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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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Best Quote for Writers Ever
"Planning to write is not writing.
"Outlining... researching ... talking to people about what you're doing, none of that is writing.
"Writing is writing."
E.L. Doctorow |
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at the
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where you will also find special offers and advance invitations.
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Should you write when you're feeling emotional? |
However, like many memoir writers, I have a personal pet peeve, which is to be told that writing my memoir-based essay collection Happily Ever After Divorce: Notes of a Joyful Journey "must have been therapeutic."
Not so. For therapy, I can go to a therapist. Writing is something else entirely - and much harder. I wrote my book for readers. In other words, when I write I must put the reader's needs ahead of my own feelings.
How do you put the reader's needs first? There is one way, and it's by paying attention to your craft. Emotional truth in a memoir is important, certainly. But never more important than craft.
What this means is that in order to get the critical distance that the writing craft requires, you cannot be actively caught up in the emotions of your subject.
Here is how Writer's Digest editor Brian A. Klems puts it in his recent article "7 Ways to Perfect Your Writing Tone":
"If you're having a hard time distancing yourself from the raw emotion of a personal subject, this may be a sign that you need to let time do its magic work. Frank McCourt said it took him years before he could detach from his anger toward his feckless father enough to give Angela's Ashes its nonjudgmental tone. When something bad happens, of course we feel upset, even as if life has treated us unfairly-but that's not a great place to write from. Let the experience ripen in your memory until you've achieved the distance you need." When you're grieving, angry, or going through a hard time, by all means, get your feelings out in a journal. Journaling can be useful, and even powerful; sometimes, I don't even know how I feel until I start journaling. And certainly, have a good cry. But keep in mind that journaling is something completely different from what we call writing.
Only when you're ready to slice and dice your experience with the emotional distance of a surgeon will your writing draw the reader's tears, rather than your own. That's pay dirt.
And now, to happier subjects.
Founder/Director
Westport Writers' Workshop
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Thank you!
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Thank you to those who attended our September 15 Open House as we launched our 2011-12 season. Many gathered to reconnect with old writing friends, meet new ones, get to know our workshop leaders, and catch up on what's happening this fall.
In case you missed it, we hope to see you at our next event.
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News of Our Writers
| Exciting news about our workshop leader Sandra Rodriguez  Barron. Her recent novel Stay With Me (HarperCollins, 2010) has been named a finalist for the Connecticut Center for the Book's Connecticut Book Award. The winner will be named at ceremony at the Hartford Public Library on October 30, attended by keynote speaker and novelist Wally Lamb (She's Come Undone); R.J. Julia Booksellers Founder & President Roxanne J. Coady; and well-known Connecticut author/journalist Lary Bloom. Previous awards have been dominated by names like Frank MCourt, Philip Roth, Alice Mattison, Fairfield University's Michael White, and Westport Writers' Workshop instructor Patricia Hermes. [Note from Jessica Bram: I read Stay With Me on the beach this summer and I was absolutely enthralled. Loved it!"]
Christine Pakkala has just learned that Boyd's Mill Press has made an offer to buy her children's novel Last But Not Least Lola, with an option for a second, and which they hope to publish as a series. Fortunately, according to Christine "I just happen to have written three!" Boyd's Mill Press is the trade division of Highlights for Children, Inc., publishers of Highlights Magazine. Christine Pakkala is WWW's triple threat: she writes fiction, memoir, and children's literature.
Did you happen to notice Christine Shaffer on the cover of the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine? She's the one with dark hair and bangs at the top left corner. Christine received her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Fairfield University in 2010.Christine, who is working on a memoir, posts her personal essays on her blog page on OpenSalon.com.
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JUST ANNOUNCED:
Screenwriting Immersion
Workshop
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In response to repeated requests for expert screenwriting instruction, we are pleased to offer a day-long Screenwriting Immersion Workshop with our new workshop leader, professional TV/Screenwriter GiGi New. GiGi, who moved to the East Coast this summer, kept a full house enthralled at her Can You Write a TV Sitcom? talk at the Westport Writers' Workshop in June. (Note: GiGi's From Pitch to Pilot: How to Write a TV Sitcom begins this week, see below.)
