WHEN Thursday, Feb. 22, 6:45-9:45 p.m. WHERE offices of mediabistro.com West Hollywood, Calif. MORE INFO Email us, or call (310) 659-5668. PRICE $65 ($50 for ) more info

Course Details

Who am I? What am I doing here? Why was my crazy mother mean to me when I was a child? Most importantly, how can I spin my wacky, dysfunctional life into a bestselling book? All these questions and more will be answered in this once-in-a-lifetime seminar from one of America's Top 100 Prose Humor Writers (from a list he made himself). The comic memoir has reached new artistic heights in the last decade, with David Sedaris, Sarah Vowell, David Rakoff, and many others breathing life into a somewhat moribund artform. You, too, can learn to tell your life story in a self-deprecating and profitable way. Warning: Our factcheckers will be on hand, so you'd better not lie about your drug addiction or the time you spent in solitary lockdown. Come along!

This seminar will cover:

• How to identify what parts of your autobiography are actually interesting to others
• How to find the proper voice and point of view to express that story
• How to use dialogue in memoir
• How to make real-life people seem like interesting, believable people on the page
• The instructor's expenses for traveling to New York City

Instructor Bio

Neal Pollack's Courses

Neal Pollack is the author of three hard-hitting books of satirical fiction, the editor of the crime-fiction anthology Chicago Noir, the keeper of his popular website, "The Maelstrom," at www.nealpollack.com. His freelance writing has appeared in every English-language publication except The New Yorker. His memoir, Alternadad, will appear in the fall of 2006. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, son, two cats, a dog, and Kanye West.