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WORD-for-WORDS
A Monthly Newsletter from the Westport Writers' Workshop
with news of the WWW Community,
writing wisdom, prompts,
and announcements of upcoming events
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WANT TO KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON
at the
WESTPORT WRITERS' WORKSHOP?
 PLEASE
LIKE US ON FACEBOOK
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"Time Off?" |
Does anyone remember a time when summer meant empty schedules? I don't.
Everyone I know - even friends who are full-time teachers who have the "summer off" - seem to find themselves even busier than usual this month. And no one seems to have more to do than "non-working" (yeah, right) moms scrambling to fill kids' days with activities to stave off summer boredom.
Which leaves most of us to wonder: what ever happened to that free time that summer was supposed to offer?
Bewared, because September will be here in the blink of an eye (I know: cliché!). And here at WWW we have been busier than ever planning a rich fall season full of new workshops and offerings. So until then, please DO make sure to enjoy a little free time.
Just make sure to have that little notebook and pencil in your beach bag or back pocket. Inspiration can come at any time. And it will. Make sure you're ready.
Jessica Bram
Founder/Director
Westport Writers' Workshop
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Don't miss
"Can You Write a Television Sitcom?"
this week! |
 with GiGi New Monday, July 18, 7:30 - 9 pm How often do you sit in front of the TV and think to yourself, "I could write that" or "I have a great idea for a show"? Chances are, you could and you do. Not only that, the TV industry is hungry for ideas and new talent. If you would you like to learn what TV execs look for in an original TV script, what it takes to develop your own sitcom idea into a strong script, or how to write for TV, then join us on Monday, July 18 at 7:30 pm to meet Hollywood television writer and screenwriter GiGi New for an illuminating conversation pertaining to her experience developing TV sitcoms.
"I've been consulting with GiGi New on a screenplay which was stalled for years and now is moving. She's a positive critic who identifies strengths in a piece and helps overcome the corrosive self-doubt that writers struggle with. Writing will always be a solitary line of work but GiGi makes it less so. And she laughs a lot, which is good."
~ Garrison Keillor,
Author/Host of Prairie Home Companion
Join us for a glass of wine, cheese, and a fascinating conversation. Cover charge is only $10 (free for WWW members) but space is limited and pre-registration is required. Only a few spaces still available. Call (203)227-3250 or register below.
REGISTER NOW...
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News of Our Writers
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We believe that writers should write to be read. So we are always particularly proud to share news of our writers' publishing successes.
Congratulations this month to...
Christine Shaffer, whose essay "Astoria, Je t'aime," was published on Edible Queens this month. A meditation on learning the flavors of her parents' French heritage while growing up in Astoria, Queens, Christine's essay can be found here.
Rebecca Martin's essay "A Gift to Remember: One Stepdaughter's Mission to Pay Forward a Kindness From Her Past," was published in the July issue of StepMom magazine.
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What's Happening This Week:
BE A BLOGGER |
We had a full house this week for Part 1 of BE A BLOGGER with Dan Woog, author of the widely read blog " 06880: Where Westport Meets the World "The world is awash in blogs. Anyone can be a blogger. But as Dan Woog this week told a room full of soon-to-be-bloggers in Part 1 of BE A BLOGGER, not everyone can write a clever, compelling blog - and, as importantly, draw an audience that comes back regularly for more. In Part 2 this Thursday, Dan will walk participants through the mechanics of choosing a platform and setting up their own blogs. Disappointed that you missed out on BE A BLOGGER? Let us know and maybe we can convince Dan to come back and do it again. FOR MORE INFORMATION
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Creative Writing Workshops for
Teens and Young Writers | |
No grades...no pressure...just inspiration!
Sign up for the following workshops:
Grades 5-6
NEXT WEEK!
- Creative Writing: Unleash Your Imagination, Publish a Book
Grades 10-12
- Creative Writing: Fiction and Fantasy
Grades 7-10
- The World According To Me
Entering Grade 12
NEXT WEEK!
FOR MORE INFORMATION
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July Special:
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Bring a friend and you each
receive a $25 discount off any workshop for teens and young writers.
| Offer expires July 31, 2011
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Call for Writers: Aesthetica Creative Works Competition
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CALL FOR ENTRIES:
AESTHETICA CREATIVE WORKS COMPETITION
The 2011 Aesthetica Creative Works Competition is now open for entries. Aesthetica Magazine is inviting all artists, photographers, writers and poets to submit their work into the Creative Works Competition. Now in its fourth year, the competition is dedicated to celebrating and championing creative talent across the disciplines and welcomes entries from writers working in short fiction and poetry.
