Writer, designer and social media snark shark, Jami Howard, is offering three classes on Saturday, March 31st to help you install, learn how to operate and dazzle your WordPress powered website! Come for one part or save by registering for all three parts!

You can come with absolutely nothing for a website and leave with WordPress securely installed on your new hosting account, properly gussied up and, most importantly, you will have the knowledge to run and update your WordPress powered website.

Register For The Full Day & Save!

Saturday,
April 7th
10am-5pm
Cost: $165

WordPress Open Studio

Saturday,
April 7th
10am-11am
Cost: Free

Learn WordPress!

Saturday,
April 7th
11am-3pm
Cost: $149

Plugins Plus

Saturday,
April 7th
3:30-5:00
Cost: $35

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Meet Jami Howard

Jami Howard used to want to teach Jazzercise, but realized she liked ice cream too much. Instead she became a Facebook wizard, social-media specialist, writer and professional graphic designer. A self-professed techno-nerd, she is also a single mom with a penchant for snark, profanity and mocktacular writing, as evidenced by her extremely popular site Datewrecks. Such qualities have traditionally translated to huge popularity on the internet. She carries her torch on her personal blog, Freak Bacon which is not actually about bacon at all. She likes craft beer and making fun of people (but not you) (okay maybe you) (probably).

As something of a Facebook addict (ask her fiance), Jami knows her craft. She’s also learned WordPress from the inside out and the Suffusion theme has surrendered to her superior abilities. As a talented graphic designer with five years of experience in print media, she’s got an eye for what looks stellar and she’s using that keen ability to create dynamic and engaging web pages using WordPress.

She’s ready to give your business or brand a social media makeover but more importantly, will teach you HOW to manipulate these social media tools to your advantage. Having no interest in being a web designer or a web host, she seeks to guide you to implement your ideas online, show you how to master them and then she wants to watch you ride off into the sunset.

In today’s market of open source everything, there is no reason why you shouldn’t be able to control and manipulate every single space that you occupy online. Email Jami with questions

You Better Tell Somebody!

Feb. 7–March 6 — Debra Coles Wisecrack U: A Stand-Up Comedy Class for Kids — Great speakers don’t always make straight A’s. They may not even do well on the SAT. However, great speakers know how to give an organized speech with energy and humor . . . read more

February 17 – Travel Writing; How to Get Paid to Travel the World — Have you taken a trip that’s changed your life? Do you want to document your adventures with a paying assignment for a magazine or newspaper? This information-packed, inspiring workshop, taught by . . . Read more Sold Out!

February 22 — WordPress Crash Course with Jami Howard – Learn everything you need to know to get your wordpress site off the ground, including a guided tour through the bewildering world of plugins . . . read more

February 26 – Atlanta’s Most Popular Blogging Workshop – Learn how to discover and leverage your blogging voice, develop killer content, effectively analyze your stats and blog traffic, increase your readership and develop loyalty and improve your “findability” on Google!  Read more

Feburary 26 – Turn Your Blog into a Profit-Making Business — Learn how to discover and leverage your blogging voice, develop killer content, effectively analyze your stats and blog traffic, increase your readership and develop loyalty and improve your “findability” on Google!  Read more

March 15 – Travel Writing; How to Get Paid to Travel the World — Have you taken a trip that’s changed your life? Do you want to document your adventures with a paying assignment for a magazine or newspaper? This information-packed, inspiring workshop, taught by . . . Read more

March 17–18 – The Shocking Real-Life Book Writers Boot Camp Weekend — This is not your average writer’s retreat! This is a lively, active, results-oriented symposium of creative and accomplished authors, attendees and answers to the questions that have been dogging you for years regarding how to go about getting a book deal . . . Read more

Dates Vary – The Pitch Doctor with Hollis Gillespie Here’s a secret, you don’t need to have a finished manuscript to get a book deal. All you need is an amazing idea and as little as 10 pages. I’ve helped scores of writers get book deals and agent representation, you’re next . . .  Read more

[For a calendar of these classes, scroll to the bottom of this screen.]

You Better Tell Somebody!

Debra Cole

Debra Cole’s Wisecrack University!

