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WORD-for-WORDS
A monthly newsletter with news for the WWW Community, writing wisdom,
prompts, and information on upcoming events.
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 | | She Did It! |
Westport Writers' Workshop Office Manager Michelle Anastasio Married
David Festi
Dec. 1, 2012
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Never Stop Learning
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How do you keep from getting old? People seem to spend a lot of time on this question, which often includes time spent on a treadmill or buying vitamins. But I'm convinced that what really keeps a person from growing old is to be constantly learning.
There is something remarkably invigorating about the mental process of acquiring new knowledge, straining one's brain to understand a new way of looking at the universe. Just witness the packed One Day University ballrooms at the Hilton Hotel to see thousands of pre and post-retirement-age learners straining for every word from top university professors.
But even better is to acquire a new skill, to use it, and to see the results. Learning to write well is one of those skills one can begin to learn at any age. If the material is good enough, success can come at any time.
One of the most pleasurable aspects of writing comes from the very act itself ... READ MORE
 Jessica Bram Founder/ Director
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News of Our Writers
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We are delighted tha Ann will once again lead Writing Middle Grade Fiction at the Westport Writers' Workshop in Winter 2013.
Penny Pearlman's award winning Pretty Smart: Lessons from our Miss Americas, which was begun and workshopped at WWW, is once again being used as a textbook for a sociology course called "Competitive Beauty in Modern Society" at Suffolk University, Boston. Penny recently appeared there as a guest lecturer. Penny, who was a recent participant in one of workshop leader Matt Debenham's Fundamentals of Fiction workshops, is currently working on a novel.
 Last month we told you about one of our busiest workshop leaders, Marcelle Soviero, who was dubbed a "Literary Hero" in an article in NY Metro Parent's/ Fairfield Parent after she took ownership of Brain, Child: The Magazine for Thinking Mothers to keep the publication from folding. We were excited to see the publication of its Winter 2013 issue, the first under Marcelle's leadership. The magazine will launch a new website as well later in December.
According to The Washington Post, "A good read is what Brain, Child is all about." We think you should subscribe.
Speaking of Brain, Child, don't miss the brilliant and funny essay "Extreme Family Flying" by Rebecca Martin, written this summer for WWW's Examined Life workshop and published in Brain, Child's Winter issue. That same issue also included a moving essay, "Why Now?" by the prolific children's author Patricia Hermes, who has lead Writing for Children at the WWW.
As if she didn't have enough to do as Brain, Child owner and editor-in-chief and WWW workshop leader Marcelle Soviero continues to write and submit her own work. Her article "Popular" (written in WWW's Examined Life) was accepted for publication in the book Chicken Soup for the Soul: Parenthood due out March, 2013.
Did we miss you? If you have news to share, please write to us at info@westportwritersworkshop.com. Your success encourages your fellow writers, so please don't be shy.
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Winter 2013 Workshops
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WINTER 2013 CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOPS ARE NOW REGISTERING
Workshops begin January 12
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Notice anything new?
In addition to our popular ongoing workshops, this winter we've added some great new workshops. Take a look:
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In Case You Missed
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Did you miss Saturday's Essentials for the Fiction Writer talk on ENDINGS by Suzanne Hoover, Ph.D.?
Good News!
CD Recordings of her previous lectures
are available for purchase
CD #1: Structuring Your Story
CD # 2 Developing Your Story
CD #3: The Short Story
CD #4: Character Creation
CD #5: Point of View
CD #6: Irony: Twists, Turns and Reversals
CD #7 : Beginnings
Not yet available, but may be pre-ordered:
CD #8: All About Scene
CD #9: Endings
Price: $19.95 each, or $49.95 for a set of 3
$119.95 for a set of 7
Makes a great holiday gift!
(Online price includes sales tax) Want to participate live next time? Register now to attend Suzanne's next Essentials for the Fiction Writer workshop: Essentials for the Fiction Writer:
All About Scene Saturday, April 6, 2013
2-4:30 pm REGISTER NOW Essentials for the Fiction Writer is a series of high level, craft-oriented workshops for fiction writers. Each delves deeply into critical elements of fiction writing, with emphasis on the novel.
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In Case You Missed...
