Electrolicious

Even five years after the fact, I still get emails from students who are considering CPC. Lots of these folks are looking for tips on the application process. I realize that my CPC archive is pretty spotty on the whole application process and my advice about it, so here’s a little mini-FAQ based on my […]

This weekend I dragged my poor friend Dawn to see The Devil Wears Prada, which was sort of cruel of me. Dawn is a nurse who sees maybe two movies a year and is totally uninterested in media, pop culture, publishing gossip, etc. But I had to go see this film, and Dawn was my […]

This morning I woke up to find an email from a 2004 graduate of the Columbia Publishing Course in my inbox. My heart goes out to this young woman. She’s in the process of learning that CPC isn’t able to apply its “90% Job Placement” rate to everyone, and that intoning “ineedajobineedajob” in your head […]

So, it’s summer, which means that the kids are back at it at The Columbia Publishing Course. When I retured from Phoenix Fest, I had several emails from a couple CPC students who are in the throws of CPC’s book workshop, wherein students create faux publishing houses and crank out book proposals. Remember when I […]

I am finishing up my book proposal today. You would think that all my years as a copywriter would have prepared me well for selling my ideas, but I’m still finding it a major challege to write about myself in third person. Unable (or unwilling) to escape her parents’ worldview, Ariel approaches each community with […]

There are probably very few of you who remember me gushing about Arthur Levine after he spoke to my class at Columbia Publishing Course. (Quick reminder: Arthur Levine is the American editor of J.K. Rowling.) In my post, I recounted his wit and humor, and admitted that after he spoke, I “sulked back to my […]

The $6,000 I spent on CPC tuition last year seems to still be (albeit slowly) paying itself off. Yesterday I received two free books from Erica Zappy, one of my former classmates who is working for Candlewick Press. Both books were written for young adults, which means they’re right at my level. Heh.
I’ve already sunk […]

Guess who just called me from New York? Anna! HA! Good to hear that CPC is just as stupid this year.

As I said before, I’ve gotten a lot of emails from prospective Columbia Publishing Course students. Recently, I’ve been getting even more, because CPC is starting next week.
I got one today from a woman named Jessica. I’m reprinting our correspondence because I figured that other up-n-coming CPCers could find it useful, and alums (Hi, […]

So, at least a dozen prospective students have found my webpage by searching for “Columbia Publishing Course.” Many of them emailed with questions, asking me about the course, how I liked it, how it worked, etc. But only ONE of them has then gone on to start her own blog! Meet Anna. I’m excited to […]