Program Description
Event Details
Coronado Public Library and the Friends of Coronado Public Library, in partnership with Warwick's bookstore and the San Diego Writers Festival, present married authors Neal Allen and Anne Lamott discussing the new book Better Days in conversation with Marni Freedman. This event takes place at the Coronado Performing Arts Center at Coronado High School, located at 650 D Avenue in Coronado.
This event is a fundraiser for the Friends of the Coronado Public Library. Tickets range from $10 to $38.95. To purchase tickets, visit https://www.warwicks.com/event/allen-and-lamott-2023 and click the green "buy tickets here" button.
- Check-In opens at 5:45 PM. Please print out your tickets.
- Seating is first-come, first served.
- Books will be distributed the evening of the event at check-in to "With Book" Ticketholders. Neal and Anne will sign books after the discussion.
- The Performing Arts Center is directly behind the Coronado Public Library. You can view a parking map HERE. The two lots marked “school parking lots (for select events only)” will be available.
- Please call the Warwick's Book Department at 858-454-0347 for more information.
Neal Allen is a writer, spiritual coach and speaker whose chief interest is removing obstacles of the ego. He is the author of Shapes of Truth: Discover God Inside You. A former journalist and corporate executive, he earned master's degrees in Political Science and Eastern Classics. He lives with his wife, the writer Anne Lamott, in Northern California.
Anne Lamott is the author of many bestsellers including Rosie and Imperfect Birds. Her 12 non-fiction works include Bird by Bird, Operating Instructions, Help, Thanks, Wow; and Dusk, Night, Dawn. She lives in Northern California with her husband and author of Better Days, Neal Allen.
In this life-changing book, writer and spiritual coach, Neal Allen, teaches us a stunning new method for quieting the inner critic.
"Better Days will help you get to know your inner critic, and quiet its yammering, and in so doing, get to know the person you were born to be." - Anne Lamott.
What if your superego has it wrong? That snarky little bully in your head...you know the one. You've lived under its weight for decades.
I'm a fraud, I'm lazy
I need to work harder
I need to be tougher, funnier, calmer...
I need to stay quiet, look pretty, stop showing off
I need to put others before me, I need to put myself first
I need to be perfect
I need to hide who I really am
Sound familiar?
You know that its scolding voice is harmful to you, but you can't will it away. You accept a life with short periods of peace and long stretches of stress and anxiety. But you don't have to.
In this revolutionary new book, Better Days: Tame Your Inner Critic, writer and spiritual coach, Neal Allen, examines a critical aspect of the human psyche that often gets ignored - the superego. Building on Freud's idea that the superego necessarily forms a person's moral conscience, Neal explains how this voice in your head develops in childhood as a survival mechanism, but when no longer needed for protection, camps out in your mind like a personal parasite. A parasite that doesn't belong.
Through simple and engaging exercises and explorations, Neal leads you into meeting, confronting, and ultimately quieting your own inner critic. By shedding off the burden of the superego, you can overcome tired patterns of reward and punishment, reduce the self-talk that harms you, and ultimately clear an open space for the life you deserve, one that is gentler and more peaceful.
Just imagine...if all that nasty, negative chatter in your head just evaporated ... what would you do next?
Better days are just ahead.
Marni Freedman (BFA, LMFT) is a produced, published, and award-winning author, playwright and screenwriter. After graduating from the USC School of Filmic Writing, Marni began her career with her play, “Two Goldsteins on Acid,” which was produced in Los Angeles. The play was made into a film, “Playing Mona Lisa,” and was produced by Disney. Marni then worked as a script doctor for top film companies. In 2018 Marni received an award for her touring one-man show, A Jewish Joke which was produced Off-Broadway.
Marni is the co-founder and programming director of the San Diego Writers Festival, a yearly city-wide event that celebrates writers and storytellers. Marni is the executive producer of the San Diego Memoir Showcase, a yearly production at the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center in La Jolla. Marni is also a therapist for artists and writers, as well as a sought out speaker and retreat leader.
You can find Marni at marnifreedman.com, a writing hub to help writers find and believe in their authentic voice.