Summer and Creativity

Congratulations to ...   

Doreen Birdsell, who just pubished her memoir Without Faith: A Motherless Child Redeemed by a Determined Spirit. Doreen had a memoir in her heart when she came to the Westport Writers' Workshop, but no idea how to write it. She learned how, stuck with the process, and brought to the world an inspiring, riveting story. We are so proud to have been a part of Doreen's extraordinary journey.   

Charles Gershmann, a participant in David Wiltse's Playwriting workshop, whose play "The Prenup" has been accepted into this summer's Strawberry One-Act Festival. An adaptation of Chekhov's "The Marriage Proposal," "The Prenup" is set in a present-day Manhattan apartment building and depicts a caricature of coupledom in which a young man's marriage proposal unravels. "The Prenup" will be presented on July 28 at the Hudson Guild Theatre in New York City.

We were excited to receive the press release from the Association of Jewish Librarians about Susan Ross who won the Sydney Taylor Manuscript Award for In Search of Lottie, one of two middle school-age books she has been working on in Suzanne Hoover's "The Art and Craft of Story" workshop. Established to encourage aspiring authors of Jewish children's books, the honor carries a cash award of $1,000 given for "the best fiction manuscript appropriate for readers ages 8-11, written by an unpublished author."

Westport Writers' Workshop workshop leader Marcelle Soviero's essay "Joint Custody after Divorce" was published on Babble.com and her essay "Loving Lydia" was published in The Upper East Side magazine. Both essays were written and shaped in WWW's "The Examined Life" workshop.   (Note: a few spaces still remain in Marcelle's new Writing About Your Life: A Memoir and Personal Essay Workshop (Section 4) on Wednesday evenings this summer, beginning June 22.)

LAST CHANCE

Plotting and Planning a Memoir:
The Storyboard Method   

 This Saturday!

Plotting and Planning a Memoir:

The Storyboard Method

   with

Jessica Bram

Are you writing a memoir? Then don't miss this very important workshop offered for the first time at the Westport Writers' Workshop this Saturday.  Limited to 12 participants, and only a few spaces remain. 

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION

For a memoir to read like a page-turning novel, it must contain the same elements of classic drama. But for memoir writers, this often poses a troubling dilemma.  What if the life drama that the memoir writer sets out to recount does not happen to fall within the classic three-act structure or contains a narrative arc?  What if certain critical dramatic elements simply do not exist?

This workshop, specifically geared for writers of the full-length memoir, will show how to plot and plan their true stories along a narrative arc using the "storyboard" method ... 

READ MORE .... 

NEW THIS SUMMER!  

Creative Writing Workshops
For Teens and Young Writers

No grades...no pressure...just inspiration!  

Workshops are scheduled for one-week-long sessions from July 5 through August 12. These include: 

Grades 5-6 

• Creative Writing: Unleash Your Imagination, Publish a Book   

Grades 7-9   

• Creative Writing: Fiction and Fantasy
• Journalism: Reporting and Column Writing

Grades 9-11

• Creative Writing - Anything Goes 
• Be a Blogger 
• The World According To Me

Entering Grade 12  

• Write Your College Essay - One Week Summer Intensive (Then Enjoy Your Summer!)  

FOR MORE INFORMATION

NEW!

Can You Write a  Television Sitcom? 

Writing About Intimacy 

Here were just a few of the most helpful "take-aways," in the words of one attendee:

"Workshop leader Sandy Barron showed that you can insert intimacy into your writing without sex; that in storytelling there are many ways to convey intimacy, and even consummation, without employing actual sex or physical contact;and that sometimes showing the lack of intimacy between characters can be as telling as showing it - and just as powerful of a writing tool."

~ Laurel Tuohy, New Fairfield, Conn.

We are delighted that Sandy Barron will return to the Westport Writers' Workshop in September to lead a new 8-session Saturday morning fiction writing workshop.  Unlike our weekly workshops, the group will meet bi-weekly to accommodate those with busy or full-time schedules.  Watch for announcements of our Fall 2011 program.   

What We're Reading  

This month, a contribution from Westport Writers' Workshop Office Manager Kathleen Nash:

"I picked up Room, by Emma Donoghue, after repeatedly hearing from friends that it could not be put down.  Told primarily via the interior monologue of a 5-year-old boy trapped in a room with his mother, Donoghue skillfully crafts a story of innocence, horror and hope in an otherwise mundane setting. 

"Note to the reader: The book jacket summary apparently reveals the plot scenario.  Fortunately, that did not appear on my Kindle version.  I feel that I experienced more having not known the circumstances surrounding their entrapment.

New Summer Offerings   

Although most of our summer workshops are now filled, we do have a few spaces still available in the following:

New evening section just added

Writing About Your Life:

A Memoir and Personal Essay Workshop

with Marcelle Soviero

Wednesdays, 7-9 pm

Begins June 22

READ MORE...

 A few spaces remain in 

Intermediate Fiction

with Matt Debenham   

Tuesdays, 7-9 pm

Begins June 21  

READ MORE...

Want to hold your space for our Fall session?   

Once again, participants currently enrolled in a workshop have priority to re-register for their spots for the next session.  But if you're workshop is not offered during the summer, email Kathleen at info@westportwritersworkshop.com to let her know if you want to hold your spot for the fall. 

Did You Know We Offer One-on-One
Coaching and Editing?

Are you ready for some personal attention? The Westport Writers' Workshop offers private one-on-one consultation, coaching, and/or editing by our workshop leaders and other professionals? These include:  

• Fiction and Nonfiction Manuscript Consulting and Critiquing by Suzanne Hoover, Ph.D. 

• Writing Coaching and/or manuscript editing with Jessica Bram, Marcelle Soviero, Joe Freitas, Matt Debenham.

• Playwriting and Fiction Consulting and Critiquing by playwright David Wiltse. 

• More and more writers are self-publishing today - and selling their work.  If you're thinking about self-publishing, make sure to talk to our expert Penny Pearlman.

• Nonfiction book proposal consultant and coach Lucy Hedrick.

• Copy editing/proofreading with Marggie Graves, others.  

READ MORE ....   

Chris and Joe, proud owners in Provincetown, MA

We will miss our exceptional workshop leader, talented writer, and good friend Joe Freitas who has moved to Provincetown, Mass. where along with his partner Chris, he will be embarking on their newest venture, ownership of the Bradford Natural Market.   And he'll be writing, of course. 

Watch for announcements of our Fall 2011 Provincetown Writers' Retreat when we will re-unite with Joe. 

Thursdays, July 14 and 21, 7 to 9 p.m., BE A BLOGGER with Dan Woog, 3 Sylvan Road South, Westport, $150. Appropriate for ages 14 to adult. 

Monday, July 18, 7:30 to 9 p.m., CAN YOU WRITE A TV SITCOM? with TV and screenwriter GiGi New, $10 or free for WWW members.  

Make sure you are on our email list for announcements of all events and openings.  

Fall 2011 workshops begin registering August 15. 

"Writing is like sex. You have to save your love for the love object. If you go around spouting about your idea, when it comes time to go to bed with that idea, there'll be no 'charge' left. You can't father children that way."

~ Ray Bradbury  

"I think it's a pretty good rule not to tell what a thing is about until it's finished. If you do you always seem to lose some of it. It never quite belongs to you so much again."

~ F. Scott Fitzgerald