The Best Thing I Ever Did for My Writing

Hello All,

I don’t normally make posts like this, but this is something I had to share. I’ve been taking a class on Method Writing and it is revolutionizing how I write. Specifically, Method Writing helps you to get to your deep, authentic voice. To discover what’s compelling about YOUR voice and how to access your truths and bring that into this crazy thing we call writing.

I’d never heard of Method Writing before until my editor forwarded a link to a YouTube video. It was an interview with Jack Grapes. Grapes is known as the innovator of Method Writing and has been teaching this method for decades in Los Angeles (but he’s so much more than that, too. You can check out his bio here: https://jackgrapes.com/bio/).

I am on week three and I’ve already been transformed. Jack is a genius. He’s brought to writing what Lee Strasberg brought to acting – a deep connection to your own authenticity and emotional truth and how you get that on the page. It’s revolutionizing the way that I think about writing, and the process I’m bringing to the page. I’m an infant in this Method Writing journey but know this practice is something that will forever shape how I approach the art of writing.

The other day, one of Jack’s co-teachers forwarded an email. A disciple of Grapes, Kevin Jacobsen teaches a prequel class to Method Writing for only $215.  This is a fantastic introduction to Method Writing. He has a few spots left in his fall class and I felt compelled to tell you all about this opportunity. Here is the original email string below. If this resonates with you, I highly recommend this class.

***

Happy Saturday,
If you have a friend or a fellow writer, who’s been dying to take a writing class, but has stalled because of fear and all that stuff we do. Here’s their chance for a fun class, introducing them to the “Jack Grapes Method Writing world.” The class is warm and friendly and a lot of fun. There are still a few spot left.
Please pass the flyer along to any fellow contender. I so appreciate it!
Thank you!
Xo
Kevin J

Kevin Jacobsen
teaches a special 4-week class
Prequel to Method Writing” for only $215

Hi,
We’re offering a special 30% discount on the “Prequel” class
in Method Writing, taught by Kevin Jacobsen.
To RSVP: Kevin Jacobsen: kevjacobsen@mac.com
   Kevin will be teaching two classes, 

Thursday, October 28th, 1pm-4pm, 4-weeks for only $215

Or,

Friday October, 29th, 9:30am-12:30pm, 4-weeks for only $215.
This class offers a great introduction
to the basic concepts of Method Writing.

Each class will be limited to 18 people, with guest appearances by Jack Grapes, Josh Grapes, and Lisa Segal. Class will be held on the ZOOM platform, so here’s your chance to “virtually” get “out of the house” and stimulate your creative writing that may be lying dormant in these surreal times. 

RSVP ASAP to Kevin Jacobsen: kevjacobsen@mac.com
-Mail check to:Kevin Jacobsen Projects, 1974 N. Sycamore Ave, LA, CA, 90068
-Request invoice from Kevin and use PayPal
-Venmo @Kevin-Jacobsen-11
You can pay for classes  in three different ways.

Class schedule,

 Thursdays 1pm-4pm, Oct 28rd, Nov 4th, Nov 11th, Nov 18th. 

Fridays 9:30am-12:30pm, Oct 29th, Nov 5th, Nov 12th, Nov 19th.

METHOD WRITING: The “Prequel”
a word from Kevin Jacobsen

This 4-week Prequel Class will show you how to create cinematic scenes in your prose writing. You will learn how to craft compelling dialogue. You will learn how the smallest details can create lasting images, and you will learn to create that intimacy between reader and writer. This class is a fun way to experience the power of journal-entry-style writing, which forms the basis for all prose fiction and non-fiction, as well as deeply felt poetry. Method Writing will help you overcome the anxiety of facing the blank page. You will learn to come from your inner truth, and not let your talent steer you in a mediocre, safe way. This class will also teach you the secret to never having writer’s block again. I promise!

