Writers' Workshops: Winter 2008

From CT IWWG member Jessica Bram:

Now Registering for Winter 2008 Workshops
Westport and Greenwich Locations

Creative Nonfiction and the Personal Essay
with Jessica Bram

The genre called "creative nonfiction" can take many forms including personal essays, memoir, informative articles, commentaries, and editorial writing. What they have in common is that the raw material we work with is truth. This workshop will give participants wide latitude to explore the various forms of creative nonfiction.

Emphasis will be on writing craft. Participants will develop and practice the various narrative techniques that make creative nonfiction and the personal essay interesting, informative, and compelling.

WHEN:
8 Tuesdays, 2 to 4 p.m.:
Jan. 22, 29, Feb. 5, 12, 26, Mar. 4, 11, 18

WHERE:
32 Webb Road, Westport

COST:
$390 for 8-week session.

MAXIMUM CLASS SIZE: 6

Fiction Writing
With Suzanne Hoover, Ph.D.

Fiction writing is surely one of life's great adventures. If you are ready to start the journey, to plunge courageously into the writer's world of inventing and problem-solving, this workshop is for you. And be assured, you will be helped and guided at every step along the way.

At the very heart of both literature and life, storytelling structures our sense of time passing. It imagines for us who we are and who we might become. At its best, it is the last refuge of a sense of magic in our adult lives. While film has taken over the more spectacular and visual side of storytelling, fiction still works its timeless, incomparable magic with imagination and words alone.

This workshop will dig into the art and craft of fiction. It is geared to writers whose stories are already on the way, or at least have already been conceived. We will take turns lighting the way for each other.

WHEN:
8 Mondays, 7 to 9:30 p.m.:
Jan. 14, 21, 28, Feb. 4, 11, 25, Mar. 3, Mar. 10

WHERE:
Round Hill Community Church
395 Round Hill Road, Greenwich
(Exit 28 off Merritt Parkway)

COST:
$445 for 8-week session.

MAXIMUM CLASS SIZE: 8

The Examined Life
with Jessica Bram

Everyday life offers us unlimited opportunities for reflection and for making sense of the world around us. Join us to explore the fascinating material generated by our own lives and at the same time, learn the writing techniques to make your writing more engaging, interesting, and effective. Focus will be on personal essays, memoir, opinion columns, and other forms of creative non-fiction. Written work will be shared in a constructive and supportive atmosphere.

WHEN:
8 Thursdays, 2 to 4 p.m..
Jan. 24, 31, Feb. 7, 14, 28, Mar. 6, 13, 20

WHERE:
32 Webb Road, Westport

COST:
$390 for 8-week session

MAXIMUM CLASS SIZE: 6

Memoir Writing for Seniors
with Jessica Bram

What better reason is there to finally write one's memoirs than to pass down a wealth of material and wisdom to the next generations?

Geared to seniors, this is a friendly, supportive workshop in which to write your memoirs, share your memoirs with others, and learn good writing techniques to make your work interesting and enjoyable. This workshop is ideal for beginners who wish to get started writing their memoirs for the first time. It is also geared to those who have already done some memoir writing and are ready to share and further shape their work.

This workshop is based upon a highly popular Memoir Writing workshop that Jessica Bram taught for several years at the Lifetime Learners' Institute in Norwalk.

WHEN:
8 Fridays, 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Feb. 1, 8, 15, 29, Mar. 7, 14, 21, 28

WHERE:
32 Webb Road, Westport

COST:
$390 for 8-week session.

MAXIMUM CLASS SIZE: 6

The Art of Writing
with Hank Herman

If you've always enjoyed writing, but don't know which form of writing you're best suited for, this "survey" workshop will help you find your voice. The eight sessions will include innovative, easy-to-use techniques for taking your writing from beginner to the next level. The workshop will help you take on, and learn to overcome, two of the biggest obstacles in writing: how to generate ideas, and how to surmount the intimidating challenge of the blank page. There will be individual sessions devoted to different types of writing, such as columns, humor, memoir, and children's fiction.

WHEN:
8 Tuesdays, 7 to 9 p.m.
Jan. 22, 29, Feb. 5, 12, 26, Mar. 4, 11, 18

WHERE:
32 Webb Road, Westport

COST:
$390 for 8-week session.

MAXIMUM CLASS SIZE: 7

Travel Writing: The World According to You
with Susan Farewell

This six-week-long workshop is designed for writers (or want-to-be) writers who are interested in writing and selling articles about travel. In this workshop, author/journalist Susan Farewell will show participants how to achieve this dream goal. Content will include a wealth of nuts and bolts information, guidance for developing individual travel writer styles, and practical and inspirational techniques for making it all happen.

Farewell will offer techniques on how to go about finding travel story angles that are newsworthy and then match them with the appropriate publications. She'll work with students on researching and developing travel story structure as well as fact-checking and editing final pieces. The workshop will also include a discussion of how travel writers can effectively juggle traveling, writing, editing, and promoting themselves and their work.