This 5-Week  Course for Teens  begins Tues., Feb 7th!
Click below to sign up now to reserve your seat! This Class meets each Tuesday from 6 to 8:30 beginning February 7 and concludes with graduation speeches March 6th.

Cost: Just $350 for this 6-week course including Saturday Night Stand-Up Finale

Does your teen have a knack for talking to people? Is your teen interested in politics, business, teaching, ministry, science, journalism, entertainment, activism, or law? Does your teen need something to get excited about outside of school?  The truth is, it doesn’t matter what career your son or daughter wants to pursue. Whether it’s acting or engineering, being able give an effective presentation with humor will open doors during the college years and beyond. All industries have conferences and seminars that require participants to deliver information while keeping audience members from yawning and rolling their eyes.  Young people who are willing to work at public speaking will be able distinguish themselves at the university, in the boardroom, or on stage.

Great speakers don’t always make straight A’s. They may not even do well on the SAT. They’re not necessarily the best looking or even the most popular. However, great speakers know how to give an organized speech with energy and passion. They know how to reach the public. They know how to deliver a good joke to gain favor with the group. If you want your teen to learn to connect to others from the podium, build confidence in a challenging yet fun environment, and learn from a pro working in the field, sign up for this course now with professional comedienne and former educator Debra Cole. 

Debra Cole is a staple in the Atlanta comedy scene. She is the host of Funny Fridays at the Aurora Theatre in Lawrenceville.  She recently performed in New York City and travels regularly to audiences in clubs and at events. You may have seen her at the Ansley Park Playhouse, Buford Variety Theatre, The Warren, The Star Bar, Eddie’s Attic, The Laughing Skull, The Funny Farm, The Punchline,  and other charity events. She’s also performed for charity events like the Hotlanta Roundup, Pets are Loving Support (PALS), Comedy for Critters and others. A former school teacher, Debra is now known for her smart, sophisticated humor delivered with sarcasm and an authentic southern Georgia twang. As an educator, Debra taught English and orchestra in the public schools for 9 years before turning to her true calling as a comic. She has undergraduate degrees in music and history and a master’s degree in educational leadership.

Sign up below for a course at Wisecrack University with professional comedienne Debra Cole!

In her course your teen will learn the basics of an effective speech, writing techniques, creativity warm-ups, how to act on stage, and how to find his or her voice. Whether a novice or more advanced speaker, Professor Debra guarantees that your teen will be able to give a more effective presentation with appropriate humor. Classes will be FUN, RELAXED, and NON-THREATENING! Language and topics will be age appropriate. Participants are encouraged to bring food given the time of class.  Requirements are a positive attitude, a sense of humor, and a great work ethic!

Click below to sign up now to reserve your seat! The 5-Week Class meets each Tuesday from 6 to 8:30 beginning February 7  and concludes with a graduation class of final presentations March 6, 2012. Parents will be invited.

Debra Cole is a staple in the Atlanta comedy scene. She is the producer and star of the weekly Debra Cole Comedy Show at the Ansley Park Playhouse,. You may have also seen her at the Aurora Theatre, Buford Variety Theatre, The Warren, The Star Bar, Eddie’s Attic, The Laughing Skull and many other clubs and events. A former school teacher, Debra is now known for her smart, sophisticated humor delivered with sarcasm and an authentic southern Georgia twang.  Debra also taught English and orchestra in the public schools for 9 years before turning to her true calling as a comic.

Sign up below for a course at Wisecrack University with professional comedienne Debra Cole!

Still need convincing? Here are some more concepts to be covered in the Debra Cole’s Wisecrack University Stand-Up Comedy Workshop:

• Stage Presence, Vocal Projections, Fluency, and Pacing
• How Public Speaking  will open doors personally and professionally
• Techniques Great Speakers Use
• Knowing your audience
• Organizing your Speech
• Understand the Power of Humor
• Tricks for Memorizing
• Distinguish and Apply Different Styles of Humor
• Writing an Effective Joke
• Coping with Performance Anxiety
• Make a Great Impression at the Microphone

This Wisecrack University Public Speaking Workshop with Debra Cole is designed to help your teen develop skillful delivery and begin their journey into public speaking. Here are more concepts to be covered:

• Build Confidence at the Podium
• Connect with Others
• Find his or her Passion
• Get a laugh
• Know What’s Appropriate
• Manage Mannerisms
• Recognize elements that make a Speech powerful