The Prequel Class is a four-week dip into the pool of this unique writing method. You will get in touch with your true, inner self. You will write in an authentic way, sounding like yourself, not like a fancy writer —  it’s what all good writers and artists strive for — we call it VOICE. The Prequel Class will show you how the Jack Grapes’s Method Writing technique really works. You will come from “process”  instead of writing toward a specific “product,” which opens you up to the accidental detours of your inner truth. Process actually creates product. When you’re “in the moment” in your writing, you’re also open to the unexpected ideas and stories that come from your deepest self. As Robert Frost said, “No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

Kevin Jacobsen is a Norwegian-American writer and actor based in Los Angeles. He was raised in a fishing village in Norway, where he learned to hunt moose, knit scarfs and tell stories. After two semesters of law school in Oslo, he realized he was the only one memorizing legal cases and roleplaying litigants. So he packed his bags and moved to Hollywood. Kevin has since appeared in fifty national television commercials. He has studied Jack Grapes’ METHOD WRITING for five years. His stories and poems have appeared in several anthologies, including “I’ll Have Wednesday,” Los Angeles Poets & Writers Collective, and ONTHEBUS. Coming out later this year is his book of short stories, “Have You Ever Heard of a Moth Not Knowing,” and he has two dramatic television shows in development. He lives in Hollywood with his wife, the bestselling author Annie Jacobsen, and their two sons.

COMMENTS FROM THOSE
WHO HAVE TAKEN METHOD WRITING CLASSES:

from Laura Dern:
“What I treasure about Jack Grapes’s Method Writing is that it is a brilliant lesson in connecting and staying true to one’s voice. From that place, the writer can go anywhere. It is the core teaching that has made me passionate about acting as well.”

from Hank Azaria:
“Jack Grapes’s Method Writing system breaks down writing into bite-sized chunks that are actually fun and easy, an incredible series of short-cuts that lead you down a wonderful path of your own making.”

“Just want to tell you how much I love Method Writing and it’s a blessing beyond belief in my life and development as a writer. I wish I could be in there everyday, I really do. Like at least two hours a day would be great. Thank you for everything.”   — Nicole Arlyn

 “Even though I have not been able to write on a regular basis I have learned so much within the past few weeks, and I want to continue on when you start up again. I know this will likely sound strange to you – but there is a cathedral quality in that ZOOMING platform, all of us gathered together/apart. I feel like I main-line creativity every class. It’s like we had discussed on the second night . . . we are all “in the room, all in this together.” The energy is pretty heady, and you are an amazing instructor with great stories and insights. Of course, part of it is because it is just so damn much fun! I am definitely a participant when fun is to be had. I’ve enjoyed watching my fellows open up and blossom. It has been exquisitely sweet. Thank you so much for making this so at a time when all of us artists and writers need a sense of community. This class had been a tremendous gift for my spirit.”  — Donna Fletcher

“This class has been as meaningful, if not more meaningful, than any therapy I have been in as a  Patient, or as a therapist, because I work with groups of cancer patients where the guts and truth of life is in the room. I have felt in your class the same kind of power. There is a feeling of safety in the class, and the group with your leadership provides that. No judgment. The group is part of the magic. This probably doesn’t even begin to explain what I saw and felt. I can’t wait to take the next class.”  
     — Lynne Silbert

“Thanks for giving me the tools to write. I thought it was impossible and that only people who’ve written their whole life have that talent.  I’m starting to write a little bit outside of class and am enjoying it. Wow. Never thought that would happen! Thanks for the gift you give that is impossible to describe, measure, add a price to.” 
     — Adrienne Foon

“I just returned yesterday from my first 10-day residency at Antioch’s MFA in creative writing program. I used so much of your craft teachings while I was there. During our workshops, we were constantly asked, “What is the writer doing here in this passage?”  And, since I took your classes, I could respond confidently. I know I wouldn’t have gotten in to Antioch if I hadn’t taken your classes and participated in the Festival of Books and Beyond Baroque. Thank you for creating a complete program. I am so grateful.  Your classes have grounded me, given me confidence, put me in my best place of learning, and given me lots of knowledge of craft.  I will enjoy the MFA program because I took your classes first.”
      — Sherilynn Lee

 “Your class is truly one of the most engaging and satisfying of creative experiences.”
       — Richard Piscuskas

For anyone inclined to learn Method Writing, contact kevjacobsen@mac.com

Contemporary Romance, Chick Lit, Women’s Literature, Premade Series Book Covers, Trilogy, Boxset – Customizable, Blank Art Included

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Massive Premade Covers Release – 10 Premades from Fantasy to Romance and In Between!

