tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27049025166501118302024-03-14T04:40:22.902-07:00Spirit of StoryUseful Tidbits and Adventures in StorytellingKarin Gutman Orloski, MFAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15690542969323908848noreply@blogger.comBlogger86125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2704902516650111830.post-47374215974061663302016-08-31T12:00:00.000-07:002016-08-31T12:01:05.019-07:00Help An Author<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Author <a href="http://deborahalott.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">Deborah Lott</span></a></span> is looking to interview people about the intersection of social media and psychotherapy, specifically women who've felt their therapists' social media presence had some impact on their therapy. She's also looking to interview clinicians who have had issues with their own social media presence and clients or their clients' social media presence.</div>
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The interviews are for the second edition of her book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Session-Between-Women-Their-Therapists/dp/0716740257/" target="_blank"><span class="s1"><span style="color: #e69138;">IN SESSION: The Bond Between Women and Their Therapists</span></span></a> which she'll be re-issuing as an e-book.</div>
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What happens when clients learn too much from their therapists' Facebook pages, and vice versa? Should you google your therapist? Should therapists google their clients? How do therapists preserve a professional relationship with clients if they have personal life information posted on social media?</div>
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<a href="mailto:deborahlott@earthlink.net" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">Contact Deborah</span></a></div>
Karin Gutman Orloski, MFAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15690542969323908848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2704902516650111830.post-82540424458601140872016-06-07T18:19:00.000-07:002016-06-07T18:19:20.551-07:00Spotlight on POPS The Club<br />
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<a href="http://popstheclub.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>POPS The Club</b></span></a> is devoted to enhancing the lives of those students who have been impacted by the <b><i>pain of the prison system</i> </b>(aka POPS) -- those with incarcerated loved ones and those who have been incarcerated themselves. Spear-headed by <b>Executive Director Amy Friedman</b>, POPS establishes and sustains high-school clubs that offer students community and emotional support as well as opportunities to publish the writings and artwork they create through the club.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3O2qMCyFXE1bcXmQRGP8FejXMU2iyw3xbnZ1aNk46qDuumXtHZdkeQ70I_KnHf8NUw5a4BaO-lzxTOJP__3C_-ODtMt9jvWKQVii8OxIWCGXJ5-YQUuZYaCL0W-Uk6niaFm-ziaPmU1_E/s1600/Glorious.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3O2qMCyFXE1bcXmQRGP8FejXMU2iyw3xbnZ1aNk46qDuumXtHZdkeQ70I_KnHf8NUw5a4BaO-lzxTOJP__3C_-ODtMt9jvWKQVii8OxIWCGXJ5-YQUuZYaCL0W-Uk6niaFm-ziaPmU1_E/s200/Glorious.JPG" width="150" /></a><b style="text-align: right;">Glorious Owens</b><span style="text-align: right;"> is a soon-to-be-graduating senior at Venice High School where she has participated </span><span style="text-align: right;">as a member of POPS The Club. She's from South Central LA and is one of eight kids. As a writer, she recently won first place in the Beverly Hills Literary Society contest, and one of her essays will also be performed at the "Street Angels" gala evening to benefit POPS on Monday, June 13th at The Kirk Douglas Theatre.</span></div>
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Glorious will be attending El Camino College this fall where she'll be studying to become a social worker, and South Central Scholars will be mentoring and guiding her through college and university.</div>
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To read her prize-winning essay, <span class="s1"><b><a href="http://popstheclub.com/walter-mosley-and-me-by-glorious-owens/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">click here</span></a></b></span><b>!</b><br />
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<b><i>Karin: What is your relationship to POPS?</i></b></div>
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Glorious: My relationship to POPS is that my father, my grandmother, my cousins -- almost half of my family, maybe a little bit more -- have been incarcerated at one point or another, on my mom's and my dad's side. And some of them have been affiliated with drug addiction. My mom's side - her dad and her mom were drug addicts. On my dad's side - his dad and his mom were drug addicts. So all my life -- all 18 years -- I saw things. It was like a vision of a movie. You think none of this could happen in someone's life, but it does. It actually happens and what do you do with it?</div>
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<b><i>Like what? What are some of the visuals in your movie?</i></b></div>
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Basically I have seen people selling drugs, face to face. Somebody in my family getting caught for it and sent to jail. Someone getting beat up, jumped. Seeing my grandma in jail, going to visit her. Going through the process of literally taking almost everything off and getting searched. It feels degrading and makes you never want to go there. And my dad - I had never seen my dad in prison - but every other year it seemed like he would go back for something. He would always clean himself up and then go back. And my parents would say, he was 'on vacation, vacation, vacation' because I was little. But I knew better. I was like, why would he go on vacation for one to two years and not come see his kid?</div>
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<b><i>They didn't take you to see him?</i></b></div>
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No, because they thought I didn't know!</div>
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<b><i>But you went to see your grandma.</i></b></div>
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I went to go see my grandma, because we were super close -- we were like two peas in a pod. We always hung out. She was basically my babysitter and I was always with her no matter what the time was. When she went, I was one of the first people to know, because me and my grandma were that close. And she knew I understood what was going on, she knew I wasn't a slow child. And she just told me what happened, 'Okay, I'm going for this, and I'm gonna be gone for a while. Just make sure you send me mail and come see me,' and all of that stuff. So it was one of those traumatizing experiences, 'Now my grandma is going, like what's going on?' And it was continuous blows.</div>
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Someone that I love is getting taken from me. Now I have to go back, and someone I love is being taken from me again. I have to keep going, I have to keep pushing. </div>
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<b><i>Keep pushing what?</i></b></div>
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Keep pushing like... they want you to succeed. Everybody wants you to succeed. But they keep doing stuff bad, so why do I have to succeed when you can't even do it? It's like, 'What's the point? You guys aren't even gonna be here to see it. So why should I have to do anything?' It was stupid, I don't know why I would think that it was a really good excuse to not do anything.</div>
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<b><i>And then you continue the cycle.</i></b></div>
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It's like... okay, I have to keep fighting, I have to keep doing homework. I'm gonna be somebody when I grow up. I'm gonna make sure everybody's alright, they don't have to worry about money. It always seemed like we were worrying about money. Anything that had to do with it ended up around money. So it was like... okay, I'm gonna be somebody who can make money and make sure that everybody in my family is okay, everybody's set. I don't have to worry about anything. But it felt like I was always the one who cleaned up the mess. Even though they don't think that, they think they did it on their own. Of course they think that!</div>
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But you always have someone who helped you get somewhere, even though you worked toward it yourself. Somebody helped you along the way to get where you are. Somebody who told you to get your life together... somebody who helps you, literally sits you down right there as you do your work. Or a passerby who happens to give you a hello that gonna make you smile for the rest of your day. It was always one of those things -- always being positive, always knowing how to help somebody. You never know what somebody's going to be going through.</div>
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So that's basically how I was, always a smile. There's no reason not to have a smile! Even if you're sad.</div>
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<b><i>What gave you the motivation to rise above?</i></b></div>
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I didn't want to be like them, at all. I know jail is not for me. I know that I don't want to be on the streets. I know I don't want any type of pain to be inflicted on my family -- emotional, mental -- I don't want any of that. What I have to go through, I don't want them to ever have to go through. I don't want to have to add on to anything. It's already enough.</div>
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<b><i>When it comes to POPS, how has it helped you?</i></b></div>
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It gave me a voice to whatever I'm thinking. Like how I'm talking to you now... I couldn't do this last year, at all. I don't tell anybody my business. I used to never even speak about anything. And then I came to Mr. Danziger's class and he told me about POPS, and he had us write stories about our lives. And that's when I was like, 'I actually get to tell my story? Are you sure?' And he was like, 'Yeah, you get to tell your own story. Write down everything that happened in your head and everything that you know happened.' And not be judged for it. Not have somebody tell you, 'Are you sure that actually happened to you? Are you positive? That's not how it went.'</div>
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Everybody has their own story to tell, and everybody has their own perspective on it. But it was my perspective. This is what I felt; this is what happened when I see it. And people get to read that and understand. And you have people in POPS who understand what you went through because they have gone through the same situation. And so that's why it was a very good experience for me.</div>
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Just writing the story. And actually telling people my story, that was the hard part. Because it was like, 'I don't want people to really know about me. That's none of their business. This was my story, but do I really want to put it out there?' That was the main thing. I've never been big on talking about myself but now I get to talk about myself full force. So what do I do? I was like, 'Okay, I'll give you a little bit.' And Mr. Danziger was like, 'No, I want more. I want you to actually put your whole life on the paper.' And that's what I did. It was my life and other peoples' lives. My mom would tell me stories about how her and my dad met, or how they would play basketball together,</div>
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I was playing basketball from elementary school all the way up to my freshman year, and I still play with my dad. Sports was the main affiliation with our family. In order for you to go somewhere you have to do a sport. And so this was something that I didn't have to do a sport for! I didn't have to work out. I can actually do this and get noticed for it -- besides having to do volleyball or basketball or run track. So it was a big eye-opener for me. I didn't expect this. I didn't even really expect anyone to notice me. I've always been a team player, all these team sports, team, team, team. I was always doing something for somebody. I was always fighting for somebody - for something, for your school, for a friend. You want to win because it's what all of us want. And this was something that was just for me. Even though it's technically for somebody - it's for POPS. They helped me. So I'm giving something back.</div>
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<b><i>But it's your story.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>So what did you realize after the fact, in writing down your story, that you didn't know before?</i></b></div>
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There's always gonna be one or two people who have gone through the same thing and don't know what to do. If they're in that situation in that moment and they see my story, they might go the opposite direction. Instead of doing what their friends or somebody else told them to do, they'll take the right road. I want people to understand that they're not alone in whatever they're going through. They're not alone. Even though they may think, 'You'll never understand my story.' Everyone has a different story, but there's always going to be a similarity to your story.</div>