By the end of this class, your teen will have a better grasp of professional humor-writing techniques:

• Repetition.
• Misdirection: Appear to go one direction with your writing, but end up in a completely different place. For instance: Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read. – Groucho Marx
• Escalation: Start out reasonable and sensible, then become increasingly extreme, irrational, and absurd.
• Being Self-referential.
• Understatement. For instance, “many people would say that the Holocaust was not a good thing”.
• Reversal. Example: Work is the curse of the drinking classes. – Oscar Wilde.
• Be silly about serious things.
• Be serious about silly things.
• The Straight Man. A common beginner’s mistake is to be ridiculous the whole way through. However, being serious is a vital part of being frivolous. They’re yin and yang, opposites that need each other.
• The Importance of Writing in a Consistent Style

Click below to sign up now to reserve your seat! The 5-Week Class meets each Tuesday from 6 to 8:30 beginning February 7 and concludes with graduation speeches March 6th.

Cost: Just $350 for this 6-week course including Saturday Night Stand-Up Finale

Still need convincing? Here are some more concepts to be covered in the Debra Cole’s Wisecrack University Stand-Up Comedy Workshop:

• Stage Presence
• Great Comics: What they do and how they arrived
• Knowing your audience
• Joke Brainstorming
• Comedy Formats
• Tricks for Memorizing
• Finding your individual brand of humor
• Looking for Premises
• Making a serious statement while keeping it funny
• Unique challenges of the comedy world

This  Wisecrack University Stand-Up Comedy Workshop with Debra Cole is designed to help you develop your own strong comedy material and confident skillful delivery. It will help you:

• Create funny new material
• Punch up your current material
• Learn how to get more laughs from your comedy idea
• Learn how to turn your traumatic life stories into stand-up comedy material
• Get more laughs by performing characters and acting out scenes
• Create your comic persona
• Learn advanced joke writing techniques

This course will take you from the philosophical (the essence of humor) to the practical (the mechanics of joke structure). You’ll see why good humor writing is like other good writing, only funny. You’ll learn to turn facts into riffs, the personal into the universal, and the tragic into the comic.  By the end of this class, you will have learned the following professional humor-writing techniques:

• Repetition.
• Misdirection: Appear to go one direction with your writing, but end up in a completely different place. For instance: Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read. – Groucho Marx
• Escalation: Start out reasonable and sensible, then become increasingly extreme, irrational, and absurd.
• Being Self-referential.
• Understatement. For instance, “many people would say that the Holocaust was not a good thing”.
• Reversal. Example: Work is the curse of the drinking classes. – Oscar Wilde.
• Be silly about serious things.
• Be serious about silly things.
• The Straight Man. A common beginner’s mistake is to be ridiculous the whole way through. However, being serious is a vital part of being frivolous. They’re yin and yang, opposites that need each other.
• The Importance of Writing in a Consistent Style

Cost: Just $350 for this 6-week course including Saturday Night Stand-Up Finale

You Better Tell Somebody!

Writer, designer and social media snark shark, Jami Howard, is offering both of her wildly popular Facebook Pages Workshops on Saturday, January 21st to help you fully take control of the power of social media through your Facebook Page.

We start with the basics in the Intro to Facebook Pages Workshop and then move into the fancy bells and whistles in the Custom Facebook Page Workshop. At the end of these two classes, you’ll know how to make your Facebook Page sparkle and shine as well as how to really leverage the power that you’ve been given by Facebook to tap into your customers and fans.

The Intro to Facebook Pages

The original and still, by far, the most fun!

Learn about the ins-and-outs of your Facebook Page’s dashboard and how to get it optimized for peak performance. Billed as “The Anatomy & Physiology of Facebook Pages”, this class will take you from knowing nothing to ready-to-rock! Jami shows you some neat tricks to “MacGuyver” tools on your Facebook Page for better performance.

Saturday, January 21st

10am-12pm

Cost: $79

To register for The Intro to Facebook Pages Workshop, click here to be redirected to Jami’s website.

The Custom Facebook Page

Take your Facebook Page to the next level!

