, National Society of Newspaper Columnists; 1998, same outfit, general interest columns; 1999: second place, commentary, American Association of Sunday and Feature editors contest, competing against papers with circulation over 300,000.
Books
In progress: Naked, Drunk and Writing, (this will be class text)
March 2008: The Granny Diaries (Chronicle Books)
Coming in 2008: Y0u Know You’re a Writer When (Chronicle Books)
Spring 2007: The Bigger the Sign, the Worse the Garage Sale (Chronicle Books)
2004: Oopsie! Ouchie! (Chronicle Books) a board book for children
2003: Normal is just a Setting on the Dryer, and Other Lessons from the Real Real World (Chronicle Books)
2001: Hold Me Close, Let Me Go (Random House). A memoir.
1996: Best of Adair Lara (Scottwall Associates)
1994: Slowing Down in a Speeded-Up World (Conari Press), later re-released as Hanging out the Wash by Red Wheel.
1995: At Adair's House, More Columns by America's Formerly Single Mom (Chronicle Books)
1992: Welcome to Earth, Mom (Chronicle Books)
1982: History of Petaluma, A California River Town
(Scottwall Associates)

I’ve been teaching for 14 years now, giving these ten-week courses at my house in San Francisco, and at Book Passage bookstore, UC extension, Mills College, and Squaw Valley Community of Writers. I’ve worked in magazines--Executive editor, Sfmagazine; managing editor, San Francisco Focus; and in newspapers --columnist/reporter San Francisco Chronicle 1989-present. I freelance for magazines: Cosmopolitan, Reader's Digest, Parenting, Glamour, Redbook, Ladies' Home Journal, Working Mother, Departures, Westways, American Way, Via, Fitness, Good Housekeeping, More Magazine, etc.
The comments below are from students who have taken the course, and should give you more of an idea of what goes on:
They liked:
The discipline of writing (or trying to write) 500 words a
day, knowing that they don’t have to be perfect, or necessarily even
good the first time around.

I found the in-class exercises useful, especially the ones that pretty much
guaranteed immediate success, i.e., "Add three sentences to this sentence,"
"remove unnecessary adverbs and adjectives." It's cool to see writing
improve so quickly like that.

Thursday nights were such a haven for me - place where I could truly be myself and be with others who were like-minded. I really forgot about all my outside problems when I was there. The fact that I have made connections that are bound to grow is the most valuable thing I take away from your classes

This was the perfect class for me--I dug up stuff I'd put away as crap and
found out it wasn't so bad, and the other stuff that I was stuck on also
found new life.
The handouts and class structure were exceptional. I never knew how to
revise before, and now I've got a firm grip on the process.

- Hide quoted text -
On 3/9/07, Christina Boufis <cboufisp@earthlink.net> wrote:
Hi Adair,

I attended your workshop at the writer's conference last weekend and
wanted to follow up and let you know how you helped me land a piece in
O, the Oprah Magazine.

I'd taken your First Person Writing workshop in Corte Madera several
years ago. You asked us to write five quirky (or odd) things about
ourselves. I wrote a piece which I titled "My Big Fat Greek Hair" from
that assignment. And one afternoon, in a moment of bravado and having
had a large Peet's coffee, I called the articles editor at O. Her
outgoing message said something like, "We do not work with freelancers.
We do not take unsolicited pitches. Do not leave a message. Do not send
a manuscript." Basically, go away. I left a message anyway giving her
the title of my piece. She called back thirty seconds later and asked
me to email it to her. While they didn't take that essay, they took
another piece. So I wanted to thank you. It was a great assignment.
I've since tried several publications with the hair essay, and while
everyone likes it, no magazine has offered to publish it. I keep
trying.

I should also mention that I got the number for O from my husband, who
knows your partner Bill. My husband, Scott Peterson (he used to
complain no one remembered his name; now he wishes he didn't have such
an infamous one), is a food photographer who has done cookbooks for
Chronicle. It was Scott who said to call. I did, and it worked.

Thanks again for a great workshop and for a terrific assignment.
Best,
Christina Boufis
www.christinaboufis.com (my website is new and still a work in progress)

You were always able to find something redeeming in our work and communicate it with enthusiasm. It was often your faith that something coherent and interesting could be wrested from what seemed like hopeless drivel that gave me the strength to rewrite a piece.

I feel much more confidant about commenting on another writer's work. I also have been reading published work lately with a writer's eye for
good images, dialogue, problem/solution, epiphany, and overall
structure.

Reviewing the first page of our papers out loud in class really helped me “see” how a rewrite works. What I learned: simple format for 1st person article, Recognizing real epiphanies, recognize unnecessary passages (asides, rambling) not necessary to the piece. Setting goals while revising. Focusing on one idea and sticking to it.

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.

“Each week I felt as if every word you said point you made went straight inside me.”
Ann Taylor, Spring2007class