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<b><i>What about the personal aspect?</i></b></div>
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It's still one of things, like, I don't like you knowing! Because now when people see me, you see my story, not me. It's like, 'That's how you are, how can you change that fast? How can you be so positive? You're faking it.' That's how I feel like people see me. I can tell you my story, but I'm a completely different person from my story. I'll do my best to help anybody in need in every possible way that I can. It's like, 'How can you go from this background to this?' I don't know how to tell people the transition; I just tell you my story.</div>
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<b><i>Isn't part of your story how you changed -- how you grew through it -- how you've transformed and become the person that you are? Or is that still evolving in terms of what you've written?</i></b></div>
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I feel like it's still evolving because all that stuff is still me. I feel like they see that part, and that's the bad part. That's still me. But I'm still pushing forward to that other me, the one I want to be.</div>
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<b><i>That's a beautiful story, I'd love to read that.</i></b></div>
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<i>One of Glorious's pieces will be read at the gala evening "Street Angels" to benefit POPS The Club at the Kirk Douglas Theatre on Monday, June 13th. Read below for full details.</i></div>
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<b><i>A Gala Evening to Benefit</i></b></div>
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<b>POPS The Club</b></div>
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<b>"Street Angels"</b></div>
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<b>Monday, June 13th</b></div>
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<b>6:30-9:30 p.m.</b></div>
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<b>The Kirk Douglas Theatre</b></div>
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<b>9820 W. Washington Blvd.</b></div>
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<b>Culver City 90232</b></div>
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<span class="s1"><a href="https://www.centertheatregroup.org/tickets/kirk-douglas-theatre/guest-productions/pops-the-club-street-angels" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>{ Buy Tickets }</b></span></a></span></div>
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This special storytelling evening features a group of professional actors performing a sampling of the stories and poems by the students of POPS the Club. Celebrity readers include <b>Amy Landecker</b> (Transparent), <b>Adina Porter</b>, (The Newsroom/True Blood), <b>Stephen Bishop</b> (Moneyball), <b>Ana Ortiz</b> (Ugly Betty/Devious Maids), <b>Veronica Falcon</b> (Queen of the South), and <b>Maximiliano Hernandez</b> (Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.).</div>
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The event begins at 6:30 for wine and hors d'oeuvres as well as the opportunity to meet the students of POPS, with coffee and dessert served after the performance.</div>
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If you can't make the event, please consider <span class="s2"><b><span style="color: #e69138;"><a href="http://popstheclub.com/donate/" target="_blank">offering a donation</a></span></b></span><b>!</b></div>
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Karin Gutman Orloski, MFAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15690542969323908848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2704902516650111830.post-15154138979311924992016-05-09T17:33:00.000-07:002016-06-07T18:26:23.601-07:00Two Summer Writing Workshops<div class="p1" style="text-align: center;">
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<b>WRITE YOUR HEALING STORY</b></div>
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<b>July 12 - Sept 6</b></div>
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8 Tuesdays, 10am-1pm<br />
Location: SF Valley (Encino)</div>
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For full details, visit:</div>
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b><a href="http://www.writetoheal.com/" target="_blank">Write Your Healing Story</a></b><span class="s1"> </span></span></div>
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This 8-week workshop invites you to explore the restorative power of writing as we unravel defining events in our lives and our interpretations of them. Each participant begins by choosing a story to tell. We then devote ourselves to uncovering, deepening and shaping our narratives, giving them structure and infusing them with clarity. The goal is to complete a draft of your healing story, and in the process, also discover the transformative nature of storytelling and bearing witness to the stories of others.</div>
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<b>YOUR HEART PRINT</b></div>
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<b>The Art of Writing Memoir</b></div>
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<b>July 14 - Sept 8</b></div>
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8 Thursdays, 10am-1pm<br />
Location: Santa Monica</div>
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For full details, visit:</div>
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<a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=smviknxab.0.0.75ignedab.0&id=preview&r=3&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.unlockingyourstory.com"><b><span style="color: #e69138;">Your Heart Print</span></b></a></div>
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This 8-week workshop is designed to guide you in developing, writing and completing a short memoir piece or personal essay. Through specific tools and creative techniques, you will learn the building blocks of memoir that will support you in crafting a piece that is mined and sourced from your innermost truth. The small group environment offers a safe, dynamic space where your most transcendent work can emerge.</div>
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For the final session, <a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=smviknxab.0.0.75ignedab.0&id=preview&r=3&p=http%3A%2F%2Fdeborahalott.com%2F"><span class="s2">Deborah Lott </span></a>will be visiting as a guest author and teacher to listen to the completed works and offer her feedback on where they might find a home in the marketplace.</div>
Karin Gutman Orloski, MFAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15690542969323908848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2704902516650111830.post-60143040856598370322016-03-14T12:40:00.000-07:002016-03-14T12:40:02.121-07:00Journal Conference 2016<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ1USp7pUYzfFXbbHzmFaygTazB7J_Ze2LtM5CG2HeovyU_eXBzocgSKWgGLpC4FCOjgJmCcDsotQmhEh96pNdC-VK8BxPryj3wUniv-S7yHt2YUsVsLo2Ybec5uDmX6eL9DTD-rZ2spor/s1600/Journal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="83" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ1USp7pUYzfFXbbHzmFaygTazB7J_Ze2LtM5CG2HeovyU_eXBzocgSKWgGLpC4FCOjgJmCcDsotQmhEh96pNdC-VK8BxPryj3wUniv-S7yHt2YUsVsLo2Ybec5uDmX6eL9DTD-rZ2spor/s400/Journal.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>Journal Conference 2016:</b></div>
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<b><i>Pioneering the Next 30 Years</i></b></div>
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<b>May 19-22, 2016</b></div>
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<b>Hendersonville, North Carolina</b></div>
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<b></b><br /></div>
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<a href="http://journaltherapy.com/conferences/personal/journal-conference-2016/" target="_blank"><span style="color: orange;"><b>See full details</b></span></a></div>
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Kay Adams is celebrating her 30th year as a pioneer in the field of journal therapy and journal writing. The Journal Conference 2016 will gather with the pioneers of the past, present, and future at the beautiful 1300-acre Kanuga Conference Center, a mountain retreat setting near Asheville, North Carolina. </div>
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This Conference is for YOU, if you are a journal writer of any level of experience, or a therapist, coach, facilitator, or helping professional who uses journals with clients, or as someone who is Interested in the use of journal writing for healing, growth, and change.</div>
Karin Gutman Orloski, MFAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15690542969323908848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2704902516650111830.post-5737702355123231962016-01-07T12:53:00.000-08:002016-01-07T12:53:25.637-08:00Aspen Words<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQr8ZHvW1fvVPneg0-UFqguvgqKDD7azjiqg6xNhuB4TxZaYG1R9mfFZmbO9MiBMMQc6QQ1vdjIIaMiIQ0-_1WfUXhzht6HAFcryTGQFkD-g63_0qfcVrwT212-u61OX3VlLih6z6SiBjo/s1600/aspen.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="153" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQr8ZHvW1fvVPneg0-UFqguvgqKDD7azjiqg6xNhuB4TxZaYG1R9mfFZmbO9MiBMMQc6QQ1vdjIIaMiIQ0-_1WfUXhzht6HAFcryTGQFkD-g63_0qfcVrwT212-u61OX3VlLih6z6SiBjo/s200/aspen.png" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span class="s1"><a href="http://www.aspenwords.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">Aspen Words</span></a></span> encourages writers, inspires readers, and connects people through the power of stories.</div>
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<b>The summer workshops (June 19-26, 2016)</b> are designed to accommodate both experienced, published writers and promising, emerging writers who have yet to publish their work. The majority of writing workshops are determined by a juried admission process that requires a manuscript submission; however, there is also a Beginning Writing workshop and a Readers' Retreat, which are non-juried and first-come, first-served.</div>
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<b>Juried Workshops:</b></div>
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Fiction: Maria Semple, Dean Bakopoulos, Antonya Nelson</div>
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Memoir: Darin Strauss, Abigail Thomas</div>
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Poetry: Rowan Ricardo Phillips</div>
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Young Adult Literature: Deborah Wiles</div>
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Novel/Memoir Editing: George Hodgman</div>
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<b>Application Deadline: February 26th.</b></div>
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<span class="s2"><a href="http://www.aspenwords.org/programs/summer-words/2016-workshops/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">See full details</span></a></span></div>
Karin Gutman Orloski, MFAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15690542969323908848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2704902516650111830.post-84421546090013775442015-10-23T15:59:00.000-07:002015-10-23T16:01:58.360-07:00A Conversation With Kelly Carlin<div class="p1" style="text-align: right;">
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Born in Dayton, Ohio in 1963, <span class="s1"><a href="http://www.thekellycarlinsite.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">Kelly Carlin</span></a></span> grew up watching her father, George Carlin, become acounter-culture hero with his comedy. As a child, Kelly explored her own creativity by writing skits and doing imitations (her Ethel Merman was quite good for an eight year old). She began her professional life in her teens working behind the scenes with her mother, Brenda, on various shows for HBO that continued into her twenties.</div>
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In 1993, at the ripe age of 30, she graduated from UCLA, Magna Cum Laude, with a B.A. in Communications Studies. While at UCLA, Kelly discovered her voice as a writer, which led her to a career in writing for film and TV with her husband Robert McCall. After her mother's death in 1997, Kelly found her true calling - autobiographical storytelling- through her first one-woman show, "Driven To Distraction." In 2001, Kelly stepped away from the entertainment business to pursue her masters in Jungian Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate institute. She studied mythology, Jungian psychology and the intersection of art and the sacred.</div>
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Kelly is a speaker, hosts <span class="s1"><i><a href="http://thekellycarlinsite.com/thekellycarlinshow/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">The Kelly Carlin Show</span></a></i></span> on SiriusXM, and "Waking from the American Dream" on <span class="s1"><a href="http://www.smodcast.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">SModcast Network</span></a></span>, and has been touring her present one-woman show, "A Carlin Home Companion," since 2011. Her memoir, <span class="s1"><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Carlin-Home-Companion-Growing-George/dp/1250058252" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">A Carlin Home Companion: Growing Up With George</span></a></i></span>, was published by St. Martin's Press in September 2015. </div>