Get familiar with what to post and when and how often you should be posting to your Facebook Page. Learn how to add custom content like optimized profile images, custom landing pages, contact forms and more. Integrate your Facebook Page with your blog using RSS Third Party Publishing. Learn how to create “The Organic Ripple Effect” by soft-selling and strategically networking socially!

Saturday, January 21st

1pm-3pm

Cost: $79

To register for the Custom Facebook Page Workshop, click here to be redirected to Jami’s website.

———————————————————

Meet Jami Howard

Jami Howard used to want to teach Jazzercise, but realized she liked ice cream too much. Instead she became a Facebook wizard, social-media specialist, writer and professional graphic designer. A self-professed techno-nerd, she is also a single mom with a penchant for snark, profanity and mocktacular writing, as evidenced by her extremely popular site Datewrecks. Such qualities have traditionally translated to huge popularity on the internet. She carries her torch on her personal blog, Freak Bacon which is not actually about bacon at all. She likes craft beer and making fun of people (but not you) (okay maybe you) (probably).

As something of a Facebook addict (ask her fiance), Jami knows her craft. She’s also learned WordPress from the inside out and the Suffusion theme has surrendered to her superior abilities. As a talented graphic designer with five years of experience in print media, she’s got an eye for what looks stellar and she’s using that keen ability to create dynamic and engaging web pages using WordPress.

She’s ready to give your business or brand a social media makeover but more importantly, will teach you HOW to manipulate these social media tools to your advantage. Having no interest in being a web designer or a web host, she seeks to guide you to implement your ideas online, show you how to master them and then she wants to watch you ride off into the sunset.

In today’s market of open source everything, there is no reason why you shouldn’t be able to control and manipulate every single space that you occupy online.

You Better Tell Somebody!

5. “Christmas Conga,” by Cyndi Lauper. There is no better impetus for yakking up your holiday turkey than an eighties pop diva’s senseless Latin yuletide croak fest. “Bonga bonga bonga. Do the Christmas conga,” are lyrics that will increase the holiday suicide rate for sure.

4. “Baby It’s Cold Outside,” by John Mercer and Margaret Whiting. The song is the most blatant endorsement of date rape in the history of songwriting. The female lyrics actually contain the words, “What’s in this drink?

3. “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer,” by Dr. Elmo. Way to celebrate granny-cide, even if she was a drunk and demented, sloppy old shrew.

 2. “Please Daddy, Don’t Get Drunk this Christmas,” by John Denver. Even though  I have an unexplainable love for the late John Denver, this saccharine appeal from the perspective of an 8-year-old boy to his boozer dad is enough to suck all the fun out of the holidays.

1. “Christmas Shoes,” by NewSong. BARF! I hate this song with the intensity of a hundred suns! From the idiot kid who is in line to buy shoes rather than at the side of his dying mother, to the idiot narrator who hands over a couple bucks rather than alert the authorities that there’s an abandoned child panhandling in public, this song, from the first note, is nothing but a senseless montage of emotionally manipulative turds lined up to tug heartstrings. Below is Patton Oswalt’s deservedly viciously ripping it apart:

You Better Tell Somebody!

Use these buttons if you are an alum and want to save some major bucks! (Classes below are not listed in chronological order)

(reg. price $175, YOUR price $150)

(reg. price $79, YOUR price $69)

(reg. price $69, YOUR price $49)

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(Reg. price $1500, YOUR price $1350)

You Better Tell Somebody!

January 7–8 – The Shocking Real-Life Book Writers Boot Camp Weekend — This is not your average writer’s retreat! This is a lively, active, results-oriented symposium of creative and accomplished authors, attendees and answers to the questions that have been dogging you for years regarding how to go about getting a book deal . . . Read more

January 19 – Travel Writing; How to Get Paid to Travel the World — Have you taken a trip that’s changed your life? Do you want to document your adventures with a paying assignment for a magazine or newspaper? This information-packed, inspiring workshop, taught by . . . Read more

January 29 – Atlanta’s Most Popular Blogging Workshop — This is Atlanta’s Most Popular Blogging Workshop! If you’ve been thinking about starting a blog or if you’ve already started one, this workshop will teach you how to sharpen its concept, write better posts, rank higher on Google, triple your traffic and start making money . . .  Read more

