At Last! THE LONG GAME, the film noir based on my short story “The Method,” starring Kathleen Turner, Jackie Earle Haley and Sekai Abani, will be screening in Los Angeles as part of the La Femme Film Festival on October 26, 7 p.m. Individual tickets available at https://lafemme.eventive.org/films/the-long-game-66f713a4dde41f004819df0f.
Reading a new short story, “Haven” as part of The New Series at Beyond Baroque. These are commissioned works on a theme. Ours is “Querencia”—the place in a bullring where the bull stakes out his ‘safe space,’ returning to regather his strength’. It’s come to refer to a safe space. Come check it out—October 12, 7 pm. Pacific time. Beyond Baroque, 681 Venice Boulevard. Venice, CA. FREE, LIVE in person or come virtually on YouTube! RSVP at EVENTBRITE
“Observation is the first act of the imagination,” said poet William Carlos Williams. But these days, we spend most of our time shut up in dimmed rooms, staring at screens–and our writing shows it. This workshop is designed to get the writer back into the body, back in touch with physical reality, invigorating the writing with the richness of the sensual, a portal to memory and the imagination.
But perception is just half the journey. Who hasn’t been captivated by a wayward scent, a certain effect of light, and been at a loss to transfer the experience it into words? Not only will you learn to observe more keenly, but you’ll develop the tools to turn vivid sense impressions into rich, startling language.
This virtual weekend intensive, offered through the Community of Writers on Zoom, combines lecture and generative exercises, in-class discussion and experiential assignments, designed for writers who could use a creative jolt, a bit more play in their practice. Suitable for fiction writers, memoirists, poets and anyone ready to get their heads (and those of their readers) out from behind those screens and back into the savory dimensionality of sensual reality.
Writing Through The Senses. Early bird discount until May 10.
In it for the long haul? Surviving the Literary Life--six writers who have been there discuss the tricks for beating the odds as part of Pasadena/Altadena's LITFEST IN THE DENA. Join me and tremendous LA writers including Jervey Tervalon, Lisa Teasley and Gary Phillips, next Tuesday, May 2, 7:30 p.m, at the Altadena library. FREE! Full program of events at http://litfestinthedena.org
In Celebration of Francesca Lia Block’s new novel House of Hearts, I’ll be reading an LA based piece of fiction—perhaps from my Work in Progress!—along with editor, memoirist and fictioneer Samantha Dunn (Failing Paris, Not By Chance, Faith in Carlos Gomez) and the Oracle of LA, Amanda Yates Garcia (Initiated) for a witchy night at Los Angeles’s Skylight Books
Come and revitalize your senses and your writing process with a week of exploration into the senses, the portal for memory and the imagination in your work. Todos Santos is one of Mexicos hidden“Pueblos Magicos” located in Baja California. The Todos Santos Writing Workshop is an intimate setting for our encounter with the senses, the bridge between the inner and outer worlds. These workshops are small, so register soon! Todos Santos Writing Workshops.
SLOW LIGHTNING is a poetry project invented by LA poet Peggy Dobreer during COVID, meeting virtually every weekday morning, giving us a guided visualization. Then, based on her creative prompt, we write a new poem. The reading celebrates the 2nd anniversary of SLOW LIGHTING., I will be reading with novelist/poet DAVID FRANCIS live from Australia, and poet ROBIN MESSING, live from New York! With musical duo Petty Chavez.
Thursday, Jan 12, at 7 p.m Pacific, 10 pm Eastern and 2 p.m.in Australia.
FREE. For Zoom link, RSVP to adhocink@yahoo.com!
A tale is only as good as its telling. Join me for a weekend deep dive into the delicious, essential and underexplored aspect of fiction writing, POINT OF VIEW, in a weekend intensive, May 13-15, Virtual, through the Community of Writers. We’ll examine the varied choices in Point of View, their possibilities, strengths, weaknesses, the tradeoffs involved between the excitement of first and the control of third in its different guises—close third, more distant varieties, limited; the quirky second person; even the venerable Authorial Omniscent, and issues of narrative voice. $330, early bird discount $280. Hope to see you there!
The SLOW LIGHTNING: IMPRACTICAL POETRY Anthology launches with a table reading with contributors including well known and lesser known poets, fiction writers, playwrights, psychologists, artists, attorneys and other participants of the Slow Lightning meditation and poetry prompt group, edited by Peggy Dobreer. Participating will be Dobreer, David Francis, Maxie Jane Frazier, Maria Berry, David Orr, Brendan Constantine, Lucien Zell, Carrie Nassif, Ruthie Marlenee, Roberta H. Martinez and more. RSVP fo ZOOM LINK to adhocink@yahoo.com
The dialogue scene is the ultimate test of the writer’s skill When I ask editors and agents ‘What aspect of writing tends to be most problematic in the fiction you see?” the answer, across the board, is “dialogue.” Why? Because dialogue for the page is not screenwriting, it is not playwriting. It is not dialogue you hear every day. It’s a heightened reality and exists just for the page.