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<b><i>Karin: Could you start by sharing in your own words how you would describe your memoir, "A Carlin Home Companion"?</i></b></div>
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Kelly: Oh yeah absolutely. And I love that phrase 'in your own words'. My dad made fun of that once; like 'who's words would I possibly be using?' is his response. It's such a great little thing in speech that we do that we don't even think about.</div>
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So this book for me was really put into motion by my desire to share what they say in AA 'my experience, strength and hope'. I went through so much in my life and ended up on my feet, and with a sense of myself and some wisdom. And I really wanted a chance to share that and to give people who might be stuck in some of these similar situations a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel to walk through. So that's really the impetus of where it came from.</div>
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And then since my dad died, what also has come up for me is to be able to share aspects of my father that he never shared with his fans so that people could get a real idea of the whole human being that he was; the father, the husband, the artist and the man. And then of course the dance we did; the father-daughter dance we did, putting aside my mother for a moment, around me finding my own power and strength and voice. And the dance I did in relationship to him and his career and his personality and my own expectations; I really wanted to share that, too.</div>
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<b><i>Karin: How did you go about balancing his story versus your story? When you talk about it now it just seems so clear. Was it always that easy to distinguish?</i></b></div>
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Kelly: I've been privileged to have had done some real work around this stuff because four-and-a-half years ago I began developing a solo show with the same title. And Paul Provenza, my director, helped me a lot; really us just trying to find the clear narrative. Now in the solo show, we do focus on my father a lot in the first half and I played videos of my dad's career. So he's on-stage in video form and then I'm telling family stories around those different eras. As the show progresses, less and less of the George Carlin shows up and more and more of my story shows up, which is somewhat similar in my book. My book's structured a bit differently, but what I've come to tell people about my solo show is people come for the George and they stay for the Kelly. So I have some experience around balancing these two narratives. </div>
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But I knew I wanted this book to be my book and my editor wanted it to be my book. The fact that it's Carlin and there's a picture of me and my dad on the cover, yes that gets you more attention in a world of books where there are thousands of titles a year. To find a little niche on a bookshelf somewhere is important and to catch someone's eye is important, but it's not a biography of my dad.</div>
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I knew that this was my story. I knew that I would tell it from first a daughter's perspective, a child's perspective, and then adolescence, teen and then my twenties and then a maturing adult.</div>
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Actually when my dad's autobiography came out, we posthumously published it. It's called <i>Last Words</i> and it was really based on taped conversations with Tony Hendra who was a friend of my dad's and a great writer in his own right. And when I got the galley and there was a chapter on my mother, there was a chapter on some other different people in my dad's life and there was no chapter on me, I was heartbroken. I thought that my dad hadn't even talked about me. I was really confused. And Tony even said to me at that time, 'I decided not to put a chapter in there of you because you have such a rich story to tell in your own right and I wanted people to be curious enough so that when your book does come out there would be a real hunger for it.'</div>
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<b><i>Karin: Wow, that's great motivation, and endorsement.</i></b></div>
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Kelly: Totally. And that's when I knew; it was like, 'Oh yeah I do have a great story to tell and even Tony Hendra believes that.' So yeah that was part of my motivation.</div>
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<b><i>Karin: During the process of writing the book, did you ever struggle with him upstaging it?</i></b></div>
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Kelly: It's always been a delicate balance, and I spent a lot of my years defining myself up against my father and still do. I mean it's just a natural part of what happens. I think having the book out now I feel very relieved because it's done. It's like my story with my dad is done, you know? In reality it's about our whole family; my mother is a huge part of the story too. So it's really about a family struggling through some things and how we all end up healing each other as well as we can. And we're all humans; we don't heal perfectly. But the reality was, I knew what my narrative was; I knew where I wanted to end up, which is who I am today. The scaffolding of my solo show helped me with this a bit; I had to go back to really decide what do I put in? And I had to put in the things about me where I was giving myself away. So a lot of my story is about giving myself away and living through my dad's shadow and having no sense of self and fighting for it and discovering it and finding my way. </div>
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So it's all in there; the part of being stuck in the shadow and the part coming out of it. But I was really, really lucky that I had a publisher and an editor that said to me, 'This is your story'. I don't think I would have signed up for anything else.</div>
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<b><i>Karin: Does it feel exposing?</i></b></div>
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Kelly: It feels a little weird at times, but as my friend Sara Benincasa reminded me the night before my book was published and I was absolutely freaking out, no matter what 'I' in your memoir is a character and that every person in you memoir is a character and you are not that person and you are not your book and that it is after all a constructed reality like everything else is in our lives. And that really helped me. Yeah of course there are particulars out there, but I know that I shared those particulars because they were pertinent to my story and what obstacles I needed to overcome and how I overcame them. But I've always been a person strangely enough who's felt more comfortable telling a room full of strangers my secrets than sitting among my dad or my mother. That's part of our story in the Carlin family. Here my dad was this great truth teller on stage and yet because of the nature of the dysfunction and the alcoholism and the drug addiction we were all in denial all the time and we were all pretending. We were all really good at pretending everything was okay and just the irony of that. So that was my training in some ways. It's very strange.</div>
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<b><i>Karin: Did it really make a difference that it was published after your dad had passed away?</i></b></div>
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Kelly: For me yeah, absolutely.</div>
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<b><i>Karin: In what way?</i></b></div>
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Kelly: I've had freedom. I feel a real freedom. I think people who have </div>
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parents who died understand the freedom that comes with that. Even if your parents are not famous and even if you're not looking to tell your story out in the world, there's something that happens. Obviously there's grief and loss; that is very real and very deep, but at the same time there's a little more space for a person on earth without your parents there. Part of the work to do after a parent's death is not only to understand that they are physically gone from your life and they're not there to kind of watch over your shoulder, but that whatever you have internalized about them whether real or not your job then is to get right with that internalized version of them, too. Because if it's an internalized negative version of them, their negative voice is still going to haunt you and it has nothing to do with the person; it's the thing that you've internalized. It's your inner work to do. So even after my mom died and then even after my dad died, I had work to do around that kind of stuff to really get into a right relationship with them and own up that the negative voice in my head from my dad even when he was alive which thought that, 'Oh he's not going to like it if I write about this or I tell about this,' might have been true on some levels, but that was really my negative voice that I'd put on him. So it was just easier for me for him not to be here with me to do that work because of his fame and his place in the culture. He's such a force of reason and wisdom and truth-telling and all of that - that that was a lot for me to compete with while he was here.</div>
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<b><i>Karin: If you were to point to the most challenging aspect of writing this book, what was it for you?</i></b></div>
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Kelly: I think it was having to slow down enough to go into some traumatic themes in my life and to slow down enough so that I could articulate them as a writer so that the audience and the reader could really live it with me. And therefore then having to go into the pain of my past and re-live it, not just as a witness narrator but as a person living it in order to really be able to use language to describe what it feels like to be in the room with a person when your mother's angry and drunk. Or you're in the room with your abusive boyfriend; you're not sure what's going to happen kind of a moment. And really having to slow down and feel those things again and realize that, 'Ah, ugh', you know? So those were hard moments to do and not fun chapters to have to dig into, but I found a way certainly to do that and was lucky to have some kinds of exercises I could do that helped me do it in a way that was safe.</div>
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<b><i>Karin: Can you share those exercises?</i></b></div>
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Kelly: Yeah, one of which is an NLP exercise, which stands for Neuro-linguistic Programming. And what it is, is you do a visualization of yourself and become a witness to yourself, as if you're looking at your life and you figure out which direction is future and past for you. For me, my future is forward and my past is back; some people it's left and right. It changes for whatever your wiring is. And so you see your future laid out in front of you, you see your past laid out behind you, and you turn around and you go into your past. And I would go into my past and see the numbers, the years ticking off. And so whatever event I was writing about, say it was my mother's alcoholism when she was really, really sick with it, you go back to a time before you were affected by the trauma and you're trauma free. And so it's not in your body and you connect to that feeling in your body as being trauma-free and then you take an angled trip down into this traumatic scene you want to be witnessing. So I did that and I was able to go into our family's home where we lived up in Tellem Drive in the Palisades where both my parents were crazy on drugs and alcohol and my mother almost died from alcoholism; it was like the darkest years of the Carlin life. And I was able to walk around the house trauma-free and go into every single room and remember all the furniture, where everything was. I mean it was absolutely an incredible experience of memory. And that allowed me then to feel safe enough in that space to go and find my alcoholic drunk mother in a room.</div>
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<b><i>Karin: Wow.</i></b></div>
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Kelly: Yeah. And then be able to really let the little girl be there with her and be able to write about what that feels like; what that feels like, what's in the air. So I wasn't re-traumatizing myself by doing it some other way. And it was a really effective tool for me.</div>
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No one had ever recommended doing it that way. I just decided, "Well I'm going to try this," because I knew I had to go back in this house and I was resisting writing that chapter. I was like, 'Aggghhh! Who wants to fucking write about this shit' you know? Because really all of your resistance comes up in your body and it's healthy and smart because it's trying to protect you. And so I kind of figured out this little mind game to do.</div>
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<b><i>Karin: Thanks for sharing that.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>As you know, I have been offering memoir workshops for a few years now, and I've been struck by how the participants are nearly all female. I know you feel strongly that there is a larger cultural shift going on in the 21st century around women owning and telling their stories. Can you speak to that?</i></b></div>