January 29 – Turn Your Blog into a Profit-Making Business — Learn how to discover and leverage your blogging voice, develop killer content, effectively analyze your stats and blog traffic, increase your readership and develop loyalty and improve your “findability” on Google!  Read more

Feb. 7–March 6 — Debra Coles Wisecrack U: A Stand-Up Comedy Class for Kids — Great speakers don’t always make straight A’s. They may not even do well on the SAT. However, great speakers know how to give an organized speech with energy and humor . . . read more

February 22 — WordPress Crash Course with Jami Howard – Learn everything you need to know to get your wordpress site off the ground, including a guided tour through the bewildering world of plugins . . . read more

Dates Vary – The Pitch Doctor with Hollis Gillespie Here’s a secret, you don’t need to have a finished manuscript to get a book deal. All you need is an amazing idea and as little as 10 pages. I’ve helped scores of writers get book deals and agent representation, you’re next . . .  Read more

[For a calendar of these classes, scroll to the bottom of this screen.]

You Better Tell Somebody!

Be A Successful Author Without An Agent or Publisher

Thurs., Nov. 10, 7–9pm

Amanda Hocking sold 450,000 copies of her paranormal novels on Amazon without an agent or a publisher.

Nyree Belleville sold 50,000 copies of her romance novels on Amazon without an agent or a publisher.

Thriller writer Joe Konrat made $78,000 off his novel (in six weeks!) on Amazon without an agent or a publisher.

Click below to sign up for this class!

Be A Successful Author Without An Agent or Publisher

Thurs., Nov. 10, 7–9pm

Cost: $59

Stop begging literary agents and publishers to look at your manuscript.  Amanda Hocking sold 450,000 copies of her paranormal novels on Amazon without an agent or a publisher.  Nyree Belleville sold 50,000 copies of her romance novels on Amazon without an agent or a publisher.  Thriller writer Joe Konrath made $78,000 off his novel (in six weeks!) on Amazon without an agent or a publisher.

Could You Be The Next Author To Hit It Big Online?  Join the growing list of authors who’ve made a ton of money bypassing literary agents and publishers and finding their own audiences on Amazon.  This $59, 2-hour class on Thursday, November 10 shows you how they did it and how you can too.  You’ll learn the step-by-step process to getting your book on Amazon and maximizing your chances for sales success.

Stop Begging Agents & Publishers To Look At Your Work

You don’t need them.  The publishing world is in the middle of the biggest transformation to hit the industry since the Gutenberg press.  It is now possible for you to put your work on Amazon’s Kindle, Barnes & Noble and —–  and do one of two things:

1)   Hit it big and grow an audience for your next books

2)   Catch the attention of agents and publishers (they’re all staring at Amazon stats and offering book deals to authors doing well on it.  Amanda Hocking got a $2 million deal from St. Martin’s Press after her paranormal series blew up Amazon)

Don’t Let Agents Or Publishers Discourage You:  There Is An Audience For Your Book.

Join the growing list of authors who’ve made a ton of money bypassing literary agents and publishers and finding their own audiences on Amazon.  The world is flat and it’s getting rid of the literary agents and publishers who stand in the way between writers and readers.

Find Out How To Cut Out The Middleman & Put Your Manuscript On Amazon & Other Electronic Book Sellers

By the time you leave this class you’ll know exactly how to publish and market on Amazon and other electronic retailers.  Here’s a partial list of the questions we’ll answer:

• How to format your manuscript for Amazon’s Kindle, Apple’s iPad, Sony’s Nook and other electronic retailers.
• How to fill out the application to Amazon’s Kindle and its competitors (each has their own idiosyncrasies).
• Whether you need to get an ISBN number.
• Inexpensive sources that can design your book covers
• How to price your book competitively
• How to augment your sales through your blog
• Marketing & publicity tactics once your book is launched.
• How to read Amazon’s sales report for your book (Amazon sends you a check every month)

Click below to sign up for this class!

Be A Successful Author Without An Agent or Publisher

Thurs., Nov. 10, 7–9pm

Cost: $59

About The Instructor

Mike Alvear is the perfect bridge between the old publishing world (he has a literary agent, he’s been published by Penguin and just signed a deal with Source Books) and the new (he has published several books on Amazon himself and is a recognized whiz on selling books online).  If anybody can give you novel approaches to getting your book published, it’s him.  Sign up today and reserve your spot in his class.