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Want the layered PSD files? Just ask. 🙂

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Guest Post: Why the World Needs Your Stories

Dear Writer,

The world needs your stories.

No, seriously.

People are frightened, work-worn, and weary right now. The world seems cruel at random, without explanation or context. But since the dawn of human culture, story has been harnessed to comfort, guide, inspire hope, and give context and meaning to our otherwise confusing and ambiguous lives.

If you’re a writer (and if you’re reading this, I’m guessing you are), you can probably pinpoint the first story that first changed your life. The story that challenged your worldview. The books that forever altered your way of thinking. Those are likely the books that inspired you to write. What if those writers you so admired had decided to abandon their big ideas before writing them? What if they had sagged their shoulders and allowed the world to tell them they weren’t doing anything worthwhile, to get a ‘real’ job, and stop indulging themselves? Where would they be today? Where would you?

Imagine if George Lucas had decided a space opera sounded too silly and far-fetched to bother creating. If Lin-Manuel Miranda had assumed no one would pay to watch a two-and-a-half hour rap about Alexander Hamilton. If J.K. Rowling had believed what the industry was telling her, that children only wanted to read about ‘real-life situations’ and not about a wizard school. What if they had given in to their doubts?

Perhaps your intention was never to write a life-changer. Perhaps it’s to escape and entertain. Still, reflect a moment on the aliveness, the catharsis, the understanding and healing you’ve personally achieved through your own writing. What if you will someday impart that same healing, joy, or enlightenment to someone else who reads your work? What if you already have?

Please don’t quit. Life seems dark, times are trying and stressful, and there are days when it feels impossible to go on. That’s exactly why you SHOULD go on.

Most writers quit when they feel like they’ve been crying their heart into the ocean and not even making so much as a ripple with their endless tears. I say keep weeping. Keep bleeding your tears onto the pages. Like drops in the ocean, you don’t know where your words are going, what shape they will take someday, whom they might touch. You could change the world quietly, without ever knowing it.

But I don’t have to tell you that. You already sense it from within. That’s because you are a writer. And this crazy world needs you now more than ever.

About the Guest Author

C.K. Brooke is an ACES Certified Editor and Associate Member. She is also an award-winning indie author of over a dozen books, published by 48fourteen, Limitless, and Called by the Heart. Since 2017, C.K. has edited for numerous independent authors, including #1 international bestselling author Mande Matthews, and publishing houses such as 48fourteen and The Parliament House.

Need an editor for your next book? She offers affordable, friendly, and prompt copy editing services for indies like you. View her profile and portfolio on Reedsy: https://reedsy.com/c-k-brooke and contact her to get started today at https://ckbrookewrites.wordpress.com/proofreading/.

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A Perfect Example of How to Fund Your Kickstarter Book Campaign!

children’s book illustrations monsters

A perfect example of how to get your Kickstarter Children’s Book Funded! Curtis surpassed his original ask by three times the amount (as of this writing) and I’m happy to announce I will be continuing his Children’s Book Illustrations for his clever Alphabet Monster book. He’s a prime example of how to win at Kickstarter Campaigns? Curtis brilliantly tied into a secondary market (which is his day job!) that literally funded his project less than a week into his campaign by spreading the word to his colleagues on Twitter. You can check out his campaign and how he structured it here: https://www.kickstarter.com/proje…/curtbraz/m-is-for-malware. Basically, his book concept neatly ties into an adult market and he filled this niche with a never-before-seen product. Very clever!

Congratulations on your funding, Curtis! I’m excited to continue creating your monster illustrations and see you published.

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