In this three-day writing intensive, we’ll explore the essentials of the dialogue scene: internal thoughts, character observation, spin, conflict, proportion, gesture, landscape, the Million Dollar Line and the multi-character dialogue scene. The format combines lecture and generative exercises, in-class discussion and experiential assignments.
Five, two-hour virtual sessions, with writing exercises in between. Give your writing an early Christmas gift! $280 early bird special, $350 after Nov. 15.
This event will be held entirely on Zoom. To register, go to Community of Writers.
(Virtual Event) Interview with poet PEGGY DOBREER celebrating the publication of her collection FORBIDDEN PLUMS: Poems in Quarantine (Glass Lyre Press). FORBIDDEN PLUMS was written during the first forty days of the covid lockdown in 2020—She’ll be reading from the collection and we’ll be talking about poetry, Dobreer’s writing process, and the effect of the pandemic on us all. RSVP: BBE InConversation Events.. Free. 5 p.m. pacific, 8 p.m. Eastern. FORBIDDEN PLUMS is available for purchase here. See you then!
On Thursday, July 29, 4 pm Pacific, 7 p.m Eastern, I’ll be in conversation with the ultimate literary gentleman, Matthew Specktor, on his new book, a memoir in criticism, ALWAYS CRASHING IN THE SAME CAR, a story of a peculiar kind of failure which haunts his life and art, the Hollywood failure. The chapters take up the stories of certain writers, directors, actors and musicians whose career arcs and plummets haunt Specktor, and through whose stories he tries to get a grip on his own sense of failure and his difficult relationship with his mother, who like Specktor, violated the family success story with her own downfall. Contact McNally Jackson Books for link.
As part of the Community of Writers Summer Writing Conference, FESTIVAL DAY is an All Day series of craft talks and readings open to the public on a donation basis. My craft talk, Writing With the Senses, about the importance of the senses in creating fiction a reader can inhabit, kicks off the day.
Following me, there are readings by Karen Joy Fowler, Gail Tsukyama. and Martin Smith, then a panel on literary nonprofits with Tom Lutz (LARB), Oscar Villalon (Zyzzyva), David Ulin (Alta), Jared Jackson (PEN),. David Kipen (Libros Schmibros), and David Hayes (Kimbilio/Fiction), moderated by Alex Espinoza; Leslie Daniels on Gil Dennis’s “Finding the Story” workshop; Screenwriting techniques to finding the story; Michelle Latoilais on “The Tyranny of Realism”; Conversation between Martin Smith and Julia Flynn Siler on what the fiction writer can learn from nonfiction, moderated by Sands Hall; “Deep Dive into a Short story” with Dana Johnson, Peter Orner and Krys Lee, moderated by Tom Barbash—the story is “Omakase” by Weike Wang (link to story on Community of Writers website)’ Readings by Peter Orrner, Kirstin Valdes Quade, Tom Luts and Andrew Tonkovich; Conversation with Amy Tan and Anna Devere Smith; reading by poet Robert Hass; and closing comments by Dana Johnson. For more information and link to Community of Writers’ Festival Day, go to https://communityofwriters.org/events/event/festival-day/
Celebrating the launch of PALM SPRINGS NOIR (Akashic Press), a reading and conversation with Janet “Sunrise,” Tod Goldberg, “A Career Spent Disappointing People,’ Alex Espinoza, “The Salt Calls Us Back, and Michael Craft, “VIP Check-in”. Hosted by Corey Roskin and the Rancho Mirage Library. EVENT LINK: PALM SPRINGS NOIR EVENT
To celebrate the publication of PALM SPRINGS NOIR, the newest addition to the Akashic Noir series, I will be reading from my story “Sunrise,” along with co-authors, editor Barbara De Marco Barrett, Eric Beetner, and T. Jefferson Parker. Broadcast through crowdcast, RSVP here to attend or to see the recording:
As any agent or editor will tell you, it’s not enough to write beautifully. Have you ever read a novel that was splendidly written and yet, you didn’t finish it? Ever written a story and asked yourself, “What the heck was this about?” How do you craft a story that’s compelling as well as beautiful?
