All Student Success Letters

Kira Peikoff

Dear Gotham, 

Your classes have been indispensable in helping me to complete my first novel Living Proof. On my first day in Alex Steele's Advanced Novel Writing course, he asked the class how far into our novels we were. I recall my intimidation as the other students responded that they had written tens or hundreds of pages; I had only the seed of an idea, not even a first line. 

But Alex did not scoff at my goal of completing a book within a year-at age 22. He expertly led our workshop through the fundamentals of the craft, with just the right blend of lectures, examples, and critiques of our own work. When the ten weeks were up, I had 60 pages written and was only just getting started. I signed up for two consecutive Gotham workshops, relishing the sense of community I found in a group of other writers endeavoring to tackle the same mind-boggling task. I gained much valuable feedback and even formed a few lasting friendships. I also ended up beating my original deadline, finishing my book within nine months, while again enrolled in one of Alex's classes.

I am thrilled to share that Tor Books will publish Living Proof  in the summer of 2011. Thank you, Gotham, for helping me to see my project through; my success is yours!

Very best,
Kira Peikoff
kirapeikoff.com