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Kelly: Yeah sure. I think women, especially our mothers and our grandmothers and then all the way through the mother lines, haven't been part of the grander narrative of civilization. We play supporting roles; we play roles behind the scenes. Essential roles, I mean Jesus Christ we birth the babies. And through the millennia we supported the men who were the warriors and the leaders and the business tycoons and all that kind of stuff. Not saying that there weren't important women in history certainly, but history was written by men and therefore our stories have not been accessible to us. And so I think even we don't feel like we have stories. And so I really believe, especially in this Oprah-age, you know Oprah was one of the first women on TV in the mainstream media to start giving us a voice about our internal lives and what we're living and empowering women to come forward and tell their stories. I think about Phil Donahue also; he was doing that, too. But that was really the beginning of it.</div>
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There is this claiming; so much I hear women saying the phrase <i>finding my voice</i>. <i>'I want to find my voice. I want to live my authentic life. I don't feel like I can express all of myself.' </i>And I think this just comes from these unspoken, unseen, invisible rules of our culture, even though it is 2015 and we have come a long way baby, as they say. When you think about the full scope of human history, this is just the beginning of women finding their voices. I mean it's been a hundred years since women got the vote in this country, so it's not a long time. And so I think women are in great need to connect to other people's stories, to find a room safe enough to tell our stories. Virginia Woolf is the one who talked about <i>a room of our own</i>, that you have to feel safe in order to come out and tell these stories. Not only have we not been allowed to tell our stories, but that when we do come forward to tell our stories, we're then defined by the mainstream culture and we're seen as whatever; too emotional or too this or too that or whatever it is. But this is all changing and it's really actually an amazing, kind of a golden age for women.</div>
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Most of the heroes in our mythology and comic books and the media are these kind of male versions of heroes. But how heroic is it for a mother who will do anything to protect her children? Or the sacrifice that women have made in order to keep the world spinning forward? These are just as heroic. </div>
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I think it's really a unique time, so it doesn't surprise me that women are </div>
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showing up in these rooms and wanting to do this work. Part of the reason I write is to understand myself, so it's not surprising that women are turning to writing classes to find out who they are and to figure out their own relationship with themselves and what they believe, and who are they in the world and in our culture.</div>
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<b>To learn more about Kelly, visit:</b></div>
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<a href="http://www.thekellycarlinsite.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">Her website</span></a></div>
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<b>To buy her book, visit:</b></div>
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<a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-carlin-home-companion-kelly-carlin/1120919267?ean=9781250058256" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">Barnes & Noble</span></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1250058252/flatwave-20" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">Amazon</span></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>To subscribe to her podcast, visit:</b></div>
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<a href="http://thekellycarlinsite.com/waking/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">Waking From the American Dream</span></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>To learn about her SiriusXM Radio Show, visit:</b></div>
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<a href="http://thekellycarlinsite.com/thekellycarlinshow/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">The Kelly Carlin Show</span></a></div>
Karin Gutman Orloski, MFAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15690542969323908848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2704902516650111830.post-4512008858357436612015-08-24T22:03:00.000-07:002015-08-24T22:04:27.353-07:00Build A Free LIttle Library<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxDhwboZDkPQHYLBtpPF8EfE6DRfJCHljqJ4lVFwFuyMO2FA4TxM6fGjunedHU659f6NcHzJE9SpViH9wQdcrcdhEmEAR8KsIrG_Iw7Uj9GdAcp8hK9VeLu-PL7bvWbnwXI8EOEdv17u7E/s1600/imgres-1+5.07.08+PM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="121" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxDhwboZDkPQHYLBtpPF8EfE6DRfJCHljqJ4lVFwFuyMO2FA4TxM6fGjunedHU659f6NcHzJE9SpViH9wQdcrcdhEmEAR8KsIrG_Iw7Uj9GdAcp8hK9VeLu-PL7bvWbnwXI8EOEdv17u7E/s200/imgres-1+5.07.08+PM.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #333333;">Celebrate the </span><a href="http://www.internationalliteracyday.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">International Literacy Day</span></a><span style="color: #333333;"> on September 8th by creating your own </span><span style="color: #e69138;"><a _mce_href="http://littlefreelibrary.org/" _mce_shape="rect" _mce_style="color: #800000; text-decoration: none;" href="http://littlefreelibrary.org/" linktype="1" shape="rect" style="text-decoration: none !important;" target="_blank" track="on">Free LIbrary Library</a></span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;">. For those who are not familiar, A Free Little Library is a "take a book, return a book" gathering place where neighbors share their favorite books and stories. </span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;">In its most basic form, the Library is a book exchange whereby anyone can stop and pick up a book (or two) and bring back another book to share.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXnTa5AT2tLVw3xVOK3Eh1trZbpTELBpW8lWohsWIh77ee61GZg_xYQlnMBLM6lWlrjC5pA2D7knTkjeWZm3tobjWZuRjqfwmPL_YnKA0CGwv7tjstF6i0qIlIImh-4VfpcQk1NxAgwcJO/s1600/imgres+5.07.16+PM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXnTa5AT2tLVw3xVOK3Eh1trZbpTELBpW8lWohsWIh77ee61GZg_xYQlnMBLM6lWlrjC5pA2D7knTkjeWZm3tobjWZuRjqfwmPL_YnKA0CGwv7tjstF6i0qIlIImh-4VfpcQk1NxAgwcJO/s200/imgres+5.07.16+PM.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow', 'Arial MT Condensed Light', sans-serif; font-size: 14.6666669845581px; text-align: start;"><a _mce_href="http://www.literacyworldwide.org/docs/default-source/ild/service-project-kit.pdf?sfvrsn=8" _mce_shape="rect" _mce_style="font-weight: bold; color: #800000; text-decoration: none;" href="http://www.literacyworldwide.org/docs/default-source/ild/service-project-kit.pdf?sfvrsn=8" linktype="1" shape="rect" style="text-decoration: none !important;" target="_blank" track="on"><span style="color: #e69138;">Download this special kit</span></a></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Arial Narrow', 'Arial MT Condensed Light', sans-serif; font-size: 14.6666669845581px; text-align: start;"> with instructions on how to build and maintain</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Arial Narrow', 'Arial MT Condensed Light', sans-serif; font-size: 14.6666669845581px; text-align: start;">your </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Arial Narrow', 'Arial MT Condensed Light', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: start;">own Free Little Library.</span></td></tr>
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Karin Gutman Orloski, MFAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15690542969323908848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2704902516650111830.post-36348486092106683462015-05-31T20:19:00.000-07:002015-05-31T20:20:06.991-07:00Word. Notebooks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdJPtiyfXDLxCd0gjB5zwesnNyQaFnLqah-VTlBSHgSxwYMu7rfm7wNlMQS0zzLkoDn6oaQJskdZl-4mz2ld9dPkOYHtUTFw53Uu8zWcpuxV4iNSQhlOCRh2cZctd6Y3Z80xVWlWIiPaeW/s1600/logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdJPtiyfXDLxCd0gjB5zwesnNyQaFnLqah-VTlBSHgSxwYMu7rfm7wNlMQS0zzLkoDn6oaQJskdZl-4mz2ld9dPkOYHtUTFw53Uu8zWcpuxV4iNSQhlOCRh2cZctd6Y3Z80xVWlWIiPaeW/s1600/logo.png" /></a></div>
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<div class="p1">
Make your life a little bit more productive and organized with these fantastic - and aesthetically pleasing - <span class="s1"><a href="http://www.wordnotebooks.com/"><span style="color: #e69138;">Word. Notebooks</span></a> I</span> just discovered. Included is a system for managing your to-do agenda, with a simple approach that I find refreshingly do-able. You might don it with a leather cover jacket.</div>
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<br /></div>
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They also have something called <span class="s1"><a href="http://www.wordnotebooks.com/products/the-adventure-log"><span style="color: #e69138;">The Adventure Log</span></a></span> notebook which is designed for you to document and remember all your amazing trips and expeditions and fun-filled outings.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Perhaps a great gift for the writers in your life?</div>
<br />
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Check it out <span class="s1"><a href="http://www.wordnotebooks.com/"><span style="color: #e69138;">HERE</span></a>!</span></div>
Karin Gutman Orloski, MFAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15690542969323908848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2704902516650111830.post-11088949088795345302015-03-26T21:05:00.000-07:002015-03-26T21:05:58.918-07:00A Story Idea Each Day For A Month<div class="p1">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaV9cHP9t_FomUg0U8quFZjeNNRNgQWIoPStNTHS46Ss5WqbpM5D0qTSmAvc27b6N5EdzRnwtL6fY7Ko78dPbLzf8GrV26q85m6Qg4fZ70r0mGULYY5qmrw0d7VbxG2EDimMT0YFYbsCh3/s1600/gits_logo_border.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaV9cHP9t_FomUg0U8quFZjeNNRNgQWIoPStNTHS46Ss5WqbpM5D0qTSmAvc27b6N5EdzRnwtL6fY7Ko78dPbLzf8GrV26q85m6Qg4fZ70r0mGULYY5qmrw0d7VbxG2EDimMT0YFYbsCh3/s1600/gits_logo_border.png" /></a></div>
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Every April for the past five years, the screenwriting blog <span class="s1"><a href="http://gointothestory.blcklst.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">Go Into the Story</span></a></span> runs a popular series called <b>A Story Idea Each Day for a Month</b>. All year long, the editor Scott Myers scours news sources for potential script ideas. He selects 30 of them and posts one each day in April. The ideas are free for you to use for your own projects.</div>
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This year 30 more story ideas to send your way starting on April 1st.</div>
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Watch for it <a href="http://gointothestory.blcklst.com/"><span class="s1"><span style="color: #e69138;">here</span></span></a>.</div>
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Check out last year's series <a href="http://gointothestory.blcklst.com/a-story-idea-each-day-for-a-month-2014"><span class="s1"><span style="color: #e69138;">here</span></span></a>.</div>
Karin Gutman Orloski, MFAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15690542969323908848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2704902516650111830.post-1457730921696447482015-03-04T08:55:00.000-08:002015-03-04T08:55:15.341-08:00Life Lessons from a 100-year-old Dancer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Xz4R6Rzf1KU/0.jpg" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Xz4R6Rzf1KU?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<br />Karin Gutman Orloski, MFAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15690542969323908848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2704902516650111830.post-23317600627994348872015-02-02T12:08:00.000-08:002015-02-02T12:08:19.762-08:00A Month of Letters Challenge<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6_G44v9dElQ_V0Ve7iG0VSGEPH92oY9JmP4IvR2WiZCECHWTNNuBtPIasrxF3GH-d9FFqyTpUIKjmZzO1p3YNB63cE_iXxsuOtmCJYBCmxG9hUCEnhSPPsvaWzPnkf6R5OdZtG1pkGWrX/s1600/LetterMo2015square-1024x1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6_G44v9dElQ_V0Ve7iG0VSGEPH92oY9JmP4IvR2WiZCECHWTNNuBtPIasrxF3GH-d9FFqyTpUIKjmZzO1p3YNB63cE_iXxsuOtmCJYBCmxG9hUCEnhSPPsvaWzPnkf6R5OdZtG1pkGWrX/s1600/LetterMo2015square-1024x1024.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
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Here's the Challenge:</div>
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In the month of February, mail at least one item through the post every day it runs. Write love letters, thank yous, or simply notes to say that you miss an old friend. Send a fabric swatch from your new dress. A feather you picked up while on a walk. Whatever it is, let yourself step away from the urgency of modern life and think about an audience of one. Think of it as sending 23 little gifts.</div>