In this weekend intensive, we will explore the ground zero of storytelling—the essential dramatic and structural elements of scene and story. We’ll discuss the elements of scene—the fundamental building block of story—with examples from literature both high and low. Then we’ll turn to the larger issue of story—learning what makes different kinds of narratives “tick”—before turning to the biggest question, the possibilities for structuring the novel.
This is an intensive workshop, with five, two-hour Zoom sessions designed to solve some of the grittiest problems of storytelling.
Lecture, discussion, in-class exercises and exercises between sessions. Open to writers of all levels. www.communityofwriters.org
In fiction writing, style is in the sentence. In this weekend intensive workshop, we will look at the possibilities of the sentence in literary prose. Syntax, word choice, diction, sound, structure--The Art of the Sentence will focus on the micro level of the art form, and give you some insight on the creation of literary style. January 22-24, 2021 through the Community of Writers:. https://communityofwriters.org/.../the-art-of-the-sentence/ Early bird discount!
Due to popular demand, Fiction First Aid in December will be held on a Saturday rather than the usual Friday. Join me, Alex Espinoza, Sands Hall and Dana Johnson for another round of Fiction First Aid! These are fifteen minute “lightning round” consults, where you can bring a sticky problem you’ve been having, and I or another experienced writer/teacher will brainstorm it with you, one on one—or bring a page of your prose if you ever wanted to privately ask an experienced writer “what is wrong with my writing?” The results of these little consults are amazing. Register now! www.communityofwriters.org {formerly Squaw Valley]
Join me, Natalie Bazile, Glen David Gold and Michael Jaime-Becerra for another round of Fiction First Aid! Held monthly, these are fifteen minute “lightning round” consults, where you can bring a sticky problem you’ve been having, and I or another experienced writer/teacher will brainstorm it with you, one on one—or bring a page of your prose if you ever wanted to privately ask an experienced writer “what is wrong with my writing?” The results of these little consults are amazing. Register now! www.communityofwriters.org {formerly Squaw Valley]
Fiction Firist Aid through the Community of Writers. Fifteen minute consults with well-known writer/teachers offered once a month, for $25! It’s amazing how much you can get done in 15 minutes. This month I’ll be mentoring along with Tom Lutz, exec. editor of the Los Angeles Review of Books, SF novelist and columnist Vanessa Hua, and short story writer and novelist Dylan Landis. Deadline to register—8 a.m. that Friday morning.
Writing from the Senses
A Weekend Intensive with Janet Fitch
Offered through the Community of Writers, www.communityofwriters.org
Five two-hour sessions, Oct. 9-11
“Observation is the first act of the imagination,” said poet William Carlos Williams. But these days, we spend most of our time shut up in dimmed rooms, staring at screens--and our writing shows it. This workshop is designed to get you from behind the screen and into physical reality, revitalizing your practice and invigorating your work with the richness of the sensual, a portal to memory and the imagination.
Perception is just half the journey. Who hasn’t been captivated by a wayward scent, a certain effect of light, and been at a loss to transfer the experience it into words? Not only will you learn to observe more keenly, but you’ll develop the tools to turn vivid sense impressions into rich, startling language.
The format combines lecture and generative exercises, in-class discussion and experiential assignments, designed for writers who could use a creative jolt, a bit more play in their practice. Suitable for fiction writers, memoirists, poets and anyone ready to get their heads (and those of their readers) out from behind those screens and back into the savory dimensionality of sensual reality.
www.communityofwriters.org
Every final Friday of the month, I and a couple of other experienced teacher/writers will be taking your writing questions through the Community of Writers (formerly Squaw Valley) Fiction First Aid, a 15 minute, one on one consult, where we answer a burning question or looking at a page of your prose—the time is yours. Mark your calendars. www.communityofwriters.org.
Fiction: A Reading
11 a.m. / Room 3314 (Bldg. 3, 3rd Floor)
A young Russian woman comes into
her own in the midst of revolution and
civil war in JANET FITCH’s Chimes of a
Lost Cathedral. In her novel A Student
of History, NINA REVOYR explores both,
the beginnings of Los Angeles and the
present-day dynamics of race and
class. In SUSAN CHOI’s novel, The Trust
Exercise, students at a highly competitive
performing arts high school struggle and
thrive in a rarified bubble in the 1980s.
Come to the Bowtie Project for an evening around the fire as two Angelenx natives—best-selling novelist Janet Fitch and poet Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo. Janet will read from her Los Angeles classic White Oleander, while the moon rises over the Los Angeles River.
Join us on Thursday, October 10th at 6:30 pm as we welcome Rene Denfeld to the store to discuss and sign The Butterfly Girl! Joining her in conversation will be Janet Fitch author of Chimes of a Lost Cathedral.