WHEN:
6 Wednesdays, 7 to 9 p.m.
Jan. 9, 16, 23, 30, Feb. 6, 13

WHERE:
32 Webb Road, Westport

COST:
$295 for 6-week session.

MAXIMUM CLASS SIZE: 7

Technology Tools for the Modern Writer
with Technology Guru Richard H. Frisch

A one-time only workshop

You write for a living (or a hobby). Microsoft Word is your principal tool. It is complex and sometimes difficult. We will discover some of its hidden treasure.

Once you've finished your piece how do you publish it? Do you print, create a readable document, turn it into a presentation, post it to a website or blog? We explore the ramifications and differences of each type.

This one-time, 90-minute workshop will focus on Microsoft Word 2003, but go beyond the basics. It will include a discussion of: Tables of contents, section breaks, using styles and formatting, backups, inserting and placing pictures and other graphics, using built-in tools such as spelling and grammar, innovative uses for "search and replace", add-on utilities, keyboard shortcuts, customizing Word and much more.

WHEN:
Sat. January 26, 2008
10:30 a.m. to noon

WHERE:
32 Webb Road, Westport

COST: $55, or $45 for current Westport Writers Workshop participants.

MAXIMUM CLASS SIZE: 10

How To Register:

Mail a check for the full registration amount to:

Jessica Bram Communications
32 Webb Road
Westport, CT 06880

About Jessica Bram:

Jessica Jessica Bram is a writer whose commentaries are regularly heard on the National Public Radio station WSHU during NPR's "All Things Considered" and "Morning Edition." Her personal essays have been published and syndicated in national and regional newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, Child Magazine Women's Journal, Country Accents and the Gannett Newspapers. Jessica Bram has taught writing and literature as an adjunct faculty member of Norwalk Community College. She has also taught courses in memoir, essay, and creative nonfiction writing at the Lifetime Learners Institute, Norwalk Community College's Extended Studies and Workforce Education program, and Westport Continuing Education.

About Suzanne Hoover Ph.D.:

Suzanne Hoover holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University in English and Comparative Literature. The author of two novels and a highly experienced teacher of fiction and essay writing, Suzanne was for 25 years, until her recent retirement, a full-time member of the Literature faculty of Sarah Lawrence College. Among the courses she taught at Sarah Lawrence was a very popular course for students in the prestigious Graduate Writing Program, in narrative craft and story structure. Prior to teaching at Sarah Lawrence, Suzanne taught literature at Wellesley College. In 1977 she delivered the Shakespeare lectures at SUNY, Purchase. In addition to her full time teaching, for over 20 years Suzanne taught evening courses in writing at the non-credit Sarah Lawrence Writing Institute.

About Hank Herman:

Hank Herman is an award-winning columnist who writes the bi-weekly Home Team column for the Westport News. He is also the author of Super Hoops (Bantam Doubleday Dell), a prize-winning series of sports novels for children. His latest book, Accept My Kid, Please! A Dad's Descent into College Application Hell (Da Capo Press, 2005) is a humorous memoir about the college admissions process. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Outside, Men's Health, Family Fun, Parenting, Ladies' Home Journal, and McCall's. He also teaches writing courses and seminars at Trinity College's Academy of Lifelong Learning, the University of Pennsylvania's Kelly Writers House, and Westport Continuing Education. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania where he majored in English.

About Susan Farewell:

For nearly ten years, Susan Farewell was a travel editor and staff writer at The Condé Nast Publications in New York City. As an independent journalist she has contributed travel, health and fitness, art and architecture, parenting and education articles and book reviews to dozens of magazines including Vogue, Gourmet, Cooking Light, Travel and Leisure, Outside, Metropolitan Home, McCall's, Child, Bride's and airline magazines. Her work also has appeared in many newspapers including the The New York Times and The New York Post and newsletters including BottomLine Personal. Susan contributes to many Connecticut-based magazines including Connecticut Cottages and Gardens, Connecticut Bride, Fairfield Magazine, Westport Magazine, Fairfield County Home and Weston Magazine. Her books include Quick Escapes from New York City (the seventh edition of which was just published by Globe-Pequot and Hidden New England (now in its 8th edition; Ulysses Press) among several other titles.

About Richard H. Frisch:

Richard H. Frisch founded RHFtech in 2005 to provide technology support for small businesses and residential clients. He has over 30 years experience employing technology in home and business. Richard's experience ranges from the large-part of the Citibank team that designed and deployed the first large-scale ATM network- to the small-building a wine cellar inventory management application for a wine connoisseur. He is proficient in Windows, Linux and Mac operating systems. He is expert in Microsoft Office applications such as Word, and knowledgeable in Visual Basic, Visual C#, C++, PHP and MySQL.

Richard writes a newspaper column, the "RHFtech Help Desk", published bi-weekly in The Hour (Norwalk), The Wilton Villager and Stamford Times. He also publishes RHFtech Help Desk tips on the web at rhftech.com/tips.html and by email. Richard has a BS from Duke University and an MBA from Harvard University.


For questions or more information, visit www.westportwritersworkshop.com or contact Jessica Bram at (203) 227-3250 or jessica@jbram.com