Hollis Gillespie's Shocking Real-Life Writing Academy

Catch the shock wave! Already shocking real-lifers are landing book deals and fielding offers from interested literary agents. Now it's your turn to put yourself in for a shock and publish your book!

Face it, you've been saying for years that your life story would be a best seller if you could just get it on paper, well now it's time to turn your dirt into dough. Hollis will share her secrets to unclogging your creative arteries so you can tell the world what you've been telling your friends all this time; that your life was a riotous hell and now it's time to cash it in. She will offer her candid critiques, suggestions for selling your work, and answer all your questions about breaking into memoir writing.

In these workshops you'll learn:

• How to turn your personal shame into a literary laugh-riot.
• 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.
• How to kick writer's block.
• How to begin.
• How to describe your book in one sellable paragraph.
• How and when to contact agents.
• The difference between an illuminating essay and a journal entry.
• How not to lie about your drug addiction or the time you spent in solitary lockdown (or How to avoid falling into the James Frey foible).

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

Upcoming Seminars [top]

Shocking Real-Life Memoir Writing Seminar ATLANTA, GA Sunday, September 14, 2008, 11:00am - 5:00pm Cost: $175 Includes finger food, champagne, ping pong and inappropriate conversation. REGISTER NOW! Class held at Telephone Factory Lofts, 828 Ralph McGill Blvd. #106, Atlanta, GA 30306.

Shocking Real-Life Memoir Writing Seminar ATHENS, GA Sunday, October 5, 2008, 11:00am - 5:00pm Cost: $175 Includes finger food, champagne, and inappropriate conversation. MARK YOUR CALENDAR! More information coming soon!

Shocking Real-Life Memoir Writing Seminar CHARLOTTE, NC Sunday, October 12, 2008, 11:00am - 5:00pm Cost: $175 Includes finger food, champagne, and inappropriate conversation. REGISTER NOW! Class held at North Carolina Music Factory Lofts. 820 Hamilton St., Charlotte, NC 28206.

Rather pay by check? Follow this simple 3-step process:

1. Write a check for the cost of the class payable to "Hollis Gillespie" and mail to Hollis Gillespie, P.O. Box 7321, Atlanta, GA 30357-0321.
2. Using the contact page, send Hollis a note. Include your name, email, which seminar you are signing up for, and the date the check was mailed.
3. After Hollis receives your check, you will get a confirmation email notifying you that you are registered in the class.

CLASS Location [top]

Atlanta seminars are held at SISTER LOUISA'S ART GALLERY IN THE CHURCH OF THE LIVING ROOM AND PING PONG EMPORIUM ... "Come on in Precious!" Located in the Telephone Factory Loft Complex at 828 Ralph McGill Blvd. #106, Atlanta, GA 30306. View map to Atlanta seminar.

Charlotte seminars are held at SISTER LOUISA'S ART INSTALLATION at the North Carolina Music Factory Lofts. 820 Hamilton St., Charlotte, NC 28206. View map to Charlotte seminar.

Instructor Bio [top]

Hollis Gillespie, a Writer's Digest "Breakout Author of the Year," is an award-winning, syndicated humor columnist, NPR commentator and author of "The Ugly American," a travel column in Paste magazine. Her books are titled Bleachy-Haired Honky Bitch; Tales from a Bad Neighborhood (ReganBooks, 2003), the film rights of which were bought by Paramount, Confessions of a Recovering Slut and Other Love Stories (ReganBooks, 2005), and Trailer Trashed; My Dubious Efforts Toward Upward Mobility (Skirt!/Globe Pequot, 2008). Her column, titled "Moodswing," appears weekly in Creative Loafing, one of the largest alternative newspapers in the country.

Special Guest Instructor: Charles McNair presents “The Con Game: Keeping Confidence That Your Work Will Work,” a personal approach to helping writers who haven’t broken through to keep believing they will.

Charles McNair is a Pulitzer Prize nominated novelist, critically acclaimed journalist, editor and columnist. His literary novel, Land O’ Goshen (St. Martin’s Press, 1994) received a Pulitzer Prize nomination for fiction and was lauded in the New York Times Book Review, Washington Post, and other important publications. As a journalist, his bylines have appeared in Saturday Review, USA Today, Paste, Southern Living, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Southern Accents, Atlanta Magazine, Cooking Light, Omni, and many others. He has been a weekly business commentator on Atlanta’s popular public radio station, WABE-FM, and a guest literary reviewer for Canada Broadcasting Company’s Sunday Morning Live. His own literary reviews appear internationally in the London Times Literary Supplement. He has also been a guest business commentator on National Public Radio’s Marketplace, and he serves as the Book Editor for nationally circulated Paste magazine, which was voted Magazine of the Year at the 2006 and 2007 PLUG Awards.

