Author to Give Advice on Writing for Kids : Alexis O’Neill will offer her insights to members of the Ventura County Writers Club.

Achieving success in writing for children and young adults takes a great deal more than just the ability to spin a compelling tale. Successful writers know that they must also understand the needs and interests of today’s youngsters.

Author Alexis O’Neill will give hints on doing just that when she speaks to the Ventura County Writers Club. O’Neill is the author of “Loud Emily,” and regional advisor for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.

She will outline the steps needed to enter the field and dispel some of the myths and misconceptions about writing for children.

O’Neill writes fiction and nonfiction for a variety of children’s magazines and is a regular contributor to Children’s Book Review Magazine. The event begins at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Orchid Professional Building, 816 Camarillo Springs Road, Camarillo. The fee for nonmembers is $5. Call 482-5648 for details.

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Learning Tree University is offering a course on travel writing from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday on the Thousand Oaks campus. Instructor Jerry Camarillo Dunn, author of guidebooks for the Smithsonian Institution and a regular contributor to many magazines including National Geographic Traveler and Islands Magazine, will describe how to write and market travel pieces. Call 497-2292.

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Author Al Benson will sign “Vortex of Fear,” a Gulf War techno-thriller, at 1 p.m. Saturday in Barnes & Noble, 4360 E. Main St., Ventura.

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Mysteries to Die For in Thousand Oaks invites you to have coffee and cake at 11 a.m. Sunday and meet Rochelle Majer Krich, author of “Speak No Evil.” Krich mixes crime with Orthodox Jewish lore in her novels. Her book, “Angel of Death,” is available in paperback. Mysteries to Die For is at 2940 Thousand Oaks Blvd.

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Jean Nepsund and Emma Lee Price will present “German Research: Walking in Our Ancestors’ Footsteps” at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Conejo Valley Genealogical Society meeting, Adult Education Center, 1025 Old Farm Road, Thousand Oaks. The beginner class, which starts at 6:30 p.m., will focus on “How to Write Letters and Queries Which Get Results.” Call 497-8293 or 498-6006 for details.

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The literary journal Verve is soliciting poetry for its spring 1996 edition, based on the theme “Walking Toward the Roar.” Send material by March 1 to Verve, P.O. Box 3205, Simi Valley, 93093.

UP THE COAST

Laura Kath Fraser and Pamela Lechtman will sign their “Family Adventure Guide to Southern California” at 3 p.m. Saturday at Earthling Bookshop, 1137 State St., Santa Barbara.

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Chaucer’s Books is holding a drawing Saturday for tickets to a lecture and book signing by Laura Schlessinger, psychologist, radio personality and author of “10 Stupid Things Women Do to Mess Up Their Lives.” She will discuss her new book, “How Could You Do That?,” at 2 p.m. Sunday in the Arlington Theater at 1317 State St., Santa Barbara. Tickets for the lecture are $21.50. Call the Arlington at 963-4408 for details.

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Wayne McCall, Patricia Halloran, Noel Young, Herb Andree and Bob Easton, creators of an updated edition of “Santa Barbara Architecture” will be at Chaucer’s Books, 3321 State St., at 2 p.m. Sunday.

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“Speaking of Stories,” produced by author Steven Gilbar, will be the first presentation this season of Actors Reading Great Writers. Stories by Ethan Canin, Julia Darling, Dagoberto Gilb and Annie Proulx will be read by actors Emma Jane Huerta, Richard Jones, Nick Mancusso and Luis Moreno at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Center Stage Theater in the Paseo Nuevo center in Santa Barbara. Tickets are $10. Call 963-0408.