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And, who knows, you might enjoy going to the mail box again!</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://lettermo.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #b45f06;">See full details</span></a></div>
<br />Karin Gutman Orloski, MFAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15690542969323908848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2704902516650111830.post-69817975610681298682015-01-16T16:40:00.000-08:002015-01-16T16:40:05.865-08:00Neil Gaiman's Commencement Address<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/ikAb-NYkseI?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />Karin Gutman Orloski, MFAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15690542969323908848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2704902516650111830.post-32585005691824120902014-12-06T22:45:00.000-08:002015-03-26T21:16:41.392-07:00Academy Originals: Creative Spark<div _mce_style="color: #000000;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivb74KTYAEOSnpvc1NqX_z52h3lfqFg4GI8-InKVRoutL3zP3ubKd2Kl8z4TwboQ7sNmWT6v1__uk5PIdF_h19bo5cSiqb8Su1A76PP_LYOEUVxQHY-4dzkjsCivRANYmkh54ycQT9VqHq/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivb74KTYAEOSnpvc1NqX_z52h3lfqFg4GI8-InKVRoutL3zP3ubKd2Kl8z4TwboQ7sNmWT6v1__uk5PIdF_h19bo5cSiqb8Su1A76PP_LYOEUVxQHY-4dzkjsCivRANYmkh54ycQT9VqHq/s1600/images.jpg" /></a></div>
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The <span style="color: #e69138;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsruNZel-SDQj6OIG7M8uFzSGX6SMa3iS" target="_blank">Academy Originals "Creative Spark Series"</a> </span>takes you inside the creative working minds of top screenwriters, inside their creative process and how they explore ideas, including:</div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6hAr9WkGec&list=PLsruNZel-SDQj6OIG7M8uFzSGX6SMa3iS&index=5" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">Paul Haggis, Screenwriter (Crash, Million Dollar Baby)</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3_QmiNs52o&list=PLsruNZel-SDQj6OIG7M8uFzSGX6SMa3iS" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">Eric Roth, Screenwriter (Forrest Gump)</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbngAEH5Lis&index=1&list=PLsruNZel-SDQj6OIG7M8uFzSGX6SMa3iS" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">John August, Screenwriter (Big Fish, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory)</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKU8K_Npc-M" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">Kirsten Smith & Karen McCullah, Screenwriters (Legally Blonde)</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wo6m9VeBWO4&list=PLsruNZel-SDQj6OIG7M8uFzSGX6SMa3iS&index=11" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">Mike White (School of Rock)</span></a></div>
Karin Gutman Orloski, MFAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15690542969323908848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2704902516650111830.post-15921290362009257592014-08-09T21:12:00.000-07:002015-03-26T21:16:54.968-07:00Story Expo<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn04t-nVaLUEp-74fAImLyDEIfZqUBiRN4aSPsHVJi6u0GP47u3qYwpAt2HjQTqkQAH9OswRpL_V7YJyICy6UlH0hlN8Q_iXIEHHeSJYQExTH4DW87U7tGMG18lEPp56rEdXUH2F0uigXg/s1600/StoryExpo_2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn04t-nVaLUEp-74fAImLyDEIfZqUBiRN4aSPsHVJi6u0GP47u3qYwpAt2HjQTqkQAH9OswRpL_V7YJyICy6UlH0hlN8Q_iXIEHHeSJYQExTH4DW87U7tGMG18lEPp56rEdXUH2F0uigXg/s1600/StoryExpo_2014.jpg" height="104" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="p1" style="text-align: center;">
<b>2nd Annual Story Expo</b></div>
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<b>September 5-7, 2014</b></div>
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<b><i>Westin LAX Hotel</i></b></div>
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<b><i>5400 W. Century Blvd, LA 90045</i></b></div>
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<b>STORY EXPO 2014</b> is the world's biggest convention of writers from all mediums - screenwriters, TV writers, novelists, filmmakers, gamers, journalists, graphic novelists, actors, business people, comic book writers and more. Featuring over 110 world-renowned speakers, 100+ classes and 30+ exhibitors, Story Expo covers all aspects of story and writing - from craft to business to pitching to career.</div>
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This year's speakers include Leslie Lehr, John Truby, Linda Seger, Ellen Sandler, Joe Eszterhas, Christopher Vogler, Lee Aronsohn, among many others.</div>
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<i>To find out more details and to register, visit:</i></div>
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<a href="http://www.storyexpo.com/"><span style="color: #e69138;">www.storyexpo.com</span></a></div>
Karin Gutman Orloski, MFAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15690542969323908848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2704902516650111830.post-39060674500479906392014-06-05T15:41:00.002-07:002014-06-05T15:43:07.127-07:00Spotlight on Daniel M. Jaffe<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7K-pItzrjJkEc7CsBfujpKiIvO0UwTx-6xsEtKRhkBL72VdK5BE4Y0dVtRNXS6u9I5knvBK_9mTfFHhA8CJUmbNxbMalLBDBUNCyBX87X17orSVwd-56LlQ0DcuhnX0s5SPewuVbM8xmy/s1600/Daniel+M.+Jaffe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7K-pItzrjJkEc7CsBfujpKiIvO0UwTx-6xsEtKRhkBL72VdK5BE4Y0dVtRNXS6u9I5knvBK_9mTfFHhA8CJUmbNxbMalLBDBUNCyBX87X17orSVwd-56LlQ0DcuhnX0s5SPewuVbM8xmy/s1600/Daniel+M.+Jaffe.jpg" /></a><span class="s1"><a href="http://danieljaffe.tripod.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">Daniel M. Jaffe</span></a></span> is a prize-winning fiction writer whose short stories and personal essays have appeared in dozens of anthologies, newspapers, and literary journals in over half a dozen countries. Author of <span class="s1"><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Jewish-Gentle-Stories-Gay-Jewish-Living/dp/1590211871/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1401770768&sr=8-2&keywords=daniel+jaffe" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">Jewish Gentle and Other Stories of Gay-Jewish Living</span></a></i></span> (Lethe Press, 2011), Daniel also wrote the novel <span class="s1"><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Limits-Pleasure-Daniel-Jaffe/dp/1590211960/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1401770805&sr=8-11&keywords=daniel+jaffe" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">The Limits of Pleasure</span></a></i></span><i> </i>(Bear Bones Books, 2010), a finalist for a ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Award when first published in 2001 (Haworth Press). Also, Daniel compiled and edited <span class="s1"><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/With-Signs-Wonders-International-Anthology/dp/1931229309/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1401771858&sr=8-1&keywords=With+Signs+and+Wonders%3A+An+International+Anthology+of+Jewish+Fabulist+Fiction" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">With Signs and Wonders: An International Anthology of Jewish Fabulist Fiction</span></a></i></span><i> </i>(Invisible Cities Press, 2001), and translated <span class="s1"><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Here-Comes-Messiah-Dina-Rubina/dp/0939010623/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1401771929&sr=8-1&keywords=Here+Comes+the+Messiah%21+Jaffe" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">Here Comes the Messiah!</span></a></i></span> (Zephyr Press, 2000), a Russian-Israeli novel by Dina Rubina. He teaches creative writing at the UCLA Extension Writers' Program.</div>
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His latest book release, <span class="s1"><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Genealogy-Understanding-Daniel-Jaffe/dp/1590211804/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1402002199&sr=8-1&keywords=the+genealogy+of+understanding" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">The Genealogy of Understanding</span></a></i></span> (Lethe Press, May 2014), is a novel-in-stories in which the narrator explores different ways of adapting Jewish tradition to the modern world. Can the Torah illuminate and guide responses to such contemporary issues as intermarriage, gay marriage, women's equality, infidelity, prejudice, illness, and even murder that threaten to splinter families in his town of Cherryvale, New Jersey? </div>
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Each of the novel's 53 stories responds to a particular weekly Torah reading, resulting in a work of fiction that explores Jewish spirituality, ethics, and community values, as well as the nature of human heart, mind, and soul.</div>
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<i>Come hear Daniel read from The Genealogy of Understanding at:</i></div>
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<b>UCLA Writers' Program 21st Annual Publication Party</b></div>
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<b>Thursday, June 12th, 7-9:30 p.m.</b></div>
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<b>Skirball Cultural Center</b></div>
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<b>2701 North Sepulveda Blvd.</b></div>
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<i>Book signings and refreshments to follow</i></div>
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<span class="s2"><a href="http://writers.uclaextension.edu/publication-party/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">See full details</span></a></span></div>
Karin Gutman Orloski, MFAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15690542969323908848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2704902516650111830.post-79467761460221641582014-05-10T11:37:00.003-07:002014-05-10T13:03:10.171-07:00A Conversation With Lisa Erspamer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGIziSzl9xs9T_321OBBr4M50frKoaTWNfit2cvydsdxUR0wj2xfXSMuCA14_D5TrF8PRuYAoZfPoBhnCchib3vVm09Qg8VUHDILuEkaL-WjLbjLxCDvPMkzOfkEOmVYFElQKnUU5x9Kt0/s1600/Lisa+Erspamer+Headshot+crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGIziSzl9xs9T_321OBBr4M50frKoaTWNfit2cvydsdxUR0wj2xfXSMuCA14_D5TrF8PRuYAoZfPoBhnCchib3vVm09Qg8VUHDILuEkaL-WjLbjLxCDvPMkzOfkEOmVYFElQKnUU5x9Kt0/s1600/Lisa+Erspamer+Headshot+crop.jpg" height="196" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span _mce_style="font-size: 10pt;" style="font-size: 10pt;">A </span><span _mce_style="font-size: 10pt;" style="font-size: 10pt;">creative force who loves to turn a great story into a visual spectacle, <strong>Lisa Erspamer</strong>
is an Emmy-nominated producer and the president of Unleashed Media, a
television, film and digital production company whose clients include
Sony Television, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Pinterest and more. She is
also the creator of the book series <em>A Letter To My Dog</em>, <em>A Letter To My Cat</em> and the upcoming <em>A Letter To My Mom</em>.
Before starting her own company, Lisa served as Chief Creative Officer
and Executive Vice President of Programming and Development for OWN:
Oprah Winfrey Network. Prior to OWN, Lisa was the Co-Executive Producer
of The Oprah Winfrey Show, where she produced hundreds of shows and
oversaw such memorable episodes as the biggest flash mob in history, the
legendary car giveaway, Oprah's After Oscar Specials and Whitney
Houston's final interview to name a few. Lisa, an animal lover since
birth, lives in Los Angeles with her two precious pups, Lily and Grace.</span></span></div>
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<em><strong><span style="font-family: inherit;">How did the idea for the "Letter" brand series of books come about?</span></strong></em></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Actually,
we had sold one book to a publisher, and while we were celebrating that
publishing deal - we were having dinner with them and drinking wine - I
said, we should really do a 'dog book' because my friend Robyn had
photographed my dogs for my birthday as a surprise, and the pictures
were unbelievable. And I said we should call it "A Letter to My Dog" and
have everybody write letters to their dogs. And the publisher said, "I
want that, I'll buy that right now." We said, "Okay, now we have a
two-book deal!" And my co-author, Kimi Culp, and I started putting that book together right away.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">As
the letters started coming in, I realized how powerful the art of
writing a letter is. We actually used it over the course of my career at
the Oprah show. It was sort of a technique to get people to the heart
of their story.</span></div>
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<em><strong><span style="font-family: inherit;">What was the technique you used? In what way?</span></strong></em></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Say
if they were surprising somebody like their mother on the show or a
friend, and we wanted them to say something to the person, and they were
like "I don't know what to say," we would ask them to write a letter.
And that would help them get their thoughts together about what they
would want to say to that person. What we realized is that writing a
letter is something that people can do really easily. It's hard for
somebody to write their story if you say 'hey, write your story.' That's
really daunting and hard, as you know. It makes people crazy. But when
you ask people to write a letter, it's really easy for them to do. Not
easy, but much easier. People can wrap their brains around the concept.
