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  • Published: 15 October 2010
  • ISBN: 9781580084802
  • Imprint: Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 256
  • RRP: $36.00

Naked, Drunk, and Writing

Shed Your Inhibitions and Craft a Compelling Memoir or Personal Essay



An instructive, inspiring, and refreshingly irreverent guide that shows aspiring writers how to cast off self-doubt and concoct a stellar memoir or personal essay.

The material is right there in front of you. You’ve known yourself for, well, a lifetime—and you finally feel ready to share your story with the world. Yet when it actually comes time to put pen to paper, you find that you’re stumped.
 
Enter Adair Lara: award-winning author, seasoned columnist, beloved writing coach, and the answer to all of your autobiographical quandaries. 

Naked, Drunk, and Writing is the culmination of Lara’s vast experience as a writer, editor, and teacher. It is packed with insights and advice both practical (“writing workshops you pay for are the best--it’s too easy to quit when you’ve made no investment”) and irreverent (“apply Part A [butt] to Part B [chair]”), answering such important questions as:
 
• How do I know where to start my piece and where to end it?
• How do I make myself write when I’m too scared or lazy or busy?
• What makes a good pitch letter, and how do I get mine noticed?
• I’m ready to publish—now where do I find an agent?
• If I show my manuscript to my mother, will I ever be invited to a family gathering again?

As thorough and instructive as a personal writing coach (and cheaper, too), Naked, Drunk, and Writing is a must-have if you are an aspiring columnist, essayist, or memoirist—or just a writer who needs a bit of help in getting your story told.

  • Published: 15 October 2010
  • ISBN: 9781580084802
  • Imprint: Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 256
  • RRP: $36.00

About the author

Adair Lara

Adair Lara is an award-winning newspaper columnist whose column appears twice weekly in the San Francisco Chronicle. She is the author of five books, including Welcome to Earth, Mom; Slowing Down in a Speeded-Up World;and her latest, The Best of Adair Lara. Her articles and essays have appeared in Redbook, Ladies? Home Journal, Parenting, Good Housekeeping, Reader?s Digest and other national publications. She lives in San Francisco; her daughter Morgan has just graduated from the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Praise for Naked, Drunk, and Writing

Praise for Naked, Drunk, and Writing:

  • "Half the people I know seem to have taken classes and workshops with San Francisco's legendary writer and teacher Adair Lara. She is very savvy and smart and hugely entertaining. I admire her greatly." --Anne Lamott, author of Bird by Bird