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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?
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LIKE US ON FACEBOOK
where you will also find special offers and advance invitations.
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We're expanding! |
It's official: the Westport Writers' Workshop has outgrown our space. As we have attracted serious writers from increasingly wider regions of Connecticut and beyond, our workshops now regularly fill to capacity. Space constraints have prevented us from taking the next logical step, however, which is offering more workshops, especially at the popular evening slots.
That problem will be solved as of December when we take on beautiful new space adjoining our workshop space at 3 Sylvan Road South, Westport. Our administrative office will occupy that space mornings, making it available for additional afternoon and evening sessions.
Please help us grow. If you are looking for a workshop we don't offer, or would like to recommend a new workshop leader who impressed you in the past, please email jessica at jessica@westportwritersworkshop.com.
Founder/Director
Westport Writers' Workshop
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News of Our Writers
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What a month this has been for the Westport Writers' Workshop! Our writers are getting published, having book signings, and winning contests.
 We are so very, VERY proud of Randye Kaye, whose memoir Ben Behind His Voices: One Family's Journey from the Chaos of Schizophrenia to Hope was released this month
by Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc. Randy was one of our first writers who workshopped her memoir-in-progress about her son's schizophrenia around Jessica's dining room table!
WWW instructor, Sandra Rodriguez Barron was named a finalist in the prestigious Connecticut Book Awards Fiction category for her novel Stay with Me (HarperCollins). Winners will be announced this Sunday, October 30, at the Connecticut Center for the Book Awards in Hartford. We will be there to cheer her on - join us!
We are delighted to welcome our new WWW member, Sharyn Skeeter whose poem, "Walking Meditation: Sangha on Unbound Pages" is included in an anthology Charles Johnson: Embracing the World (New Delhi: Authorspress, 2011). Another two of her poems, "Ferry to the Island" and "In Sum" have been published in Re-Markings (Vol. X No. 2). and two more will appear in Poet Lore (Spring 2012).
Workshop leader Marcelle Soviero's essay "Mom.Stepmom" was published in the October issue of Stepmom Magazine; Marcelle's essay "Hospice" was named editor's pick for Open Salon and subsequently published on Salon.com. Marcelle showed writers how to follow her example in her "Get Published Now! How To Get Your Short Work Published" workshop which was held last Saturday, Oct. 22 (see below). She also leads several sections of "Memoir Writing: Telling Our Stories."
Ed Massey's short story, "The Silver Freight," a window into the relationship of a pioneer sheriff and his son, was published by western-themed site Rope and Wire. Ed has been working on his Western-themed novel in Matt Debenham's Intermediate Fiction workshop.
In last month's newsletter we announced a local competition entitled "Déjà Vu" offered by the WAC Writers' Artists Collaborative and Center for Contemporary Printmaking. We were delighted but not surprised that three out of the ten winning names were our current and former WWW writers. These included Priscilla Whitley (first prize); Kate Corr (third prize); and Marcelle Soviero (honorable mention).
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Discount expires tomorrow!
Screenwriting Immersion
Workshop
| Spaces are filling in our upcoming Screenwriting Immersion Workshop with 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. She currently leads From Pitch to Pilot: How to Write a TV Sitcom.
Screenwriting Immersion Workshop
with GiGi New
Saturday, Nov. 19
10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
$195, or $150 if registered by Oct. 31
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION
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 ...
 | GiGi New
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"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 ...
GET PUBLISHED NOW!
HOW TO GET YOUR SHORT WORK
PUBLISHED
with Marcelle Soviero
|  On Saturday, Oct. 22 Marcelle Soviero lead "GET PUBLISHED NOW! HOW TO GET YOUR SHORT WORK PUBLISHED." Here are a few thing participants learned: - To find the right markets for your work in the least amount of time, choose from among five different online writing databases which can be accessed for free or for a minimal annual subscription fee;
- Addressing a submission "Dear Editor" may be the best way to ensure that your piece will NOT be read; do your research to get an editor's name;
- Don't shun non-paying markets; they're critical for building up publication credits so you have something to use when pitching larger markets;
- Read the Rights & Permissions section of publication websites before submitting your work;
- Before submitting to a contest, make sure the registration fee is commensurate with the prize money; for example, $25 entrance fee for a $50 prize is too much.
