My upcoming lecture at SDSU’s Osher Institute

James Brega: What I Write Instead of Nothing

Have you ever driven up the California coast from San Luis Obispo to Monterey, knuckles white on the steering wheel as you fight for control of the car through hairpin curves? Have you ever dreamed that you had murdered someone and, upon waking, been unable to shake the conviction that it was true? Have you ever sung onstage to a packed audience, been robbed at gunpoint by a ten-year-old, laughed when it seemed— for a moment—that a famous author had stolen your mojo, wondered why we don’t drive steam-powered automobiles, or confronted your guardian angel at high tide on a gay beach once claimed by Pilgrims ? In What I Say Instead of Nothing, James Brega invites you to explore his real, imagined, and re-imagined experiences through his collected essays and short stories—a journey that will feed your nostalgia for life at the end of the twentieth century and remind you how desperately you wish that a great deal of it had never happened.

My upcoming lecture at SDSU’s Osher Institute

January 8, 2015

I’m pleased to announce that I will be delivering a 2-hour lecture–“How to Submit Your Creative Writing to Literary Journals”–at the Osher Institute at San Diego State University on February 19th from 1pm to 3pm. The lecture is free and now open for registration for Osher members (membership is $20). Registration for non-members will open on January 28th and cost $29.

The lecture will answer questions like:

How do I know if my work is good enough to publish?

How do I select the journal(s) that are the best fit for my work, out of the hundreds that are out there?

How do I prepare my work for submission?

What should I include in a cover letter and biography?

This lecture is intended to boost your self-confidence by helping you feel well-prepared. With that in mind, you’ll leave the lecture with a list of online and physical resources that will help you through the preparation and submission processes.

Note: this lecture is not intended for authors who are working on book-length projects, unless you’re interested in submitting book chapters for publication separately.

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James Brega: What I Write Instead of Nothing