events.

Empty Trash

Thursday, December 19 @ 7pm

If you’re in Los Angeles, join us for the next Empty Trash, a reading where authors reach deep into the bowels of their “recently deleted” folders and share pieces that have been cut, unpublished, or otherwise killed.

Come watch these next-level literary luminaries give their dead darlings this Thursday, December 19th at 7 p.m.:

⭐️Priyanka Mattoo⭐️

⭐️Sam Cohen⭐️

⭐️Gabrielle Korn⭐️

⭐️Craig Willse⭐️

⭐️Rasheed Newson⭐️

⭐️Kerry Howley⭐️

Books will be sold by our friends over at Chevalier’s. If you plan on coming, please arrive at The Ruby Fruit early as we are expecting a large turn-out!

Winter Book Proposal Generator

8 Sessions: Saturdays, January 4-February 22

1:00-3:00pm ET

So, you have an idea for a book. Maybe you even already wrote it! Either way, you are ready for the next step. Does the thought of writing a book proposal for your nonfiction project make you want to light no fewer than 14 lavender-scented candles and lie in the dark for three days straight? You’re not alone! But after having written three book proposals, I promise you it’s not as daunting as it seems.

In order to demystify this seemingly overwhelming task, I’m thrilled to offer the Book Proposal Generator. Beginning with an overview of the anatomy of the book proposal by looking at several different examples, this generator will be broken up into eight weekly sessions. Each week, we will be discussing and going over one element of the book proposal in detail. At the end of each session, students will be assigned to complete a draft of the section discussed, which is to be handed in the following Friday, no later than 8 p.m. Students will receive peer and instructor feedback in class the following day, after which the next section of the book proposal will discussed and assigned to complete for the following week. By the final session, each student will have a complete book proposal, and will be ready to take the next step on the path to publication.

Workshop Highlights:

• Students will receive several different examples of proposals that have successfully sold to use as reference when working on their own.

• Students will receive extensive individual feedback on their own proposals from course instructor that will be emailed to them each week.

• Each student will leave this course with a complete book proposal, ready to take the next step on the path to publication.

Click here to learn more and sign up.

Manuscript Consultations & Private Mentorships

My teaching philosophy is pretty simple: If you care about your story, someone else will, too. My job—and joy—is to help my students hone their craft by looking inward. Because only by looking inward can you learn to write about the way you move through the world. I'm not here to teach as much as I am to hold up a mirror and help you mine your reflection for the things you might not have noticed before or hadn't thought to consider in one way or another—all of the things that make up the fabric of your being, the things that should be radically honored both on and off the page.

This consultation will begin with an initial hour-long meeting and conversation about your work-in-progress. I want to hear about why you started writing your project, and where you imagine it going. I want to know why your project matters to you. We will also discuss any concerns or challenges you face, as well as what you want to achieve by the time you finish your final draft.

Following our conversation, I will then give line-by-line edits, along with detailed editorial notes on your work-in-progress. This can include a nonfiction manuscript, book proposal, book chapters, query letter, essay(s), article(s), work samples, or any other form of nonfiction prose. 

Click here to learn more and sign up.