- The Competition has three categories: Artwork & Photography, Poetry and Fiction.
- Winners and finalists are published in the Aesthetica Creative Works Annual.
- Winners of each category receive £500 prize money (approx. $800) plus other prizes.
- The entry fee (£10 or approx. $15) allows the submission of 2 images, 2 poems or 2 short stories.
- The deadline for submissions is the August 31, 2011.
- More guidelines on how to submit can be found online at http://www.aestheticamagazine.com/submission_guide.htm
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What We're Reading
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This month, a contribution from author Matt Debenham, who leads our popular "Intermediate Fiction" and "Fundamentals of Fiction Writing" workshops ...  I recently read two novels back-to-back, Jennifer Egan's A Visit From the Goon Squad and Mat Johnson's PYM. They're an interesting study in contrasts.
Goon Squad is, essentially, a series of episodes following a dozen or so  characters in and around the music industry over several decades.
PYM is more single-minded, following the journey of a down-and-out African American scholar of Edgar Allan Poe as he searches for signs of the lost civilization described in Poe's only novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket Likewise, where PYM sticks pretty closely to a traditional "hero's journey" plot, Goon Squad contains the barest of plots, instead happily focusing on the most important moments in its characters' lives. 
Goon Squad also plays with form quite a bit, not just changing narrative techniques for each character's sections, but also venturing into some fairly postmodern waters, such as the now-infamous PowerPoint chapter. This section, in which a teenage girl in the near-future uses everyone's favorite Microsoft presentation program as a sort of diary entry about life with an autistic brother and worn-out parents, could have (and should have) been gimmicky. Instead, it's the most affecting thing I've read in years. Likewise, PYM, which as a point of satire closely mirrors key moments in Poe's novel, never feels forced or academic. Rather, it's a terrific, hilarious, openly confused book about mankind's inability to escape issues of race, even at the bottom of the world, even when mankind itself may have come to an end.
Of all the exciting things both A Visit From the Goon Squad and PYM do as fiction, possibly the most exciting is reminding us of the wonderfully accommodating nature of the novel. Both arrive to us in novel-shaped boxes, if you will, but what's inside each is a unique set of mechanisms that could only have been assembled by that particular author at that particular point in their lives. This, I think, is ultimately what we want when we open a book.
What are you reading? Please share your book raves or thoughts with us.
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Well Said
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"Nothing attracts the Muse more than a writer at work on a steady schedule."
--Kenneth Atchity, A Writer's Time
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Registration for Fall 2011 Workshops
Begins August 15
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Make sure you are on our email list to receive the announcement of our Fall session. Sign up below. Or sign up a friend!
For more information, email Kathleen at info@westportwritersworkshop.com.
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Coming This Fall
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Here are just a few offerings planned for September. Save the dates:
Saturday, September 24, 9 am to noon, WRITER'S BOOT CAMP: GET SERIOUS, GET AN AGENT, GET PUBLISHED, a panel presentation with Jessica Bram, nonfiction author of Happily Ever After Divorce: Notes on a Joyful Journey; Lucy Hedrick, fiction author of Premarital Assets, as well as five-time nonfiction author; Prill Boyle, nonfiction author of Defying Gravity: A Celebration of Late-blooming Women; Nina Nelson, author of middle-grade children's book, Bringing the Boy Home; and Denise Marcil, President & Founder, Denise Marcil Literary Agency, New York, NY, who has sold over 1,500 manuscripts to publishers. $150.
Tuesday, September 20, 7 to 9 p.m,eChook Digital LAUNCH PARTY & NETWORKING EVENT, Barnes and Noble, Westport. Learn about Tessa Smith McGovern's eChook Digital Publishing : Ten Minute Escapes in the Palm of Your Hand which accepts submissions year-round of up to 2,500 word published and unpublished works of fiction, memoir or essay, which are downloaded on mobile apps by thousands of readers in 90 countries worldwide. Free to attend.
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Westport Writers' Workshop
3 Sylvan Road South
Westport, CT 06880
203-227-3250
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