New Classes In The New Year

I am happy to be able to announce new classes for the New Year at Save Your Life Writing. That's right, 2010 is nearly here!

On Mondays, I'll be offering the perpetual favorite, WRITE THAT BOOK NOW! for those of you who have begun a book, article or story which has stalled. Get fresh inspiration in this class with craft lessons and in-class exercises. Beginning January 4th, from 6:30-9pm, and running for 4 weeks. The cost is $100.

Tuesdays we'll continue with Continuing Ed, a class for advanced writers solidly committed to a book project. We'll work on the finer points of style, voice, structure, and the revision process. Meetings are from 6:30-9pm. $100 for each 4 week session. Ongoing.

Wednesday evenings I will offer another series of Creative Writing 101, for those who want to explore creative writing for the first time, or to begin a writing project. Classes cover character development, writing description and dialogue, choosing point of view, and structuring your work. Again, classes meet from 6:30-9pm, beginning January 4 and running for five weeks. $125.

I'll also be offering a Personal Essay class beginning in February. This is a really fun class I offered for the first time last summer, geared toward writing short essays and submitting them to magazines, newspapers, or contests. I'll keep you posted on this one, and let you know if any of us wins the Real Simple essay contest, which most of my students and I submitted to.

Thanks for all your support and interest.

Happy holidays!

Izzy,The Best Book Tour Dog, and The Way We Were

As promised, I'm going to post re the new class, but first I want to tell you about a fantastic reading a few of us went to at the Monson Library, up in the hills of Southwestern MA. Jon Katz, author of more dog books than you can shake a stick at, spoke about his new book, The Soul Of A Dog. The book addresses the question of what role our companion animals, or indeed animals in general, play in our spiritual lives. And the answer seems to be that they have, in great measure, become a repository for our emotions, have even in many cases replaced family, friends, and community as our chief source of comfort and love and happiness. Mr. Katz is a fine story-teller, so the evening was a great mix of thought-provoking ideas, and both poignant and riotously funny anecdotes.

Then there was Izzy. Izzy is a Border Collie, rescued from a farm where he had virtually no human contact for three years, and now after much training, a book tour dog extraordinaire. He trotted in, left Mr. Katz to his own devices, and worked the room like a pro. He greeted almost everyone individually, posed for photos, then fell asleep in the arms of a little girl he didn't know. Now, Border Collies are not generally as adaptable and calm, especially rescued ones. I know this because I'm now on my third in twenty-five years. It was a testament to the devotion and care he'd received, to Mr. Katz's patience in allowing Izzy's personality to develop and blossom. I can only hope that when I'm ready to take my own book on the road, my own young Border Collie will be ready to accompany me and bring as much joy to my readers.

So, if you get an opportunity to see Jon Katz and the amazing Izzy, don't pass it up. Especially if it's a library benefit. And in the meantime, visit his farm at www.bedlamfarm.com. where you'll find Mr. Katz's thoughts on animals, life, the craziness of our modern selves, and his lovely photos of said animals and the farmland of upstate New York.

Now, for the new class. The Way We Were: Memoir and Personal Essay, will begin Wednesday,September 23, and run for six Wednesdays from 6:30-9:30pm. We'll begin (or continue) writing about our extroardinary, normal, crazy, beautiful lives, using writing prompts and exercises. We'll learn how to structure our memoirs, and how to send out our personal essays to magazines or newspapers. Among other things. So, if you want to get your misty watercolor memories on paper and out into the world, give me a shout. (413) 346-8793, or e-mail at chryslerszarlan@yahoo.com.

Happy Writing!

Not Quite The New Schedule...

It's been a long, cold, hot summer. Now it's pretty much over, and I have been contemplating my new class schedule. At the moment, my Tuesday class is full, and I'm thinking of offering either another Continuing Ed session, or a Personal Essay /Memoir class (when I can come up with a catchier title...), and a workshop or two for the fall.

Nothing is set in stone yet, so input is appreciated. I'm thinking of adding a class Wednesday evenings, but again, am open to suggestion. So, let me know what you're interested in! I should have a new class schedule up right after Labor Day, most dreaded of hols (summer ending, back to school, cold nights, etc...it still gives me the jim-jams, although I can't say the weather hasn't been sparkling).

In any case, Happy Long Weekend!

News of the Word

It's summer, and although the weather here has been less than perfection, there are still lots of literary activities that we have been, and are planning to, indulge in. Went to the Odyssey for a reading by Reif Larsen, author of the remarkable Selected Works Of T.S. Spivet, about a twelve year old cartography prodigy (that's hard to say!) who takes off across the country (riding the rails) to claim a prize awarded to him by the Smithsonian. It's not really a kid's book. At all. T.S.'s observations being rather incredibly adult. Perhaps too much so, but that's a minor quibble. It's a tremendous book, with lots of sidebar maps and drawings. And Mr. Larsen's presentation (including a very funny slideshow) is fine. If you get a chance, see him. And definitely read the book.

In July, we'll go to a few Odyssey readings. Tracy Winn and her Mrs. Somebody Somebody (Lowell millworker's and other's stories), and Jim Lynch (Border Songs, which boasts odder characters than have been seen since Annie Proulx's The Shipping News.

