Lisa Jakub's Blog, page 5

Speaking events in Elizabethtown, PA

Pennsylvania, I’m coming to visit! I’ll be at Bowers Writers House at Elizabethtown College this weekend!

There will be three public events:

Dinner and Conversation with visiting author Lisa Jakub. Friday Oct. 16th, 6-8pm (wherein I try not to talk with my mouth full.)

You Look Like That Girl book signing. Saturday Oct. 17th, 2-3pm (wherein I try to spell your name correctly.)

Reading and Reflection: a special evening with visiting author Lisa Jakub. Saturday, Oct. 17th 7:30-9pm (wherein I r...

There’s real famous. Then there’s me.

It is possible to leave Hollywood.

It’s not easy.

People wrinkle their foreheads at you and ask “why?” in this tone that makes you feel like you have just announced your intention to dress yourself entirely intinfoil. People say you’re crazy for walking away from a good career just because it . But it can be done. You can leavethe film industry and do new things and you can almost leave it all in the past. Almost.

Certain things tend to linger.

I rarelytalk about my old...

Last call for my online writing class!

My online memoir class starts this weekend – want to join us?

This class is open to all levels – from experienced writers to those who have only written emails.All we require is passion and enthusiasm.You’ll learn a lot about memoir craft, we’ll do fun exercises to open the creative floodgates and I’ll offerfeedback on your work. We’ll read great writing samples and totally nerd out about words. It’ll be awesome fun.

Here are some of the topics we’ll be covering.

Class #1 – Where to begin:...

Questioning the Cult of Busy

“How are you?”
“BUSY.”

It’s become the standard answer to the question.
Ah, yes. We’re busy. We’re all so very busy. We have so much going on. Things are CRAZY.

I’m not doubting that life tends to get hectic. Jobs and kids and pets and Instagram accounts. Yard work and work outs. Parents get medical procedures and laundry getsleft in the washer.

We all have stuff.

But somehow, being “busy” seems have become a point of pride in our culture. Like, “I am a very important person because I only ha...

Want to hang out with me and write?

I’m teaching an online memoir writing class with Writing Pad! It’s open to folks with all levels of writing experience – you just need to be courageous enough to want to shareyour story. This is going to be a fun, supportive environment where we can all work together and create something wonderful.

The class will be held ONLINE – on seven Sunday afternoons: Sept. 27, Oct. 4, 25, Nov. 8, 15, Dec. 6, 13

12 – 2 pm PST (3 – 5 pm Eastern)

I hope you’ll join me! Sign up here.

(And if you want a lit...

Recipe for happiness: squash the expectations

This is apparently the mathematical breakdown of what it means to be happy.
I totally agree, don’t you?

Actually, my idea of happiness doesn’t ever include exponents, but what this equation means is totally fantastic.

There wasrecentlyan article in The Atlantic that offers this equation and says that happiness doesn’t depend on how things are going.It depends on whether things are going better or worse than you thought they would.

Happiness is all about expectations.

This is entirely true i...

The art of stealing: books I loved while writing mine

Since my book was published, I’ve been getting a lot of book-ish questions.

I was recently giving a talk towriting students and they asked me what I like to read, and what I think writers should be reading. I found myself saying, “I think it’s importantto read great work and then steal it.”

I quickly backtracked – okay, I’m not encouraging you to ‘steal’ as in‘plagiarize.’ I mean steal like…borrow another author’svoice and try it on. See what it lookslike with your own spin. Avoice is just l...

Embrace your weird

Me. At my wedding.

I’ve always felt like I was weird.

I’m goofy and dorky and awkward. I make faces like that when I’m supposed to be a composed bride.

Sometimes peoplestareat me. There is pointing. And whispering.

I didn’t go to school the way most other people did. I had different experiences and I didn’t know things that other people knew about. I didn’tknow how to play hopscotch or jacks, I knew how to play poker and craps – those were the kinds of games we played on set.

I was super inse...

Fighting the demons: typos

The missing the: just one of the many typos in my book

I started acting when I was four years old and by the time I was five, directors had nicknamed me “One Take Jake” because I tended to be well-prepared and didn’t usually need more than one take. I’ve always prided myself on my ability to get in there and get it done. Get the shot. Nail itthe first time.

But this means I give myselfvery little wiggle room when it comes to making mistakes.

I could not be more thrilled that my book is being...

The curing of a sleepwalker: hypnosis, trust and a pretty fish

The sharp click of the breaker box was what woke me up.

As my eyes came into focus, I snatched my hands away from the fuses and looked in horror as I wondered which ones I’d already flipped in my sleepy panic.

I was in my garage. And I was sleepwalking again.

Being a chronic sleepwalker is truly bizarre. Sleepwalking has a distinct undead quality. You wander around in a subconscious fog, unaware of surroundings but somehow functioning, albeit on a low level. Being in this limbo between sleep...