Location:

We are located in the historic Castleberry Artist district in Atlanta! Click HERE for directions from your location to our space at 313 Nelson Ave., Atlanta, GA 30313!

You Better Tell Somebody!

The Shocking Real Life Writers Retreat; See what the buzz is about!

A Novel Writing Getaway to Jump Start Your Novel

March 17–18, 2012

START THE YEAR OUT WRITE!

This is not your average writer’s retreat! This writing seminar is a lively, active, results-oriented symposium of creative and accomplished authors, attendees and answers to the questions that have been dogging you for years regarding how to go about getting a book deal. At the end of this book-writing retreat you will have a surmountable format for mapping out your book, the components you need to pitch a literary agent, including the agent contact information and the sample pages you need to send the agent. So, with that said, what’s stopping you?

Okay, you have a fantastic idea for a book — but do you know how to begin, finish, and sell it? Or let’s say you’ve already finished a manuscript, but now you’re at an impasse trying to get the attention of agents and publishers.Whether you’re at the idea stage or in the home stretch, this weekend will show you how to navigate the competitive world of book publishing and get your project sold.

“I wanted to THANK YOU, Hollis, for your workshop. It played a crucial role in being able to complete and submit a successful book proposal.” Rachael Brownell, who became a best-selling author after taking the Shocking Real-Life “Develop and Sell Your Memoir” workshop. She’s since been featured on the Today Show, Good Morning America and NPR’s Weeken Edition as a result of her book, Mommy Doesn’t Drink Here Anymore (2009).

“Hollis’ workshop gave me the confidence I needed to continue following my dream of becoming a published author. [It] was key to helping me fine-tune my proposal, and her personal involvement in my journey  has been invaluable.” Lisa Baron, Shocking Real Life graduate and award-winning columnist, who landed a book deal with Citadel for her memoir, My Burning Bush; How One Woman’s Career in Christian Politics Went Up in Flames. It’s a Chelsea Handler-meets-George Stephanopoulos exploration of the dismantling of the conservative movement — and why young (drinking, chain-smoking, and, well, you get it) political campaign staffers sometimes go rogue.

Warning: This is a retreat for people serious about publishing a book (which is not to say you have to take yourself too seriously) –  that said, (seriously) we are not in the business of hyping pipe dreams. The last thing we want to put you through is a litany of anemic sessions in which people sit around and bloviate about the difficulties of getting a book deal. The Shocking Real-Life Atlanta Book-Writing Boot Camp is an active writing retreat spanning THREE days devoted to your book, your idea for your book, formatting your book, writing your book, getting an agent for your book, selling your book to a publisher PLUS a special side workshop on how to write, publish and sell a profitable eBook. If you have an idea for a book — and especially if you have been sitting on your idea for a book — you owe it to yourself to enroll in this Shocking Real life writers boot camp hosted by best selling humor writer Hollis Gillespie.

Reserve Your Spot Now!

The Shocking Real-Life Book Writing Boot Camp with Hollis Gillespie March 17–18, 2012

Whether you’re at the idea stage or in the home stretch, this weekend will show you how to navigate the competitive world of book publishing and get your project sold.

• In this workshop, you’ll learn:
• The marketability of your idea, and how to make it more so
• How to pitch an agent for representation and write the perfect query
• What publishers and agents are really looking for and what they hate
• How to avoid the most common rookie mistakes
• Which pages to send to a literary agent as a sample of your work (hint: It’s rarely the very first pages)
• How publishing houses and literary agencies benefit the  author
• How to decipher the miasma of advances, royalties, subsidiary rights, foreign rights, and dramatic rights

Hollis Gillespie and a collective of other successful authors will share their secrets to unclogging your creative arteries so you can tell the world what you’ve been telling your friends all this time; that your book idea is a slam dunk, and now it’s time to cash it in. She and the other co-hosts will offer their candid critiques, suggestions for selling your work, and answer all your questions about breaking into book publishing.

