WRITE WITH ADAIR LARA - April 2010
Jumpstart your writing project
“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
"Without her insightful guidance, Maisie Dobbs might be just a couple chapters collecting dust in a drawer." Jacqueline Winspear, author of the Maisie Dobbs series
Saturday and Sunday, April 17 and 18
Senior Center, 211 Novak Drive, Petaluma, CA
Time: 10:00 am to 3:00 pm
Tea and muffins: 9:30 am
Price: $195
To register, please send a check payable to Marlene Cullen, 70 Paula Lane, Petaluma, CA 94952.
Attendance limited to twenty-five.
Please contact Marlene for more information: mcullen@comcast.net
The idea that we each have a distinct and compelling story to tell is the essence of memoir. Readers are hungry for accounts of triumph over personal crisis. How did you survive what happened, and what did you learn from it? In this workshop you’ll identify the tale you have to tell and how to tell it.
You’ll also learn to think in terms of pivotal events, which become the scenes, how and when to let the background come in. We will learn to pay homage to the details.
Adair can help you outline the arc of your story (as opposed to just writing down everything that happened in the order it happened), show you how and when to write scene and when to use narration, what to put in, what to leave out, what to move around.
We’ll talk about the reflective voice—where you step back in some places and comment on what happened. We’ll cover the difference between fact (what happened) and truth (what you think about what happened). We’ll talk about agents, sample chapters, publishing.
Whether you're just beginning, or have already published, you will enjoy this time with the author of bestselling books such as Hold Me Close, Let Me Go, and The Granny Diaries.Award winning columnist for San Francisco Chronicle, author of ten books, Adair’s work has appeared in numerous anthologies and publications.
May 17, 2002 was declared Adair Lara Day in San Francisco by proclamation of Mayor Willie Brown.
Go to www/Adairlara.com for more information on Adair.
Former San Francisco Chronicle columnist and author Adair Lara has been teaching essay and memoir workshops for twenty years. Her Students have been published in: The New York Times, The Smithsonian, The Washington Post, Newsweek, Self, Runner's World, the San Francisco Chronicle, More Magazine, Vanity Fair, and many more.
Many of them have published books, including Janis Newman, The Russian Word for Snow.
- How to decide which stories to tell
- How to shape your story so that it makes a universal point
- How to use "ordinary" details and events to create extraordinary insights
- How to find the resonance in everyday events
- How to use the techniques of fiction (dialogue, characterization, scene-setting, suspense) to tell a true tale
- How to find the right markets for your essays
- How to pitch your personal essays to editors
Books by Adair Lara
Naked, Drunk and Writing (2009)
The Granny Diaries, Chronicle Books (2008)
Normal is Just a Setting on the Dryer Chronicle Books (2003)
The Bigger the Sign, the Worse the Garage Sale, Chronicle Books (2007)
You Know You’re A Writer When, Chronicle Books (2007)
Oopsie! Ouchie!, Chronicle Books (2004)
Slowing Down in a Speeded-Up World, Redwheelweiser (2002)
Hold Me Close, Let Me Go, Broadway Books (2001)
The Best of Adair Lara, Scottwall Associates (1999)
At Adair’s House, Chronicle Books (1995)
Welcome to Earth, Mom, Chronicle Books (1992
2010 Saturday Writing Workshops
