L.A. Affairs is our Los Angeles Times column about the search for love in and around Los Angeles. If you’ve got a story to tell, we want to hear it. We pay $300 per published column.

Submission requirements

• We seek previously unpublished work.

• Each story needs to have an arc. Mere musings on the state of affairs won’t do.


• Stories must have a strong sense of place and feel rooted in Southern California.

• Stories must be factually correct and about your own life. No exaggeration, no fictional or composite characters, no hyperbole for dramatic effect.

• We do not publish columns using pseudonyms or pen names.

• Submissions should be 800 to 900 words.


A few words on editing

We will edit your stories for content, length and tone. We understand that these stories are personal, and the process will be collaborative. But ultimately the editors’ decisions will stand.

How to submit an essay

Please email submissions and questions to: laaffairs@latimes.com. Include “L.A. Affairs” in the subject line. Please submit essays as text in the body of the email (not as an attachment.) Please be patient: We receive hundreds and hundreds of submissions for this weekly column and are not always able to respond immediately.


We look forward to reading your essay.

— The editors of L.A. Affairs

