Michael Mehas, Ventura attorney and author of the critically acclaimed novel "Stolen Boy," and Patricia Kokinos, Ventura educator and author of the prize-winning novel "Angel Park," will offer a six-month series of writing seminars at no cost as members of the California Literary Arts Society.

"Third Thursdays" will offer discussion focused writing seminars on a wide variety of writing related topics. As the Ventura City Council and Mayor have proclaimed Ventura as International Book City, "Third Thursdays" also brings awareness to the community.

"Patti and I have both had some extraordinary experiences when it comes to writing and publishing our first novels. We want to share those experiences with other writers or others who want to write. The process of writing, publishing and marketing what you've written, has changed dramatically over the last several years, and we've been right in the middle of those changes," author Michael Mehas explained.

After writing "Stolen Boy," Mehas researched all of the different publishing options and found the best fit for his particular project.As writers enter the unknown world of publishing, Mehas remains willing to share his insight and lessons learned with unpublished authors.

"We feel that this is a terrific opportunity to tap into the community and provide a local voice to those who will run into the same types of problems or issues that we have faced," Mehas said. "We are hoping to provide a resource that was unavailable to us as we struggled through the process of getting our books into the marketplace."

Mehas tapped into his own personal experiences to approach the writing of characters in his book.

"Patti and I have both written wonderful books. They are rich with life's experience. They both deal with characters that are forced to reflect on their life's situations, and to react to them," Mehas said. "The characters evolve, in one way or another, for better or worse in their own lives, as the stories progress."

"Personally, Patti and I have also had such experiences in our own lives. We've had to master the craft of writing to be able to create such work. We can answer writers' questions. We can hang out together. We can share the problems and answers that are unique to our profession. As far as I know, there's nothing else around Ventura like that. It's really a unique opportunity to form a tight, local writer's community, and I think we can all benefit from it," Mehas added.

Author Patricia Kokinos is also looking forward to helping local writers.

"We certainly hope other writers will learn something specific from each topic, since we plan to share a lot of hard information. But even more, we hope to create a community of independent writers that can continue to share information and provide mutual support as this process develops. While Ventura provides a great deal of support for the arts, I think that writing is an art that has not quite come into its own as a community event," Kokinos said. "Eventually, I think we would all like to see and hear more from and about local writers, and perhaps this series is a good way of bringing writers together toward that end."

Kokinos wrote her novel, "Angel Park," based on her 25 years in the education field. As a long-time writing teacher, she recognizes the intellectual, emotional and therapeutic value of the writing process.

"Certainly, there are writers throughout this area who have information to share, so we hope they join us and perhaps create additional seminars or other events for writers," Kokinos explained. "We were delighted that Clarey Rudd, who is a long-time Ventura bookstore owner and a Board member of the Literary Arts Society, was willing to host this seminar series at his new Bank of Books location downtown. All three of us want to see it evolve into a venue where writers can meet, talk, and share information-about writing, publishing, and marketing- right here in Ventura. I think there are a lot of writers who could feel more confident about doing their work with a little support from others in the same situation, and we want to help create that opportunity. I personally love the friendly, small-town atmosphere of Ventura which allows us to be excited about each other's accomplishments in the arts and many other fields."

"Third Thursdays," will be offered January 17 to June 19, 2008, at Bank of Books, 748 East Main Street, Ventura, 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm. All of the events will be held at Bank of Books in downtown Ventura on the third Thursdays of the month.

THE SCHEDULE

January 17: "Shaping Your Story and Letting it Take You:Raising Your Consciousness through Writing"

February 21: "Crafting a Point of View that Communicates"

March 20: "All about the Self-Publishing Route"

April 17: "Revising, Revising, Revising"

May 15: "Getting into Print:Articles, Blogs, Letters, Critiques"

June 19: "Jumping into Book Marketing, 1-2-3"

For more information on "Stolen Boy" visit www.MichaelMehas.com.

For more information on "Angel Park" visit www.ChangetheSchools.com.