Nobody asked us 'what should we write the letter about?' People just did
it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Like the dog letters that came in, they were funny or really heartwarming. But they all made you <em>feel</em> something, which is what I really loved about the idea. And so then I built it out into an anthology, and we have 17 titles.</span></div>
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<em><strong><span style="font-family: inherit;">Can you share what the next title might be?</span></strong></em></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I
think our next two would probably be "Baby" and "Dad." I'm obsessed
with "A Letter to My Baby" even though I don't have one. I think about
that relationship and how, when you're a parent, your baby - regardless
of age - is always your baby.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">For
the "Dog" and "Cat," those two books celebrate the relationship that
people have with their pets. And we hope that people will see how
special it is and maybe adopt a pet that needs a home. But I think with
"Mom, "Baby" and "Dad," we hope that it inspires people to write letters
for the people in their own lives.</span></div>
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<em><strong><span style="font-family: inherit;">What have you learned about publishing?</span></strong></em></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I
think of television. Neither one of them are businesses you should go
into if you're hoping to get rich. I'm not saying that you can't get
rich. They're things you have to do because you're really passionate
about them. And I
feel like publishing is the same. It's really personal, it's really not
business. You care about it like you're giving birth to it. It's
probably not healthy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">You
do it because you really care what you're putting out there, and you
want people to love it, and you want to make them feel something. You
want them to laugh, or be touched and moved. I'm definitely not in it
for the money. It's costing me more money than I'm making. But I really
believe in what we're doing. I love the concept of writing a letter. I
think it is the best gift we can give somebody, and the best gift to
get.</span></div>
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<em><strong><span style="font-family: inherit;">What kind of letters are you looking for?</span></strong></em></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">We're
not looking for "I hate my mother" letters for sure. I think the tone
is really about the love, and you know, the fact that this person put
you on the planet. And that it is a complicated relationship. But that
we all still have some gratitude for that relationship. And I think as
we grow up, we sort of come full circle.</span></div>
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<em><strong><span style="font-family: inherit;">People
interested in writing a letter to their mother have an opportunity to
be published in the book, and they can submit their letters <span style="color: #e69138;">HERE</span><a _mce_href="http://www.alettertomymom.com/" _mce_style="color: #800000; text-decoration: none;" href="http://www.alettertomymom.com/" linktype="1" style="color: rgb(128, 0, 0) ! important; text-decoration: none ! important;" target="_blank" track="on">!</a></span></strong></em></div>
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<em><strong><span style="font-family: inherit;">* * * * *<br /> </span></strong></em><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10pt;">"A Letter To My Dog" is now being sold in seven countries; read an </span><a _mce_href="http://alettertomydog.com/img/ALetter-Sampler.pdf" _mce_style="color: #800000; text-decoration: none;" href="http://alettertomydog.com/img/ALetter-Sampler.pdf" linktype="1" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none !important;" target="_blank" track="on"><span style="color: #e69138;">excerpt</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10pt;"> from the book.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10pt;">A portion of the proceeds from every book in the series goes to charity: </span><a _mce_href="http://www.humanesociety.org/" _mce_style="color: #800000; text-decoration: none;" href="http://www.humanesociety.org/" linktype="1" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none !important;" target="_blank" track="on"><span style="color: #e69138;">The Humane Society</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10pt;"> for the first book, and </span><a _mce_href="http://bestfriends.org/" _mce_style="color: #800000; text-decoration: none;" href="http://bestfriends.org/" linktype="1" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none !important;" target="_blank" track="on"><span style="color: #e69138;">Best Friends Animal Society</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10pt;"> for the second book. Lisa and her team are in the process of determining the charity they will serve for "A Letter To My Mom."</span></span></div>
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</span></em></span>Karin Gutman Orloski, MFAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15690542969323908848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2704902516650111830.post-72403512182908514372014-04-01T22:20:00.000-07:002014-04-01T22:20:45.782-07:00National Poetry Month<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFNRUD0N-lb-CrOH57MqGsuTrSfHGRiQApo60TQqWmakT1fcUb4D7TAYU377_QCbTIjeEHcL_K4iQYjPBpGvn0-pDnRDZdjrZcIxkw37cuKXsk0sSizzqOH9T0noB1oT3PgWgWFuN64069/s1600/pocket_logo2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFNRUD0N-lb-CrOH57MqGsuTrSfHGRiQApo60TQqWmakT1fcUb4D7TAYU377_QCbTIjeEHcL_K4iQYjPBpGvn0-pDnRDZdjrZcIxkw37cuKXsk0sSizzqOH9T0noB1oT3PgWgWFuN64069/s1600/pocket_logo2.jpg" height="200" width="196" /></a></div>
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Inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, <a href="http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/41" target="_blank">National Poetry Month</a> is now held every April, when schools, publishers, libraries, booksellers, and poets throughout the United States band together to celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture. Thousands of organizations participate through readings, festivals, book displays, workshops, and other events. <br /><br />Save the date: <a href="http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/406" target="_blank">Poem in Your Pocket Day 2014</a> will be held on <b>Thursday, April 24th</b>. On Poem in Your Pocket Day, people throughout the United States select a poem, carry it with them, and share it with others throughout the day. <br /><br />You can also share your poem selection on Twitter by using the hashtag #pocketpoem.<br />Poems from pockets are unfolded throughout the day with events in parks, libraries, schools, workplaces, and bookstores.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/94" target="_blank"><i>Check out 30 Ways to Celebrate National Poetry Month!</i></a>Karin Gutman Orloski, MFAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15690542969323908848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2704902516650111830.post-23292674022377701812014-03-10T14:10:00.000-07:002014-03-10T14:10:54.213-07:00Amtrak Residency For Writers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiulIcptrQ-QJzuGpe9PXaqn4KwGnpz2rrMwZUPPjaiYoRJ3hSBObCSo_CAwXAYru8DhH3TuQJJrAL3vWqB5HsW9SYi8gB_5RTJV4OY8JFgp62s-mk8A3VIT1YOjcvfXzPA1L4-AeHMn3Qy/s1600/Amtrak.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiulIcptrQ-QJzuGpe9PXaqn4KwGnpz2rrMwZUPPjaiYoRJ3hSBObCSo_CAwXAYru8DhH3TuQJJrAL3vWqB5HsW9SYi8gB_5RTJV4OY8JFgp62s-mk8A3VIT1YOjcvfXzPA1L4-AeHMn3Qy/s1600/Amtrak.jpg" height="192" width="320" /></a></div>
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AMTRAK has just announced their Residency for Writers, which will allow for up to 24 writers to take long-distance trains <span _mce_style="font-size: 10pt;" style="font-size: 10pt;">to work on their projects. It is designed to allow creative professionals who are passionate about train travel and writing to work on their craft in an inspiring environment.</span></div>
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<span _mce_style="font-size: 10pt;" style="font-size: 10pt;">Round-trip train travel will be provided on an Amtrak long-distance route. Each resident will be given a private sleeper car, equipped with a desk, a bed and a window to watch the American countryside roll by for inspiration. Routes will be determined based on availability and will last anywhere from 2-5 days, with exceptions for special projects.</span></div>
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Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis and reviewed by a panel. Both emerging and established writers will be considered.</div>
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<strong>Application deadline: March 31st.</strong></div>
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Karin Gutman Orloski, MFAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15690542969323908848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2704902516650111830.post-28795416530728115882014-02-06T14:18:00.000-08:002015-03-26T21:17:12.686-07:00A Conversation with Daniel Jones<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: 'Gill Sans';"></span><br />
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<strong style="color: #333333;">Daniel Jones</strong><span style="color: #333333;"> has edited the </span><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/features/style/fashionandstyle/columns/modernlove/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">Modern Love column</span></a><span style="color: #333333;"> in the Sunday Styles section of the New York Times</span><span style="color: #333333;"> since its inception in October 2004. </span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 10pt;">His books include two essay anthologies, </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Love-Extraordinary-Desire-Devotion/dp/0307351041" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">Modern Love</span></a></em></span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 10pt;"> and </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bastard-Couch-Explain-Feelings-Fatherhood/dp/0060565357/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1391722689&sr=1-1&keywords=the+bastard+on+the+couch" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">The Bastard on the Couch</span></a></em></span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 10pt;">, and a novel, </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/After-Lucy-Novel-Daniel-Jones/dp/B000ENBQ9W/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1391722725&sr=1-1&keywords=after+lucy" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">After Lucy</span></a></em></span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 10pt;">, which was a finalist for the Barnes & Noble Discover Award. His writing has appeared in several publications, including the </span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 10pt;">New York Times</span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 10pt;">, </span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 10pt;">Elle</span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 10pt;">, </span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 10pt;">Parade</span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 10pt;">, </span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 10pt;">Real Simple</span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 10pt;">, and </span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 10pt;">Redbook</span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 10pt;">. He lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, with his wife, writer Cathi Hanauer, and their two children.</span></div>
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<em><span style="color: #333333;">SOS: Tell me about your new book, </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Love-Illuminated-Exploring-Mystifying-Strangers-ebook/dp/B00DB32U8I/ref=la_B00HAM8RSI_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1391722894&sr=1-1" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">Love Illuminated</span></a><span style="color: #333333;">, and how it came to be.</span></em></div>
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DJ: This book was really a search for me to figure out what I knew, because I felt like I'd been doing this [Modern Love] column for years and years, and every once in a while I would sort of stand up and look around at what I'd done and what I'd read. I'd write, on an annual basis, an editor's observations column on Valentine's Day. I did that about five or six times. And I'd try to make sense in very few words - I think those columns were 1500 to 1700 words - of trends, and you know, entertaining asides. And I felt like I wanted to do that in a bigger way, and really try to understand what I'd learned about what people are doing and what's different. I didn't feel like I could do that unless I wrote a book. Because people would always ask me about it, and they would say, 'You must be in a position where you ought to know something about this.' I felt like I was in that position, and I didn't know. So yeah, this book was to answer that.</div>
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It was a great experience, actually being able to see themes and how technology was changing relationships, what online dating was doing and how people who were having affairs were rationalizing them according to certain lines of argument. Those sorts of themes and trends started to emerge from the material, and that was a satisfying process.</div>
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<em>SOS: How has the Modern Love column changed and evolved over ten years?</em></div>
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I think it has evolved in several ways. In the beginning we didn't quite know what the content of the column would be - other than it would be broadly about relationships. I remember we discussed what the name would be, and I was actually the one who suggested Modern Love and part of the intent was for it to be broad enough that we wouldn't be hemmed in just to romantic stories that were just about romantic love. I just worried about its longevity. How is this thing going to last if you limit the focus of what you're running essays on? So I interpreted that pretty broadly. At the beginning there was an eagerness about covering certain topics, and having a representative sample of experiences. It seemed wide open, but we wanted the column to represent a bunch of different things and get experiences out there that we thought people would want to read about and that would be eye-opening in one way or another. I wanted to shape readers' perceptions of what this column could be.</div>
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That has completely changed. I feel like so many different kinds of stories have run, there is a real freedom now in not feeling like I have to define the column anymore. People know what the range is now, and I feel that I can run things now that are offbeat in one way or another or that barely fit under the umbrella of Modern Love, or as far as that umbrella can extend. If you have 12 essays and you're starting a column, those 12 essays are really important in terms of what you're saying. But if you have 500 essays, each one becomes less important in terms of how it's going to shift the perception of what you're doing. So that's a freedom. I feel I can just go after strong, varied material wherever it goes. And so many topics have been covered way beyond what I ever expected I could dream about getting.</div>
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<em>SOS: Do you have a philosophy or opinion about why the personal essay and personal narrative has become so popular? It seems to be more than just a trend.</em></div>
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DJ: It's enduring, isn't it?</div>
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Young people are writing - people who are in college or in their 20s - with social media and blogging and all these phases that we've gone through. So much of it is about writing about yourself with a sense of audience. I don't think anyone my age or within 15 years of my age - I'm 51 - had that sense growing up, that you had an audience for your experiences. And my own kids who are high school age, wherever they go... or whatever trip they go on... or whatever they're thinking, they can post it and have an audience for it. And, I think, it's not fictional. It's not a fictional mindset. It's a 'I've-done-this-and-now-you-guys-can-respond-to-it.' I don't know if that's the main influence, but I think it can't help but be an influence. People are experiencing things, and as they're experiencing them, they want to know what the response is. And it seems to me that that leads into personal essay writing. It's a much more difficult form than posting on Facebook, but a lot of the impulse might be the same.</div>