Here’s some more things you will learn:

• How to pick an eye-grabbing title.
• Which genre best suits your idea (Memoir? Novel? Self-help? Humor?)
• When it’s permissible to embroider, improvise, and reorder real-life events.
• Exactly how to format your pitch letter.
• Exactly which agent to pitch (including contact info).
• How and when to contact agents.
• The difference between an illuminating essay and a journal entry.

And that’s not all, classes come with complimentary booze and fingerfood, as well as inappropriate conversation and other basic essentials for unleashing creativity and unlocking buried memories. Classes fill up quickly, so sign-up now!

Coming from out of town? CLICK HERE to save up to 67% on another local hotel stay courtesy of HalfOffDepot.com.

The Shocking Real Life Book-Writing Boot Camp Itinerary:

Saturday:

11:00 a.m.–5 p.m.

• Morning Workshop: Tips to Follow (and Pitfalls to Avoid!) When Nabbing a New York Super Agent  hosted by renowned magazine editor, author and agent-nabber Stephanie Davis. Learn the slew of rookie mistakes that keep your manuscript from the eyes of a literary agent, and the surprisingly simple insider tricks that put your pitch ahead of all the others. Stephanie Davis will recount, with insight and hilarity, her own journey through the process, including the mistakes and the unexpected, culminating in an exercise designed to help rocket your way to the publishing house. Stephanie Davis is the editor in Chief of The Atlantan, Contributing Editor to Jezebel and Men’s Book Atlanta and former  National Web Editor for skirt.com. She launched Get Married Magazine, a new bridal magazine with a 300,000 circulation started by Get Married TV on Lifetime Television and GetMarried.com in 2009. She was also on staff at GQ and SELF magazines, and has written for Gourmet, Details, Allure and msn.com.

• Continental Breakfast — coffee, tea, hot cocoa, etc. (doughnuts will definitely make a showing).

• Introductory discussion with Hollis Gillespie, topics to include finding an agent and publisher for your manuscript, determining the genre of your book, breaking down doors and ass-kicking writing techniques.
• Lunch is served with complimentary mimosas and inappropriate conversation (useful for dislodging buried creativity). Menu to include 5-cheese flatbread, mushroom-and-spinach flatbread, deli spirals, fresh fruit and POT LUCK!. Coffee, tea and snacks will also be available throughout the day during workdshops.
• Initial individual assessment of attendees’ manuscripts and ideas for manuscripts. Here is your chance to work on the preliminary format, working title and pointsof an elevator pitch for your manuscipt or manuscript idea. Anytime you pitch to an agent, you need to sum up your book in one sentence. It’s harder than it sounds, and believe it or not it often falls to this precise sentence to make or break an agent’s decision to take you on as a client.
• Writing exercises. Material assessment. Homework distribution. (Yep. Homework, though we don’t make you sit in a corner if you don’t turn it in the next day.) (It’s fun homework, though, so you will want to do it.)
• After 5 p.m. Happy hour at Elliott St. Pub, a true writer’s hangout just steps away. (Catch the pre-Super Bowl hullabaloo here.)

Sunday

11:00 a.m.–5 p.m.

• Continental breakfast.
• Format your book, pitch an agent, learn to avoid rookie mistakes AS WELL AS  learn the secrets that will put you ahead of 80 percent of the competition — it’s Hollis Gillespie’s sure-fire formula that has helped DOZENS of people get agent representation and/or book deals.
• Material assessment. Choosing the pages to present to the agent. (Hint: It’s almost never the very first pages.) How to treat, clean, edit and prepare your pages for presentation to an editor. Writing exercises.
• Lunch with complimentary mimosas and inappropriate conversation (marvelous for unblocking buried creativity)

Charles McNair

Afternoon workshop: The Con Game: Keeping Confidence That Your Work Will Work, hosted by Pulitzer Prize nominee Charles McNair, whose first novel, Land O’Goshen (St. Martin’s Press) received a Pulitzer Prize nomination for fiction and critical acclaim from the New York Times Book Review, Washington Post, and other venerated publications . This workshop is a personal approach to helping writers who haven’t broken through to keep believing they will. Charles will discuss the little ways you can build and nourish confidence along the way, until the novel is ready to be born, or the big work. “This is a topic that really deeply matters to me, since I struggled 10 years before a first book was ready,” says Charles. His novel, Land O’ Goshen (St. Martin’s Press, 1994) received a Pulitzer Prize nomination for fiction and was critically acclaimed by The New York Times and Washington Post.