Screenwriting Immersion Workshop with GiGi New Saturday, Nov. 19 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. $195, or $150 if registered by Oct. 15 You have a great story idea that you know would make a great feature length film. But how do you make that idea spring to life in script form? How do you write a great screenplay that's compelling, cinematic, and has the potential to grab the attention of a studio or production company? Appropriate for seasoned as well as new screenwriters, this intensive Screenwriting Immersion Workshop will introduce and guide participants through the screenwriting craft. It will cover an array of topics that pertain to delivering a strong script for today's market.Read more ...
And keep in mind ...
Last chance to register. Starts this week!
From Pitch to Pilot: How to Write a TV Sitcom with GiGi New Thursdays 7 to 9 pm Begins October 6. $425
This workshop will cover both the creative and industry process of taking a TV show from idea to air. It will provide students a better understanding of the creative steps taken in developing a script, while also affording a detailed insight into how today's television industry works. Topics covered over the six weeks will include: the fundamentals of television development, script analysis of single vs. multi-camera comedy, proper script structure, and the keys to creating dynamic characters in the half hour format. Limited to 6 participants. (Only two spaces left.) Register now.
About TV/Screenwriter GiGi New  GiGi first earned her stripes as writer's assistant on Everybody Loves Raymond. She later became a staff writer on shows for Nickelodeon and FOX. Last September she pitched her original TV show to the networks with TV producer/director Walt Becker (Old Dogs, Wild Hogs, Glory Daze on TBS). As a screenwriter, GiGi has also developed and pitched to Hollywood producers numerous feature film screenplays, two of which are currently in development. GiGi has taught workshops at IFP and The Loft Minneapolis. In addition to her workshops, GiGi has a private practice as a script consultant for both TV and feature length film screenplays. She offers private consulting services through the Westport Writers' Workshop as well. "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
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In case you missed ...
WRITERS BOOT CAMP:
GET SERIOUS. GET AN AGENT. GET PUBLISHED.
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Panelists (left to right) Denise Marcil, N.A.Nelson, Prill Boyle, Lucy Hedrick, and Jessica Bram
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On Saturday, Sept. 24 every seat was filled for our "WRITERS BOOT CAMP: GET SERIOUS. GET AN AGENT. GET PUBLISHED." Here is some of what participants learned:
- In order to secure an agent and get a book contract for a nonfiction book, you need not have the book finished, but do need a polished Book Proposal and several sample chapters.
- To get an agent for a novel or memoir, you must have completed the entire manuscript.
- Have an "elevator speech" ready to convey your passion about your book, whether or not you have finished writing it.
- Contests, conferences, and critique groups are non-traditional but effective ways to connect with an agent.
- Agents will often give special attention to pitches by writers who attended "Meet the Agents" panels at conferences.
- Having a "platform" is essential to secure a book contract, but buliding one is more accessible today than ever.
- Literary agents are actively seeking new talent; you need to help them find you by researching them carefully before pitching.
- A great query letter is THE most important way to get an agent's attention.
- It's a numbers game: send out 20, 30, 40 or more queries before you even begin to get discouraged.
- The best way to ensure having a successful book is still this: write a really good book. Focus on the craft!
- Someone is going to be published. It might as well be you!
Writer's Boot Camp, which will be offered again in late spring 2012, included the following panelists:
- Jessica Bram, nonfiction author of Happily Ever After Divorce: Notes of a Joyful Journey (Health Communications, Inc.)
- 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 (Clerisy Press)
- Nina Nelson, author of middle-grade children's book, Bringing the Boy Home (HarperCollins)
- Denise Marcil, President & Founder, Denise Marcil Literary Agency, New York, NY, who has sold almost 1,200 manuscripts which became published books.
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Were you closed out of
the fiction workshop you wanted?