- Try new markets for short work, such as Amazon Kindle Singles.
Remember: "Someone has to get published, it might as well be you!" In the last year alone, Marcelle has published essays in Salon.com, New York Metro regional newspapers, Babble.com, Literary Mama, More.com, Upper East Side magazine, StepMom magazine, and Tiny Lights: A Journal of Narrative Nonfiction. Marcelle was featured on The Story on National Public Radio for her Salon.com essay. She has previously published essays and poetry in The New York Times, The Georgetown Review, Northeast Corridor and Calliope among others.
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Have You Already Been Published?
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Published authors will know that the hard part doesn't really start until after your book is published. Blogging, tweeting, and promoting the book in order to attract readers - for those of us who can endure it - is the dark side of being a writer, but sadly necessary.
If you are working hard to promote your book, you should know about BookTrib. Book Trib is a full service portal dedicated to bringing all the news, blog, sites, and information about books, writers, and readers under one link. The site gets hundeds of thousands of hits every day by "hungry readers" in search of giveaways, guest blog posts, news of  readings and book signings, and of course, the next great read. Authors are invited to submit an original article or blog post with a direct link to your book.
For information contact Meryl Moss Media Relations, or go to Book Trib.
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What We're Reading
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 This month, Westport Writers' Workshop founder and director Jessica Bram did something unusual - she actually finished reading a novel.
I'm embarrassed to admit it, but it's true: I'm a very slow reader. So for me the investment in a book isn't its cost, but the time it takes to read it.
As a result, I give up fairly quickly on a book that doesn't engage me completely. I just don't have the time to be bored. So to be honest, I don't often make it to the last page of most novels.
Which is why I was so excited to find myself this summer unwilling to leave my beach chair even as the days grew late. I was completely captivated by our workshop leader Sandra Rodriguez Barron's Stay With Me (HarperCollins 2010).
Stay With Me begins with a mystery about five toddler orphans found alone in a luxury boat tied to a dock in Puerto Rico after a devastating hurricane. Years later the adults, who consider themselves siblings, reunite on an island off the coast of Connecticut for an important mission, which also involves solving the mystery of their connection. It is a gripping, poignant look at relationships and exploration of the true meaning of family.
Treat yourself to this engaging and moving read. I promise you'll make it  to the last page. You just might not get much else done until you finish it.
Stay With Me was named was named a finalist in the prestigious Connecticut Book Awards Fiction category. Winners will be announced today, Sunday, October 30, at the Connecticut Center for the Book Awards in Hartford.
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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"Never use a verb other than 'said' to carry dialogue. The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb is the writer sticking his nose in. But 'said' is far less intrusive than grumbled, gasped, cautioned, lied.
"I once noticed Mary McCarthy ending a line of dialogue with 'she asseverated,' and had to stop reading to get the dictionary."
~ Elmore Leonard
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Coming Next
To the Westport Writers' Workhop
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NEXT WEEK: Saturday, November 5, 2 - 4:30 pm ESSENTIALS FOR THE FICTION WRITER: ALL ABOUT SCENE with Suzanne Hoover, Ph.D. $55.
Saturday, November 19, 10 am - 4 pm SCREENWRITING IMMERSION WORKSHOP with GiGi New. $195 or $150 if paid by 10/31.
November 21, 7-9 pm, BE A BETTER BLOGGER with Dan Woog. $75.
December 5 and 12, 7-9 pm, BE A BLOGGER: A BEGINNER'S HOW-TO with Dan Woog. $195.
Thursday, December 8, 7:30 pm "WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR IDEAS? CHILDREN'S AUTHORS SHARE THEIR INVENTION STRATEGIES" with authors Tony Abbott, Elise Broach, N.A. Nelson and David Pogue. $30 or free for WWW members.
Saturday, December 10, 10 am to 4 pm PLOTTING AND PLANNING YOUR MEMOIR: THE STORYBOARD METHOD with Jessica Bram $195.
DON'T BE CLOSED OUT. REGISTER NOW.
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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