We are trekking to the Mark Twain House in Hartford for class on July 28, where we will tour, write, picnic and hear a concert. Weather permitting. If no picnic or concert, I guess we'll just write.

In August, we are planning at least one excursion to Edith Wharton's house in Lenox, The Mount, for another write in the garden or library, and a play (an adaptation of her great story, Xingu), and/or a reading by Lily Koppel, author of The Red Leather Diaries , based on a diary she found in an old steamer trunk in her apartment building. She found the author of the diary, then 90 years old, and wrote about her life. Very intriguing.

What I am reading this summer: said Border Songs, Mrs. Somebody Somebody, T.S Spivet, The Red Leather Diary, the Ladies #1 Detective Series(again), some Eudora Welty stories (again), some Edith Wharton stories, and books about India (research for my next book, oddly, since I really have heretofore had little interest in India, as a whole). I may re-read Dandelion Wine, by Ray Bradbury, a great summer classic, or Stephen King's It or Bag of Bones, ditto, it seems to me. And of course, Eudors Welty's Losing Battles, the perfect August read.

I'm sure there will be other excursions and expeditions, in the moments we are not working hard to finish our books (my second should be in good shape, hopefully sending-out shape, by mid-August), and so our summer looks quite interesting. Hope your summer is a fine one, and that you might be able to join us on our adventures. Happy Writing!

Wherever You Set Your Foot

I've been revelling in the amazing literary past and present of Western Massachusetts lately. Last week, the Tuesday class and I went to a reading at the wonderful Odyssey bookstore in South Hadley MA. Elinor Lipman this time, and her engaging, funny presence. (Her new book is The Family Man). This week, a reading on Thursday by a debut writer, Emily St. John Mandel. Almost every week there is a reading or other literary event nearby. The colleges are rife with writers doing readings and workshops.

Also, the literary landscape is crazy here. When I lived in Cummington, I was on a ridge that boasted three National Poet Laureates. My housemate was Rick Reiken (The Odd Sea, Lost Legends of New Jersey, check him out). Wilbraham, my current place of residence, was oft visited in the 1920's by none other than the horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, who based one of his most famous stories on Wilbraham Mountain. Elinor Lipman and Anita Shreve make their homes nearby. Then of course, there are the usual suspects -- Emily Dickinson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edith Wharton. And not far down the road in Hartford, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Mark Twain plyed their pens. Up the way in Brattleboro, Rudyard Kipling wrote the Jungle Book. So it seems as if everywhere I set my foot, a literary giant of the past stepped before me. We are rich in writers, and we'll be taking advantage of it with summer field trips, for sure, while we attempt to join the ranks of famous Western Massachusetts writers.

What I am reading:
Pastures Of Heaven, by John Steinbeck. If all works out, I'll be moving to California sometime in the future, to the area around Monterey and Salinas, where Steinbeck set his literaary giant feet. I would recommend this book, his first, for its outrageous, odd California Gothic tales. It's fun to go to the Steinbeck Museum in Salinas, if you get the chance. They have the camper he travelled around in writing Travels With Charley, even.

Drood, by someone whose name I've forgotten. But I'll let you know. It's a monster, over 700 pages.

Publish or Perish: Get Your Personal Essays Into Print

My new Wednesday class, originally entitled "Write That Book Now!" has morphed into something altogether different, and wonderful. The writers in the class all happen to be wicked funny practitioners of the personal essay. Which is probably the best way to go to get some publishing credits to one's name. And writing short pieces for long enough will yield a book eventually. As I am fond of saying, if you write one page a day for 365 days, you'll have a book! The class is not yet full, and as we are working on short pieces, it is an ongoing class. Meaning that anyone at any time who hankers to write short pieces for the magazine and newspaper trade, can jump in for ideas, support, and information about sending out their essays.

Here is one exercise that we use:

Make a list of all the things you want to write about. Anything from traveling with your dog to your grandmother's stories of farm life, to your frustrations with your tattoed twenty-something musician son. Choose one and write a two-page crappy first draft of an essay.

Book Groups Are Good

Had a fun and illuminating time at a Baypath College (Longmeadow, MA) event yesterday. It was entitled "Are You A Bookie?" and was a gathering of book groups in the area. There were appropriate snacks (tea and cucumber sandwiches -- really!), bookstores peddling books, authors reading and answering our salient or dumb questions, and of course, a slew of book groups. It was a great networking and info gathering opp. We also took away with us a huge list of book club reads, recommended by authors as well as the book groups. Suzanne Strempek Shea moderated, and as always was a gracious and accessible host. Leslea Newman, poet laureate of Northampton read and entertained us with her hilarity. Also, a young (16-year-old) writer named Amanda Butcher, Rebecca Flowers (an NPR Player and author of Nice To Come Home To, and Alan Hunter, Curry (?) College prof and author of Stories We Need To Know (he also hasa a great accent, perhaps Australian). So, put it on your calendar for next year, and also check out a similar event sponsored by the fantastic Odyssey Bookstore on Wednesday, June 10th.