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Since all of our fiction workshops filled to capacity this fall, we had to disappoint many writers. We are therefore delighted announce by popular demand:
NEW SECTION:
Fiction Writing: The Fundamentals
with Sandra Rodriguez Barron
 Author of Stay With Me (HarperCollins 2010) Connecticut Book Award finalist ; and The Heiress of Water (HarperCollins 2007), winner of 2007 International Latino Book Award for debut fiction. WHEN: 8 Tuesdays, 10 a.m. to noon, beginning Oct. 11
WHERE: Westport Writers' Workshop, 3 Sylvan Road South, Westport COST: $445 for 8-week session MAXIMUM CLASS SIZE: 6 "The workshop was incredible. I've been referencing it to everyone I talk to - writers and non-writers alike! ... The excerpts and examples were unforgettable and inspired me not just to rework some of my own recent writing, but to read some of the books Sandra referenced. She is an engaging, witty and graceful speaker." ~ Laurel Touey, New Fairfield CT, on Writing About Intimacy workshop
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO REGISTER |
Enter a contest
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This month, a writing competition that's close to home:
Ina Chadwick's Writers Artists Collaborative, in association with the Center for Contemporary Printmaking and MouseMuse Productions, is seeking well-crafted memoirs for a writing competition entitled "Déjà Vu". Submit pieces between 1,000 and 1,500 words on the following subject:
Deja Vu. Is it memory? Is it nostalgia? Or have you been there before?
The competition offers first, second, and third place cash prizes of $175, $125, and $75. The writing contest will culminate with professional actors reading the winning works at a festive awards ceremony on Sunday, November 13, 2011. The deadline for submissions is October 10.
For submission guidelines and entry form, click here. And if you would like to see great storytelling (á la "The Moth") right here in Fairfield County - or maybe you are a storyteller yourself - make sure to see one of MouseMuse's Awake After Dark Storytelling productions. This week: stories in the theme of "My Little Town", Thursday, Oct. 6 at 7 pm at the Fairfield Museum and History Center. Details here. |
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What We're Reading
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Patricia Chadwick hosted WWW's Spring 2011 RI writers' retreat.
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This month, a book rave from
Patricia Chadwick, a longtime Westport Writers' Workshop's member who is writing the soon-to-be blockbuster memoir Little Sister.
This summer I read Patricia Falvey's The Yellow House. Her first novel, it is a powerful story set in Northern Ireland during its tumultuous rebellion again England in the early twentieth century.
I was blown away by the power of Falvey's writing. The tale moves at such speed and with such intensity that I felt as though I was on a runaway train. She threads a torrent of emotion through the story of Eileen O'Neill, from her tradegy-shaped childhood, through her emotionally charged adolescence and into her tortured young adulthood. This story of love and hate, of life and death, of political intrigue and family strife was an emotional reading experience.
The title itself is a small window into Falvey's writing. She is an artist herself, an exquisite painter of the scene. I have given this book as a birthday present to many friends. I would strongly recommend it as a book club selection.
What are you reading? Please share your book reviews or thoughts with us at info@westportwritersworkshop.com.
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Well Said
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"Inspiration is wonderful when it happens, but the writer must develop an approach for the rest of the time...The wait is simply too long."
Leonard S. Bernstein
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Coming This Fall
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Thursday, October 6, 7 to 9 pm FROM PITCH TO PILOT: WRITING HALF HOUR COMEDY PILOTS FOR TVwith GiGi New.
Saturday, October 22, 9 am to noon GET PUBLISHED NOW! HOW TO GET YOUR SHORT WORK PUBLISHED with Marcelle Soviero.
Saturday, November 5, 2 to 4:30 pm ESSENTIALS FOR THE FICTION WRITER: ALL ABOUT SCENE with Suzanne Hoover, Ph.D.
Saturday, November 19, 10 am to 4 pm SCREENWRITING IMMERSION WORKSHOP with GiGi New.
Saturday, December 10, 10 am to 4 pm PLOTTING AND PLANNING YOUR MEMOIR: THE STORYBOARD METHOD with Jessica Bram.
For more information or to register go to
www.westportwritersworkshop.com
or call (203)227-3250.
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Westport Writers' Workshop
3 Sylvan Road South
Westport, CT 06880
203-227-3250
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