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Also, people had tied the rise of the memoir to pre-911 and post-911. I don't feel like I've figured that one out, but there was a lot of talk that that kind of jolt of reality somehow gave a boost to non-fiction, because you're facing things that are difficult. And people assumed that fiction wasn't as urgent enough in that way. I don't know, but that was another influence back then.</div>
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<em>SOS: What do you look for in an essay submission? What for you are the key ingredients of a compelling story or personal essay?</em></div>
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DJ: Not enough people writing personal essay realize that it can't just be a summarized story from your life. It has to employ the tools of drama that a reader needs - scenes and dialogue - and the narrator needs to be transported from one place to a new understanding by the end. And hopefully some of that will be shown through scene and dialogue, instead of just told. People consider non-fiction writing or essay writing similar to journal writing, but journal writing is often just that summary style where you're getting it down. So much of what I get that doesn't work, even if it's good writing, is the 'this happened, then this happened, and then this happened' kind of storytelling where you're really just telling a summary of whatever you've just been through, and you're not really shaping into something that has a sense of plot or drama about it.</div>
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Beyond that, I think a tone - or a voice - that expresses curiosity rather than judgment or intelligence that you're trying to get down to the page. It's usually a curious but smart voice that works in these essays, someone who has been humbled by experience and is generously sharing that. A lot of material I get that doesn't work can be show-offy, in sort of a trying to be funny. Oh, a typical essay I get is 'the long list of losers that I've gone out with.' That has to be really well done to work and not many people do it that well. It's sort of a stance of 'I'm better than all these people' and 'these people are all nuts!' You don't want to hear people rant on about stuff like that.</div>
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<em>SOS: You mentioned that you've become a better editor over the years. In what way?</em></div>
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DJ: In the early days, these could be difficult essays to edit - very personal stories where you're asking very personal questions and changing peoples' words in ways that cause conflict. That I almost never have anymore. Most of it is that I've gotten better at being able to talk through an essay and probe for more material, or whatever, in ways that are just professional. I don't feel like it is a fraught process anymore, and maybe that comes across to the writer. It's just like, 'this is what we need to do,' and it's just a smooth, smooth process. I've learned what's missing in an essay and how to ask for it. I've learned how to write in material based on an interview with a writer, and have them massage it into their style. So that editorial process is probably the most easy and fun part of the job at this point. The hardest is saying 'no' all day long and having to write an explanation to someone I would owe an explanation to about why a piece doesn't work. There's an art to that that I don't think one ever quite masters.</div>
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<em>SOS: How exactly do you work with the writers? Are most essays you accept pretty much 'there' when they're submitted?</em></div>
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DJ: It's certainly nice to get a piece that is close, and that just requires cutting. The piece I'm working on right now, which is for mid-February is a piece that was 1800 words, really perfectly written from start to finish, and it's just trying to find 300 words to take out. It's just not very hard. It doesn't require a lot of back and forth.</div>
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But the essays that I've worked on in the past year - and I work on a lot - were really good stories or powerful perspectives that I wanted to run, but they needed work. And it wasn't that I felt I was doing a person a favor, it was just that 'this is a really good story and I want to get it in, and we're going to go back and forth on this enough times that it gets into that shape.'</div>
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But it is true that in the first years of doing the column, when I didn't have this sort of glut of material, I would do a ton of work on something. There was a piece that I ran that someone recommended - a writer that he'd been teaching in a workshop and she was working on this 5,000 word essay. And I had to take a 5,000 word essay and cut it down to a 1700 word essay. And that was a lot of work. It was worth it and I learned from it, but I would never do that these days. If something comes in over 1800 words, I just say 'you didn't read the guidelines.' It would really have to be good and close for me to take it on.</div>
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<em>SOS: As far as your own book, Love Illuminated, can you describe your writing process? How did you find the structure for it?</em></div>
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DJ: This is the first non-fiction book I've written from start to finish. I had a novel that came out in 2000, and the process of writing that was like the famous quote, that writing a novel is like driving a car at night where you can only see as far as your headlights shine, but you can make the whole trip that way. And that was exactly how that novel process was like. I didn't know what was more than 30 feet ahead of me and I just kept writing that way forward and I didn't jump ahead, I just kept writing forward.</div>
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<em>Love Illuminated</em>, I felt, needed a structure. The real challenge with this book for me was 'what can I say about this that hasn't been said a million times?' and 'what can I bring to it that another writer on this subject matter couldn't?' It seemed to me I had all these stories - both published and unpublished - that I could draw upon and I had my own experience, my own marriage and all of that as material to the point where I ought to be able to see trends in it and how was I going to compile that into a book?</div>
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I made several attempts. I have a very blunt agent who is not afraid to say, 'what were you thinking?' and I had a couple of stabs at book ideas that just were not right and mostly based on what I thought a book like this needed to be, based on what I'd read and gone to the shelves in Barnes and Noble and saw what people were writing about. And my agent, she was very good at saying, 'this has to be a book that you would want to write, put the other models out of your mind.'</div>
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It didn't really come to me until I wrote what became the first words of the introduction to the book, which was 'Let's start with a quiz.' You know, so many of these books start with quizzes, and they're serious. They have a quiz, and if you answer a quiz in a certain way, then you get a score and it means something. It just seemed sort of ridiculous to me. But I thought, if I were to start with a quiz... and I'd write that sentence in a wry way instead of an earnest way... what would that quiz be? And what were the questions? Everything that I get - all these essays I get - are not answers, but they're all questions that are like 'how do I figure this out?' and 'what am I supposed to do about this?' So I thought, what would be the 10 questions that would be most representative of all the stories I read? And I came up with those 10 questions really pretty quickly. And those 10 questions were the themes that were sort of the progression of love in someone's life from start to finish. And within each of those themes were stories that represented situations, trends and all of that; and it was just a matter of going to chapter to chapter and stitching all of that together, and trying to say things that were smart and funny, about them, and use examples so that people would have stories to latch onto that would demonstrate what I was talking about. It was really hard for the first few chapters, and then it got easier and easier and easier, and by the end it felt very natural. I had to go back to the earlier chapters and try to get that easier style back into the material that had been over-worked.</div>
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<em>SOS: How did you juggle your job as Editor of Modern Love with writing your book? Did you write at night and off hours?</em></div>
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DJ: No, I couldn't. I could only do it in several days in a row. And that was different than my novel. I had a full-time job when I wrote my novel, a 9 to 5 job and a little kid. And that I did at night, like 9 to one in the morning, or something, and I just had momentum.</div>
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With this book, I had to take days off. It was excruciating because, you know, my in-box doesn't stop and my weekly deadlines don't stop and all the busy work associated with the column doesn't stop. And you have to write badly in order to write well; you have to turn out all this crap. And I'd just keep saying to myself 'I don't have time to go through this phase of the book. I don't have time to write badly. I just have to write well.' Of course, that was ridiculous. But those days were horrible. I would just spend day after day after day falling further behind at work, but not really making progress. I was making progress on the book, but it didn't feel like progress. I felt like I was just spinning my wheels and further behind at the same time. The good thing about the column is it's not timely, and if I get a good amount of material - it takes some doing, but - I can get ahead and get some breathing room. And I just had to keep doing that, I had to keep pushing that ahead, getting the submission's pile down as far as I could get it to feel comfortable, and then taking time off. A friend of mine loaned me their farmhouse in New Hampshire for a full week once and that was really important, to be off the internet and to really have time where I wasn't responsible for anything else.</div>
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Yeah, but writing books is so hard. I don't know how people do it.</div>
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<b>Come meet Daniel Jones & the Modern Love Essayists</b></div>
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Santa Monica Public Library</div>
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Martin Luther King Jr. Auditorium</div>
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601 Santa Monica Blvd. Santa Monica 90401</div>
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Special guests include:</div>
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Julie Buxbaum, Hope Edelman, Liz Falleta, Dianne Farr, Michelle Fiordaliso, <span style="font-size: 10pt;">Cole Kazdin, Leah Keith, Leslie Lehr, Brett Paesel, Wendy Ortiz, </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Katherine Ruppe, </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">and Benjamin Svetkey.</span></div>
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<a href="http://calendar.smgov.net/library/eventsignup.asp?ID=12452&rts=&disptype=info&ret=eventcalendar.asp&pointer=&returnToSearch=&SignupType=&num=0&ad=&dt=mo&mo=2/1/2014&df=calendar&EventType=Author+Talks&Lib=ALL&AgeGroup=ALL&LangType=0&WindowMode=&noheader=&lad=&pub=1&nopub=&page=&pgdisp=" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">See full details</span></a><span style="color: #333333;"> and </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Love-Illuminated-Exploring-Mystifying-Strangers-ebook/dp/B00DB32U8I" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">Buy the book!</span></a></div>
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Karin Gutman Orloski, MFAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15690542969323908848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2704902516650111830.post-27229281861275035472013-12-02T22:27:00.000-08:002015-03-26T21:17:22.724-07:00Coliloquy: The Future of Digital Publishing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmVSkRlm5SEQenY5LEzhJluYN7eOXrov2qLY55GNnODIlKwjUMrVebBQUAYPELwhgxHZkjkL6Nz9ycA0tU3yAyuylt_okI66wpGLVrVsv2cWIEKbsnX9kfflHjh-sUSA8UhTw6oJ-A91eZ/s1600/Coliloquy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmVSkRlm5SEQenY5LEzhJluYN7eOXrov2qLY55GNnODIlKwjUMrVebBQUAYPELwhgxHZkjkL6Nz9ycA0tU3yAyuylt_okI66wpGLVrVsv2cWIEKbsnX9kfflHjh-sUSA8UhTw6oJ-A91eZ/s200/Coliloquy.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><a href="http://www.coliloquy.com/" target="_blank">Coliloquy</a></span> is a next-generation digital publisher, leveraging advances in technology to enable groundbreaking new types of books, new revenue models, and new forms of author-reader engagement.<br />
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Founded on the belief that digital technologies can push the boundaries of how we think about narrative and storytelling, Coliloquy publishes all of their books as active applications, rather than static files, allowing authors to build ever-expanding worlds through episodic, serial storytelling and engagement mechanics, like choice and voting, branching story lines, re-reading loops, and personalized content. The result is an incredibly fluid and immersive story-telling experience.<br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><a href="http://www.coliloquy.com/about/writing-with-us/" target="_blank"><i><b>Read about how you can write with Coliloquy</b></i></a></span>Karin Gutman Orloski, MFAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15690542969323908848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2704902516650111830.post-6519142454054307062013-11-03T13:48:00.001-08:002013-11-03T13:48:43.516-08:00Scratch Magazine<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOduEjiYWtYEDrcv00D4gPwk90StlsZXh-TORWtSwPjAILo4wMjuc9pttWrIGEVqSm2ydlMXrSlXadw8rP6ibBl0WqXfeRkEbFaE9gDI2QWC7cerVrFCw7c80TUFoasb5lkoaIqAZQTS9B/s1600/Scratch.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="67" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOduEjiYWtYEDrcv00D4gPwk90StlsZXh-TORWtSwPjAILo4wMjuc9pttWrIGEVqSm2ydlMXrSlXadw8rP6ibBl0WqXfeRkEbFaE9gDI2QWC7cerVrFCw7c80TUFoasb5lkoaIqAZQTS9B/s200/Scratch.png" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://scratchmag.net/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">Scratch Magazin</span>e</a> is a new digital magazine all about the intersection of writing and money, co-founded by Jane Friedman and Manjula Martin.<br /><br />Very few people or publications speak openly about the economic realities of the publishing business. In our bare-it-all media culture, frank talk about money remains taboo. Writers often lack the context or insight to understand our own industry, even as that industry undergoes massive structural and economic changes.<br /><br />Scratch provides a home for open and sustained discussion of these experiences through high-quality content. It not only publishes advice for writers but also investigates the nuances of writers' relationships to money, work, and publishing.<br /><br />Check out the <span style="color: #e69138;"><a href="http://scratchmag.net/free-preview-issue/" target="_blank">free preview issue</a></span> or consider a <span style="color: #e69138;"><a href="http://scratchmag.net/subscribe/" target="_blank">subscription</a></span>.Karin Gutman Orloski, MFAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15690542969323908848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2704902516650111830.post-25903514385635732962013-10-06T12:49:00.001-07:002013-10-06T12:49:40.634-07:005 Reasons Your Memoir Will Never Be PublishedToday's guest, <span style="color: #e69138;"><a href="http://www.jennienash.com/" target="_blank">Jennie Nash</a></span>, is a book coach who specializes in helping writers write and publish books that will get read. She is the author of four novels, including<em> Perfect Red, The Threadbare Heart, </em><em>The Only True Ge</em><em>nius in the Family </em>and <em>The Last Beach Bungalow.</em> She is the author of three memoirs, including <em>The Victoria’s Secret Catalog Never Stops Coming and Other Lessons I Learned From Breast Cancer</em>.