The Chimes of a Lost Cathedral book tour is shaping up beautifully! Check back periodically for updates.
If you would like to have a book signed, but are not able to attend a reading, you can preorder from these booksellers, get your book signed, and they’ll send it to you!
Wednesday July 10, TAHOE/OLYMPIC VALLEY, CA Squaw Valley Community of Writers Public Reading, 7 p.m. Ticketed event.
Tuesday, July 16 LOS ANGELES, CA Skylight Bookstore, Book launch! 7:30 p.m.
Thursday July 18 DALLAS, TX Interabang Books, 6 p.m.
Friday July 19 HOUSTON, TX Brazos Bookstore, 6:30 p.m.
Monday July 22 ATLANTA—DECATUR, GA Georgia Center for the Book Decatur First Baptist Church 7:15 p.m
Friday July 26 SACRAMENTO, CA Stories on Stage, Ticketed event benefiting by the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley. Staged reading plus interview with Beth Ruyak, Russian treats, music and souvenir Chimes vodka glasses! Doors at 7, event at 7:30. Books sold by books sold by Beers Books
Saturday July 27 CALISTOGA , CA Copperfields’ Books 7 p.m.
Sunday July 28 SAN FRANCISCO/MARIN—CORTE MADERA, CA Book Passage Literary luncheon. Ticketed event. Noon.
July 31 SAN DIEGO/NORTH COUNTY/LA JOLLA CA— Two events, afternoon at Santaluz Country Club San Diego (books sold by Warwick’s), and evening at Warwick’s Books, La Jolla. 7:30 p.m.
August 1 LOS ANGELES/PASADENA, CA— Vroman’s Books 7 p.m.
August 20, NEWPORT BEACH, CA — Pen On Fire Speakers’ Series with Barbara De Marco Barrett, Lido Village Books, 7 p.m.
September 14 PASADENA, CA — Pasadena Central Library Author Series, 3 p.m. Books sold by Vroman’s Books
September 20, PRESCOTT, AZ—Literary Southwest Writer’s Series at Yavapai College
September 28-29, WRIGHTWOOD, CA—Wrightwood Literary Festival
For a week, I will be teaching, reading, leading workshops, having one-on-one manuscript meetings with participants, joining in craft panels, and reading from my brand new novel, Chimes of a Lost Cathedral, for the very first time. I was a participant at Squaw Valley in 1995, and have been staff there since the early 2000s. It is a home away from home, a class reunion, summer camp for writers—I hold my time spent up in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada dear. Have made lifelong friends there and continue to do so! If you’ have enrolled, I look forward to meeting you! And if you have not—check it out for next year! www.communityofwriters.org
After the loves and betrayals of The Revolution of Marina M., young poet Marina Makarova finds herself alone amid the devastation of the Russian Civil War in the concluding volume of her epic journey, CHIMES OF A LOST CATHEDRAL. Pregnant and adrift, she is forced onto her own resourcefulness to find a place to wait out the birth of her child and then return to her beloved city—Petrograd.
But after two years of revolution, the city that was once St. Petersburg is unrecognizable, haunted, half-emptied, the starving Capital of Once Had Been. Its streets teem with homeless children. Moved by their plight, though hardly better off herself, she takes on the challenge of caring for these orphans, until they become the tool of tragedy from an unexpected direction.
Shaped by her country’s ordeals and her own—betrayal and privation and unimaginable loss—Marina evolves as a poet and a woman of sensibility and substance hardly imaginable at the beginning of her transformative odyssey
Chimes of a Lost Cathedral culminates the saga of one woman’s journey through some of the most dramatic events of the last century— the story of an artist who discovers her full power, passion, and creativity just as her revolutionreveals its true direction for the future.
I will be participating in Writers’ Week at Idyllwild Arts’ in the mountains of Southern California as a visiting writer, talking about the art of writing dialogue in fiction. This is the make or break item of all fiction writing—the thing agents and editors look at first to see how well fiction writers have mastered their art form. I will also be reading from my brand new novel, Chimes of a Lost Cathedral, which debuts on July 2, the second day of the conference. www.idyllwildarts.org
I’ll be in conversation at West Hollywood’s Book Soup with my brilliant student Saskia Vogel, on the launch of her erotic debut novel, PERMISSION—a subtle and beautiful exploration of the sliding panels of desire, as a young actress, unbalanced by the accidental death of her father, becomes intrigued by a woman running a dungeon in the suburban house across the street.
Book Soup is located at 8818 Sunset Boulevard, in West Hollywood.
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