• Each attendee will be assigned the contact info of a literary agent who is in the market for their type of material, and by the end of the weekend they will have a pitch letter formulated to attract that agent, a workable format for their manuscript plus 10 sample pages to include with their agent pitch.
• Your goal, by the end of this book-writers boot camp, is to have completed a professionally written query package to pitch your book, which includes a surmountable and creative format for your manuscript or book idea, a researched, completed pitch letter to a literary agent, and 10 professionally edited and treated sample pages to include with your query. Just give us this one weekend! Your life will change.

• Reserve Your Spot Now! to attend the Shocking Real-Life Book Writing Boot Camp with Hollis Gillespie
  
• March 17–18, 2012
  

Location:

The Shocking Real Life Academy is located in the historic Castleberry Artist district in Atlanta! Click HERE for directions from your location to our space at 313 Nelson Ave., Atlanta, GA 30313. (It’s a large shopfront facing the street. Free covered parking is available, just turn into the covered parking garage next to J.R. Crickets.)

You Better Tell Somebody!

October 22 — Filmmaking Basics; a Workshop Presented by Atlanta Film Festival 365 — Interested in filmmaking but don’t have a clue? This is the workshop for you. Whether you’d like to dive into the industry or just want to test the waters, this introductory course is designed to guide you. The workshop will give an overview of everything it takes to complete a film or video (there is a difference), and offer you direction for next steps to take. Read more

October 23 – Atlanta’s Famous Blogging Workshop — 2 spots left! This is Atlanta’s Most Popular Blogging Workshop! If you’ve been thinking about starting a blog or if you’ve already started one, this workshop will teach you how to sharpen its concept, write better posts, come up with magnetic headlines, generate more ideas, rank higher on Google, triple your traffic and start making money.  Read more

November 8–December 10 — Wisecrack University Stand-Up Comedy Workshop with Debra Cole – course you will learn basics of joke telling, the comedy business, writing techniques, creativity warm-ups, how to act on stage, finding your niche, realistic goal setting, and enjoy hours of irreverent and mildly offensive conversation. Whether you’re a novice or more advanced jokester, Professor Debra guarantees that your comedy will significantly improve. AND graduating participants will perform a stand-up routine in front of audience on stage during the Debra Cole Comedy Show at the Ansley Park Playhouse. Read more

November 9 — Travel Writing; How to Get Paid to Travel the World — sold out! Sign up for Dec. class below! Have you taken a trip that’s changed your life? Do you want to document your adventures with a paying assignment for a magazine or newspaper? This information-packed, inspiring workshop, taught by freelance journalist  journalist Jennifer Bradley Franklin . . . Read more

November 12–13 – The Shocking Real-Life Book Writers Boot Camp Weekend — 3 spots left! This is not your average writer’s retreat! This is a lively, active, results-oriented symposium of creative and accomplished authors, attendees and answers to the questions that have been dogging you for years regarding how to go about getting a book deal. At the end of this book-writing retreat you will have a surmountable format for mapping out your book, the components you need to pitch a literary agent, including the agent contact information and the sample pages you need to send the agent. So, with that said, what’s stopping you? Read more

November 19 – WordPress for Websites — With WordPress at your fingertips, there is no reason to pay someone else to run and manage your business website anymore! WordPress is an open-source content management software that, when paired with the right theme, can function just as beautifully as a custom-coded html website. And the best part is that YOU have the power to go in and edit your content without having to pay someone or wait for someone to do it for you Read more

December 7 — Travel Writing; How to Get Paid to Travel the World — Have you taken a trip that’s changed your life? Do you want to document your adventures with a paying assignment for a magazine or newspaper? This information-packed, inspiring workshop, taught by freelance journalist  journalist Jennifer Bradley Franklin . . . Read more

Dates Vary – The Pitch Doctor with Hollis Gillespie Here’s a secret, you don’t need to have a finished manuscript to get a book deal. All you need is an amazing idea and as little as 10 pages. I’ve helped scores of writers get book deals and agent representation, you’re next!  Read more

[For a calendar of these classes, scroll to the bottom of this screen.]

You Better Tell Somebody!