Meet Elizabeth L. Silver | Novelist, Attorney, & Founder, Onward Literary Mentoring, LLC

We had the good fortune of connecting with Elizabeth L. Silver and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Elizabeth L., can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
As a child, I had a clear goal in life: become a writer. After trying to find my way via publishing, law, and academics, all of which I also loved, it became obvious quite quickly that the path is not exactly clear. Over the years as I began to publish, I grew to rely on my fellow writing colleagues as my first readers.

I’ve always believed in the power of mentorship, specifically in a field with no clear path such as the writing life, and wished I had someone ahead of me to whom I could reach out and ask questions along the way as I navigated everything from early manuscript creation to revision to eventual publication. The desire to find someone who can help guide you – a mentor – is often challenging because, quite frankly, where and how do you find one? I created Onward Literary Mentoring as a place where you can connect with a professional writer and work together over time, asking questions about craft or even publication along the way as you write your manuscript. You apply and match with one of our incredible authors, who will help guide you as you write. Though the company is based in Los Angeles, the author-mentors are all over the country (and world).

Right now, we have nearly thirty critically-acclaimed and best-selling authors (and TV writers) on the growing panel, and all of them are inspirations to me.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
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Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m a Los Angeles transplant who came to the city as an adult, so my LA is based around exploring the city’s natural beauty and cultural wealth. Not a week goes by when I’m not on one of my favorite hiking trails (Runyon Canyon, Temescal Canyon, Fryman Canyon, Griffith Park). When I make it to the beach, I love relaxing with friends and family at Zuma and biking along the trails in Santa Monica.

I love all forms of theater, and the full experience at the Hollywood Bowl is certainly not to be missed. The Pantages in Hollywood always has a good musical playing and I also try to see the LA Philharmonic at Disney Musical Hall. But LA has great theater outside of the major venues, too: Downtown LA has the Center Theater Group (Mark Taper Forum, Ahamnson Theater, Kirk Douglas Theater), which always has fantastic plays, the Pasadena Playhouse is great fun, and I try not to go too long without some standup comedy at any one of LA’s iconic venues.

Whenever someone visits, the first place we always go is the Getty museum, as well, for its art, its views, its architecture. For a great meal, try PERCH in downtown LA, which reminds me of living in New York again where I spent my twenties, getting to eat on the roof, have a drink, and take in the lights of the city. And you can’t go wrong with sushi in Studio City at Teru Sushi.

Finally, for the literary tour of LA, start out with the Los Angeles Public Library, immortalized by Susan Orlean in THE LIBRARY BOOK (check it out, it’s amazing), and spend some time browsing and shopping for books at any of the incredible Indies: Vroman’s, Book Soup, Skylight, The Last Bookstore, Chevalier’s).

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I want to give a shoutout to some of the amazing independent bookstores in Los Angeles that deserve so much credit for building a literary community: Vroman’s in Pasadena in particular (where I’ve had all my book launches), The Last Bookstore in downtown LA, Skylight in Silver Lake, and Book Soup on Sunset.

Instead of buying your books online, visit one of these incredible indies to get personal recommendations and (once they resume) take in an author reading.

Website: www.OnwardLiterary.com

Instagram: @OnwardLiterary

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/onward-literary-mentoring-llc/

Twitter: @OnwardLiterary

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/onwardliterary

Other: My author website: www.ElizabethLSilver.com @ElizLSilver

Image Credits
David Zaugh Marc Campos