 |
 |
Naked, Drunk, and Writing: Writing Essays and Memoirs for Love and for Money is a funny, anecdotal and highly useful guide to writing personal essays and memoirs by Adair Lara, a popular columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle for 12 years. She has taught writing at universities and private workshops ranging from The Squaw Valley Community of Writers to Mills College to her own living room for almost two decades. Anne Lamott, author of Bird by Bird, says, “ Half the people I know seem to haven take 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.”
Early Praise for Naked, Drunk, and Writing:
Jacqueline Winspear, author of the Maisie Dobbs series
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. Now - at last – the depth and breadth of her experience as writer and editor are distilled into this one great book on writing. Every writer should have a copy on their bookshelf.
Tracy Johnston, author of Shooting the Boh:
Your insights are terrific and so is your voice:
funny and self-deprecating, ballsy and enthusiastic.
Janis Newman, author of Mary:
This is a really wonderful book. One of the best (and most
helpful) books on writing I’ve read. And unlike most practical
guides, never pedantic or boring.
John Leland, professor:
WOW! You’ve got a treasure chest here that’s just brimming with
jewels!
Mary Patrick, author of Family Plots:
Adair's keen editorial eye and sharp sense of story arc helped me pare a 500-
page manuscript into a tighter, plot driven read. Her coaching and enthusiasm
opened doors to locating an agent that had previously been bolted.
Ruth Chambers, author of The Chinaberry Album:
I WANT A COPY OF THIS BOOK. It's wonderful. I've printed out pages and pages,
copied portions in pen, but I want to hold its whole thick self and start
underlining, highlighting, tagging pages. What a gift to writers everywhere.
I'm struck by your conversational voice. I feel that I'm there in the room
with you, watching you fold and unfold your glasses as you share your experiences
and wisdom with us. Your material is never dry, is interesting, funny, instructive,
and memorable. Just wish I could open the top of my head and pour all this
good stuff inside.I learned so much from your chapter on epiphanies—the
importance of insight, event, and change.
Nancy Wiseman, writer:
Your book just hit me! It says everything I have been trying to "Get"
in my writing. Our writing professor is really more of a guide and has us
do a lot of self discovery when we critique other's work and our own. But
Adair says it! I am madly reading and highlighting her book and at the same
time thinking of how I want to edit this and that part of my latest piece.
But what is exciting and discouraging at the same time is finding out how
writing is like being a painter. It is constant re working and I feel I am
never really "there" in any of my chapters. They all sit on my computer
waiting for more work. But then that is exciting too.
Marie Estorge, writer:
I loved "Naked, Drunk, and Writing." In 233 pages, you managed to
supply writers with more useful information and tips than that contained in
the sum of all the writing books on my shelves. Well done!
Tanya Taskila, writer:
I really love your book! Best writing book I've ever read. Look forward to
getting my S together so I can see you soon. Thankfully your book is inspiring
me to stop talking to myself and to get creative!
Gregory Peebles, soprano:
I've been reading through your book, and I have been inspired to apply some
of your techniques to my writing, and I've gotten very good feedback from
readers. Your voice is so true that it encourages me to listen deeply to my
own. Thank you for this guide; it straddles such a difficult line, containing
information I feel is pertinent both to beginning and intermediate writers
. I hope one day to read it again as an advanced student and take even more
away.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
5.0 out of 5 stars Making it easy., April 27, 2009
Melanie Johnston
Adair Lara tackles tricky writing issues and boils them down to easy solutions.
First off, she's easy to read. Many writing books are not. Second, her ideas/solutions
work. She gives you fun, thoughtful ideas that help create a picture that
actually solves the blocks. If you take the time to read it, put in a little
homework, my bet is you'll be very pleased with the result. I'm very grateful
she wrote it and that I bought it instead of another book. Never have I put
a writing book to this much use-- well, maybe,Strunk & White.
Katherine Olivetti
Naked, Drunk, and Writing is more than a book about writing. It's like sitting in Adair's writing class and having her right there teaching you. One of the most generous books I've read, Adair shares a lifetime of good writing and holds back nothing. I've taken writing classes and read books about writing for years, but none has given me the inspiration, insight, and understanding like this book. It's funny, readable, wise, and at the same time articulates some of the deepest core principles of good writing. If you're just beginning, start here. If you're an experienced writer, you'll learn things you don't know yet. I promise, you won't be able to keep your fingers off the keyboard or pen from paper once you start NDR!
LA Hedges
Adair Lara could teach a rock to write. Packed with examples, suggestions,
resources,and exercises--Naked, Drunk and Writing is the perfect
companion for you and your laptop. The book entertains and instructs on how
to make a piece work and how to get it published once you nail it. I got my
first essay published after reading the chapter on angles.
Carolynn Ross, writer
I've recommended your book to countless people and your seminar too. Thank
you for all the preparation and work you put into your seminars and your wonderful
sense of humor that breaks thru the overwhelm of taking in so much information;
sitting in those chairs and not knowing what the hell to do with it. Just
about the time my head was to explode you'd come out with something so funny,
the entire class would roar and my head retreated to normal size - Thank God!
Monique Alonso, San Francisco
I read through your book last night -- it's fantastic! Your voice, loud and
clear, filled with practical suggestions that any aspiring writer would benefit
from. Liked the writing exercises. The inclusion of examples is particularly
helpful - this book is accessible, funny, useful and insightful.
DIRECT SALES:
SEND A CHECK FOR $15.00 PLUS $3.00 SHIPPING, TO
Adair Lara
97 Scott Street
San Francisco, CA 94117
415-626-9157
(PLEASE SAY IF YOU'D LIKE THE COPY TO BE AUTOGRAPHED BY THE AUTHOR)
Also available at Amazon.com and at bookstores, including Book Passage in
Marin County, and Cover to Cover in San Francisco.
About Adair Lara
Adair Lara started her career writing for local magazines — first San Francisco Focus, the city magazine, and then SF, a design magazine at which she passed herself off as someone passionately interested in interior design. She wrote freelance humor pieces for the San Francisco Chronicle Sunday section, and in 1989 joined the staff as a columnist, where she won a number of awards, including the Associated Press award for Best Columnist in California. She writes for a number of national magazines, including More and Reader’s Digest. Her essays have been anthologized upwards of fifty times. May 17, 2002 was declared Adair Lara Day in San Francisco by proclamation of Mayor Willie Brown.
In 2007 Adair founded a web 2.0 website called Matchwriters.com where aspiring writers can meet one another. The site has been endorsed by many prominent authors including Anne Lamott, Amy Tan, Jacqueline Winspear, Dorothy Allison, and Isabel Allende.
Her awards include:
• 1990: Associated Press, Best Columnist in California.
• 1997: Humor Columns for Newspapers over 100,000, National Society of Newspaper Columnists
• 1998: First place, general interest columns, National Society of Newspaper Columnists.
• 1999: Second place, commentary, American Association of Sunday and Feature editors contest, competing against papers with circulation over 300,000.
• May 17, 2002 was declared Adair Lara Day in San Francisco by proclamation of Mayor Willie Brown
Adair Lara, for 12 years a popular columnist with the San Francisco Chronicle (browse the archives) , now writes magazine features and books in addition to teaching writing and working one-on-one with writers. Please check out classes for upcoming opportunities. Her students include Janis Newman, author of The Russian Word for Snow and a the widely reviewed novel on Mary Todd Lincoln called Mary; Lolly Winston, author of Good Grief; Robin Wolaner, founder of Parenting Magazine and author of Naked in the Boardroom ; and Jackie Winspear, author of the bestselling Maisie Dobbs series.