Special Guest Appearance by Grant Henry (aka Sister Louisa, aka The Beehived Bartender, aka "The Happiest Man Alive"), a recurring real-life character in Gillespie's writings, who is a self-proclaimed "Liver of Life, Loss Expert, and One Who Laughs When Told Not To." Grant will provide a retrospective on the life decisions he's made that have brought him to the point today where he is able to make a living by doing, saying, or creating any-damn-thing he decides. (He refers to this segment as "Grant Henry's 'Fuck Fear' Enlightenment Lecture.") (Ogling is allowed, though it's advised to avoid eye contact.)

SUCCESS STORIES [top]

May ‘07 memoir-publishing seminar alum Rachael Brownell just got her book proposal accepted by San Francisco publisher Red Wheel/Weiser and Conari Press. “My book will be a series of funny anecdotes about mothering in early recovery — tentatively titled Just Say No to Cocktail Playdates,” says Brownell, who is also a regular contributor to a popular department for Blabber.com called “Strollerderby,” which served as a great platform when it came time to pitch her proposal to the publisher. “I wanted to THANK YOU for your workshop. It played a crucial role in being able to complete and submit a successful book proposal.”

Susan Contreras, graduate of “Publish Your Personal Essay” says, “It’s one of the best things I ever did for my writing career! By the end of the class, Hollis had helped me take one of those crazy ideas in my head and turn it into a finished essay, ready to be emailed to an editor. Within two months, that essay led directly to two assignments from a senior editor at Family Circle magazine.”

Wendy Merrill’s juicy tell-all, Falling Into Manholes; the Memoir of a Bad/Good Girl was just published by G. P. Putnam’s Sons.

Amanda Lamb’s book, Smotherhood, Wickedly Funny Confessions from the Early Years, was released by Skirt! press in 2007. Congratulations, Amanda! Her book is a laugh-riot "momoir" told in a series of interconnected vignettes. Amanda's second book, Deadly Dose, will be coming out this year from Berkeley.

Dixie Feldman, just landed a book deal with HarperCollins to publish her manuscript The Lost Art of Being a Dame (working title).

Corinne Humphrey's book The Tao of Rudy was recently published by Sage Press.

Rhiannon Bowman just landed a gig writing personal essays for Skirt! magazine.

You can be the next Shocking Real-Lifer to get a book deal! Check out our class schedule and get working on your book today!

What past particpants say about the Shocking Real-Life Writing Seminar [top]

"I made contact (totally used your letter) with a friend's agent at Writer's House. It worked! Now he wants to see the proposal. They loved the idea of the 5 People You Meet in Heaven, but from a female perspective. Thanks again! The class was great." — Stephanie Davis, Editor, skirt! Magazine

"Hollis Gillespie's writing workshop was the best I've ever attended.  Hollis was extremely encouraging and helpful in both creative and procedural modes.  And the yellow theme with the mimosas worked at a deep level of community which added to the enjoyment of the whole experience." — David Ryback

"Hollis's seminar was entertaining and very effective in focusing everyone's projects, finding suitable names for books, and giving specifics on how to approach agents which she suggested specifically for each participant. Two of her friends gave presentations that were perfect complements as Hollis researched the specific info for each participant. Additionally, what I got simply through osmosis was more than worth the price." — Scott Kenan

"Hollis is a rule-breaker who will teach you things you won't hear anywhere else.  If you don't care about political correctness and want to learn a proven tactic to get an agent's attention, Hollis can show you the way." — Debbie Unterman

"Hollis and crew were positive and upbeat. 'Can't' wasn't spoken. The environment and food were 'quirky and fun,' one of the underlying themes of the workshop and Hollis's principles: build a support system of writers, share your work and contacts, and hit the send, send, send button on your computer made sense. The 'fuck fear' and the agent list was an added bonus." — Lynn Hesse

"The Hollis Gillespie workshop was money well spent and the day went by very quickly!  Hollis took time with each person to help them clarify details of the story that they'd like to tell, develop a creative title, found similar books to use as examples in a pitch letter and provided a list with a recommendation of an agent (or agents) to contact.  Hollis gave concise, realistic feedback to each person.  As an added bonus both Grant Henry and Michael Alvear spoke and each offered excellent advice. I came home and began work immediately on my story! I'm impressed by Hollis and Michael's philosophy of helping other writers.  Thank you for offering this wonderful seminar to Atlanta Writers Club members." — Sharon LeMaster