She has been an instructor at the UCLA Extension Writing Program for
six years and lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two
daughters. <b> </b><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>5 Reasons Your Memoir Will Never Be Published</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>By Jennie Nash </b></div>
<br />1.) You confused "what happened" with a good story<br /><br /> "What happened" in your life is only part of the equation of a good story. You also need a sense of why "what happened" mattered to you, what it meant, what you took away from the experience. You need a sense of how "what happened" says something about human nature and the world and our time here on earth, because without that connection to the bigger picture, your memoir is in danger of being aimless and self-centered. You need to know where in "what happened" would make a good place to start, where in "what happened" would make a good place to end, and which pieces of "what happened" are best left out of this story and saved for another day.<br /><br />2.) You forgot the importance of structure<br /><br />Structure is the thing that holds a memoir up, that makes it more than just a series of journal entries. Take Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love. That book has a beautiful, elegant structure. Three sections. Three big ideas. Three struggles to achieve a simple grace. You think Gilbert did that accidentally? The answer is no. And what about Cheryl Stayed's Wild? It's a road trip story-except the road is a hiking trail and instead of a vehicle, she's got her feet. It follows a classic structure of a person who sets out on a physical journey and goes on an internal, emotional journey along the way. One of my favorite celebrity memoirs, Andre Aggasi's Open, has an intriguing structure. It starts at the end of an illustrious tennis career that, it turns out, nearly crippled the author in a number of ways. The story traces the tale of how he got there, of why he made it as far as he did, and what he learned along the way. It all hinges on starting at the end. It all hinges on structure. To learn more about structure, re-read a few favorite memoirs. Instead of reading for what happened, read for how the whole thing is put together. Make a map of it. Watch how the author does it.<br /><br />3.) You did zero market research<br /><br />Most art comes from someone's heart and soul-from a place as far away from commerce as you can get. We write because we are called to write, because it is satisfying and healing to write, and there is no other motivation needed. Most writers, however, have some additional agenda for wanting to set their story down on paper. Perhaps they want to preserve their story for future generations. Perhaps they want to share what they have learned with other fellow travelers. There are a thousand good reasons to want to share your story. If your desire is to share your story with a wide reading public-with readers in a bookstore, with searchers on the Internet, with strangers you may never meet-you enter into a wholly different territory of the writing experience. You must now consider the realities of the marketplace. You must study how memoirs are packaged and sold, which ones do well, what readers respond to, what gaps there are in the conversation (and how you might put a stake in the ground in that gap), and how to present your story in such a way that it stands a chance of being read. You must, in other words, find a way to reconcile the work of your heart with the demands and realities of commerce. For help in making this reconciliation, read The Gift by Lewis Hyde.<br /><br />4.) You were too stingy with your emotions<br /><br />You may have the most dramatic and exciting story to tell, and you may have a solid structure to contain it, and you may have done your market research, but unless you share the gritty emotions you felt as your tale unfolded, you will quickly lose your reader to the latest Game of Thrones installment. Readers come to memoir to get inside the author's head. That is the one true promise of a memoir-and it's a promise no other art form makes. Readers want to see what it's like inside your head and to see how you handled the difficult, embarrassing, soul-crushing, harrowing, joyous and confusing things that befell you. Telling instead of showing, whizzing by the tough stuff, leaving things out because they make you look bad, making things up to make yourself seem anything other than what you actually are-these are fatal flaws. To learn more about how to invite the reader into your emotions, read Beth Kephart's fantastic new book about writing memoir, Handling the Truth.<br /><br />5.) You didn't use a professional editor<br /><br />Your sister and your spouse and your mother and your friend who is a stickler for correct grammar may love you and may support you, but they can't be trusted when it comes to how your story is working on the page and what to do to fix it. You need a professional editor or writing coach who is ruthless and exacting, and who can whip your prose into shape on every level-from the macro concerns like theme and story resolution to the micro concerns like pacing and dialogue. In the old days, editors used to do this work. Some of them still do, and some agents do, as well, but most don't. They are looking for work that is already polished. To find a reputable editor, get a personal referral from someone who has had an excellent experience, or consider the recommendation of a trusted pro. <span style="color: #e69138;"><a href="http://janefriedman.com/2012/01/30/4-ways-to-find-the-right-freelance-editor/" target="_blank">Jane Friedman</a></span>, former editor for Writers' Digest and super smart cookie about all things publishing, has a great post on her website: "4 Ways to Find the Right Freelance Editor."<br />Karin Gutman Orloski, MFAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15690542969323908848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2704902516650111830.post-58091367335780057772013-09-03T15:01:00.000-07:002015-03-26T21:17:39.711-07:00War Writers' Campaign: Therapy Through Writing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWkbOBFHmsDE-XGtT7XPJULBr-0Ht8V5lbyhiUX0ZOVarp_Q5P-RWlcWwZ4pxMgSXrFvyxXLZ-DyBoqhhKfOCtSIeaLI0j_-e8I__uQu8nMq1lgrp9RI5DXAlIlTxbc-33Mb9ENs5rTx9d/s1600/War.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWkbOBFHmsDE-XGtT7XPJULBr-0Ht8V5lbyhiUX0ZOVarp_Q5P-RWlcWwZ4pxMgSXrFvyxXLZ-DyBoqhhKfOCtSIeaLI0j_-e8I__uQu8nMq1lgrp9RI5DXAlIlTxbc-33Mb9ENs5rTx9d/s1600/War.png" /></a></div>
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A newly-formed veteran nonprofit organization called <span style="color: #e69138;"><a href="http://warwriterscampaign.org/" target="_blank">The War Writers' Campaign</a></span> is hoping to encourage veterans to write about their experiences in war as a powerful therapy tool.<br />
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The campaign aims to maintain a long-term platform that facilitates the consolidated efforts of servicemembers and veterans to promote mental therapy through the literary word, all while raising funds for best-in-class veteran organizations and mental-health programs. They are also launching external with a partnership alongside Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, with the hopes of gaining a national audience.<br />
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Their first featured work <b><i>Conquering Mental Fatigues</i></b> will be available for purchase in the coming weeks. All of all proceeds go to the War Writers' Campaign.<br />
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See the <span style="color: #e69138;"><a href="http://www.9news.com/news/article/352728/188/War-Writers-Campaign-Therapy-through-writing" target="_blank">video</a></span> on Colorado's 9 News - KUSA TV.<br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><a href="http://warwriterscampaign.org/become-a-war-writer/" target="_blank">See submission guidelines</a></span>Karin Gutman Orloski, MFAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15690542969323908848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2704902516650111830.post-81630785675571840812013-08-04T20:55:00.001-07:002015-03-26T21:17:52.572-07:00Scriptnotes Podcast<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7UnQwdta26V6Pd-QtcpGagVpop1QzzT7jbtOswEoP4lGZ2e46OMzPYvg5L36esOuw1MtzT3BHNdOOdFQJ4Xz7ru86HB1ywxrefWH35K1497kBFYewWf9Mi_hGTuKxENVn-qNQIvQ_Db8B/s1600/mza_498022244148043696.170x170-75.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7UnQwdta26V6Pd-QtcpGagVpop1QzzT7jbtOswEoP4lGZ2e46OMzPYvg5L36esOuw1MtzT3BHNdOOdFQJ4Xz7ru86HB1ywxrefWH35K1497kBFYewWf9Mi_hGTuKxENVn-qNQIvQ_Db8B/s1600/mza_498022244148043696.170x170-75.jpg" /></a></div>
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In this popular podcast <span style="color: #e69138;"><a href="http://johnaugust.com/podcast" target="_blank">Scriptnotes</a></span>, screenwriters John August and Craig Mazin discuss screenwriting and related topics in the film and television industry, everything from getting stuff written to the vagaries of copyright and work-for-hire law.<br />
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Recently, they sat down with screenwriter-turned-psychotherapist Dennis Palumbo to discuss writer's block, procrastination, partnerships and more. It's a <span style="color: #e69138;"><a href="http://johnaugust.com/2013/psychotherapy-for-screenwriters" target="_blank">can't-miss episode</a></span> for aspiring writers and professionals alike.<br />
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See the iTunes archives <span style="color: #e69138;"><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/scriptnotes-podcast/id462495496" target="_blank">here</a></span>.Karin Gutman Orloski, MFAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15690542969323908848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2704902516650111830.post-54184571828587694642013-07-01T22:45:00.001-07:002013-07-01T22:46:15.201-07:00Social Emotional Arts (SEA) Certificate Program<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhATDy2YlF6Qup1rb3Klh_U4tDiVWRb1EnPy3ES9nC-6e5SxGmKK-4VUS7h9emCP6L4bZuRxXDsReK7mKW2ghwZiENUGlo67S0TdjK1EYX-xtoAOv9LbVyfGwSrCw7cTTG6Avv0w92PW6f_/s480/UCLA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="92" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhATDy2YlF6Qup1rb3Klh_U4tDiVWRb1EnPy3ES9nC-6e5SxGmKK-4VUS7h9emCP6L4bZuRxXDsReK7mKW2ghwZiENUGlo67S0TdjK1EYX-xtoAOv9LbVyfGwSrCw7cTTG6Avv0w92PW6f_/s320/UCLA.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><a href="http://www.uclartsandhealing.net/" target="_blank">UCLArts and Healing</a></span> is launching a Social Emotional Arts (SEA) Certificate Program to empower educators and community arts professionals.<br />
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Arts educators are often not sure what to do or say when the inevitable "stuff comes up," like when a student comes crying after seeing a performance and says: that happened to me. There can also be unintended consequences of arts experiences, such as self-judgment, anxiety, and inadvertent re-triggering of trauma. <br />
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Through eight Saturday training sessions running September 2013 - January 2014, SEA trainees will learn to develop and deliver process-oriented arts education for children and adolescents in school and community settings to improve emotional well-being, the social climate and the learning environment.<br />
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In partnership with Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Visual and Performing Arts Department<br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><a href="https://www.uclartsandhealing.net/ViewProgram.aspx?ID=344" target="_blank">See full details</a></span>Karin Gutman Orloski, MFAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15690542969323908848noreply@blogger.com0