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Last month we were pleased to host a visit from author Judy Mandel, whose moving memoir Replacement Child will be published by Seal Press, a division of Perseus Books in 2013.
We were encouraged by Judy's inspiring story of how she first self published Replacement Child as an eBook in 2011, after being told by agents "I don't think I can sell it."
Judy will be back with us when Replacement Child launches in March, 2013.
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Come Write With Us Every Monday
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Featured workshop
10 Mondays 12-1 pm
Begins January 14
Start your week writing. Join us every Monday for one hour of directed writing, using prompts and quick, inspirational "assignments," to get your creativity gears in motion for the week.
Bring laptops or pen and paper. Bring your lunch if you'd like as well; we provide coffee and tea.
We'll talk for the first five minutes, and you'll write for the next 55. What you write doesn't matter. The fact that you are using your writing muscle does.
Get ready to be amazed by how that one hour propels you into a week of productive writing.
$195 or $170 for WWW Members
or $25 per session walk-in
Special January Offer
Free for any first time participant
during the month of January, 2013.
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Open Mic Nights
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What have you been writing?
We want to know!
Join us the last Monday of every month for
OPEN MIC NIGHT
at the
WESTPORT WRITERS' WORKSHOP
Mondays at 7:30 pm
Upcoming Dates in 2013:
January 28
February 25
March 18
April 29
Only $5 or free for WWW members
All genres including Fiction, Memoir and Poetry are welcome. Read a selection of your work to an audience of your peers and other interested listeners. Or just come to listen and be inspired.
Note : The purpose of this Open Mic night is to allow writers to share written work or work-in-progress. It is not a storytelling, spoken word, or performance event.
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Scenes from Open Mic Night
November 26, 2012
 | | Gabi Coatsworth read from her novel |
 | First time reader
Raquel Marra |
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Westport Writers' Workshop
3 Sylvan Road South
Westport, CT 06880
203-227-3250
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Writopia Lab Workshops for Ages 8 to 18
Now Taking Place After School and Sundays
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As every parent of a talented young writer knows, kids who love it somehow find time to write creatively, despite their busy school year schedules.
And now in Westport, these creative kids find each other after school and weekends at Writopia Lab Creative Writing Workshops.
Workshops have a maximum of six participants. Sessions are peppered with original and fun writing exercises, but focus primarily on writing--and completing--stories. Each week students bring copies of the newest drafts of their work to share with the group, review each other's work, and then share their ideas with the group. Within a few sessions, students comfortably and easily provide insightful feedback to their peers. READ MORE
 | | Laptops are supplied at Writopia Lab workshops. Above: Writopia Lab teacher Christine Pakkala with an inspired group of young writers this summer. |
Writopia Lab is a 501(c)3 corporation. Students pay on a sliding scale according to ability to pay.
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What We're Reading...
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This month workshop leader Steve Otkinoski recommends Annita Shreve's Testimony (Back Bay Books, 2008, paper).
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Anita Shreve is one of my favorite "popular" novelists, who manages to gracefully bridge the span between literary and commercial fiction. In Testimony (Back Bay Books, 2008, paper), one of her most recent novels, she describes a sexual scandal at an upscale Vermont boarding school from a myriad of angles.
 Not only is the narrative divided up among more than a dozen different characters, but Shreve has the literary chutzpah to alternate the point of view in each chapter from first to third to even second person.
It's a tour de force that is not distracting, but actually works to create a complicated mosaic that ultimately reveals a portrait filled with intrigue, desire, and heartbreak. Only in the final chapters do we see the full picture and learn the terrible consequences of the leading characters' actions. If you haven't read Shreve before, this is as good a place to start as any. Steve Otfinoski [Note: Workshop leader Steve Otfinoski will lead a Fiction Writing Fundamentals workshop in addition to Writing the Short Form Play (Click on links for more information.)]
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Well Said
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" If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all  others: read a lot and write a lot. There's no way around these two things that I'm aware of, no shortcut...
"Can I be blunt on this subject? If you don't have the time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write."
Stephen King, On Writing
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| Please feel free to forward this newsletter WORD-for-WORDS to your friends and fellow writers. Visit our website to sign up for newsletters. You can also read past archived issues here.
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An essay by workshop leader 
Known as Harper