"It was a great experience and nice to sit around a table with others who are dealing with the same obstacles I am.  I liked the advice given to ignore conventions and rules when querying agents and publishers which I will paraphrase: as long as it's well written, go for it regardless of the 'supposed' hurdles or rules.  Receiving a rejection doesn't necessarily mean you're work isn't any good or you didn't follow the rules. I liked having published authors talk about their personal experiences and paths to success using somewhat unconventional means. I spent part of yesterday putting the advice in practice and sent out several queries with an entirely different attitude." — Kathy Lewis

What makes the Shocking Real-Life Writing Academy unique?
Our goal is to guide you to not only write but to publish your work, and each class is concluded by providing you with specific tools to accomplish publication, such as concise literary-agent, publisher and national magazine-editor contact information, plus proven advice for how to pitch your book or article ideas so that it separates your work from the rest in the slush pile and will get you a quick response. In the past few months alone, three Shocking Real-Lifers have procured book deals, and three others are negotiating representation with literary agents, and all with little to no publishing experience.

Also, these are not just classes, but events and experiences, not to mention inappropriate conversation and ping-pong. Seminars are held in a renovated telephone factory in an atmosphere that is charged with challenging visuals at every glance – a place where many renowned artists got their start, including Hollis Gillespie, who started her syndicated column and wrote much of the material that would become her first two books there.

ALSO, the Shocking Real-Life Writing Academy is the only academy that serves COMPLIMENTARY cocktails and finger food, which are considered basic essentials for unlocking buried memories. Enrollees are also encouraged to bring potluck if they want. We had a really good banana bread the other week (thanks, Jeanne!).

Who teaches your classes?
Each instructor is not only an accomplished author – Charles McNair’s first book, Land O’ Goshen, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and Hollis Gillespie’s first book merited her the Writers Digest Breakout Author of the Year – they are editors themselves and therefore able to afford you inside information to the publishing track. Most classes are accompanied by guest instructor segments and/or a guest bartender. A lot of times the classes are crashed by the likes of Lary Blodgett and Grant Henry – real-life characters who regularly appear in Hollis Gillespie’s column and books — who often show up hoping to be ogled by fans. Grant’s appearance has actually morphed into a formal segment in the Shocking Real-Life Memoir Writing Seminar, called “Grant Henry’s Essential Fuck Fear Lecture,” that has proven popular and insightful, expounding on such mental tidbits as “The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off,” and “I know there’s a balance, I see it when I swing past.”

How do I know if this class would be appropriate for me?
One thing you need to know is that all the classes are inappropriate, period. People disclose the most amazingly shocking stuff once we get going, which of course is the point, because most are there to publish material that is based on their experience. A lot of the process is sharing your subjects with the others to learn that you are not alone in your bizarre life, thus unlocking the freedom to write about it for publication. Once you reconcile yourself to that then we’re on our way.

How are your classes structured?
Each class is structured according to what best suits the material and the instructor imparting it. The following is an example of the course schedule for the Shocking Real-Life Memoir Writing Seminar:

Schedule (pretty much):

How many people are in a class?
Classes are limited to just 20 enrollees, which is why it’s important for you to act quickly to enroll. Each enrollee is given personalized instruction on how to frame their material to make it a surmountable writing endeavor, and each enrollee is matched to a specific literary agent whose specialty matches their type of material. These agents have put the word out they welcome the types of submissions that fit your genre. That is why the success rate is so high at the Shocking Real-Life Writing Academy; we make sure that your work is targeted to agents, editors and publishers who are not only seeking material in the same vein as yours, but have requested it.

Who attends your classes?
A mind-blowing assortment of people. The youngest so far has been 18, and the oldest was a woman in her seventies who worked at a retirement home and whose book it was suggested she title “The Viagra Orgy and Other Tales of Saucy Seniors,” (or something like that). Our students are a multicultural, multi-ethnic, multi-sexual cross section of talented and creative people. We’ve had doctors, strippers, television reporters and writers, web designers, waitresses, housewives, rich divorcées, poor divorcées, single moms, librarians, bulldog breeders, former drug addicts, recovering alcoholics, survivors of abuse and/or illness, cat lovers, bed wetters (Grant) and space aliens (Lary), to name just a few.

Questions? For more information use the form on this site to contact Hollis.