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Westport Writers' Workshop Debuts Write On!
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“The role of the writer is not to say what we can all say, but what we are unable to say. We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection.” – Anais Nin
Good writing, regardless of genre, engages the mind, but great writing touches a reader’s heart. Craft mastery helps achieve this coveted outcome.
In other words, expert writing rarely bypasses the red pen. The career and personal life of Jessica Bram, journalist, radio commentator, author as well as founder and president of the Westport Writers’ Workshop, officially opened earlier this month, have not escaped some fine-tuning and tweaking.
The results, however, have been laudatory. Blossoming in tandem this spring on the heels of her new school is a new marriage. In addition, Bram’s book, “Happily Ever After Divorce: Notes of a Joyful Journey”, published last April, won first prize last month in the category of Best Adult Non-Fiction in the Connecticut Press Club’s Annual Awards Contest.
Meanwhile, her workshop, boasting a faculty of 12 including Bram, despite uncertain economic times, has segued into an instant prototype of success. At press time, the school had sold out many of the more than dozen eight-week spring workshops offering instruction in fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry and children’s literature, starting at $400; Saturday workshops run around $150 each and include topics like “Business Writing for Results.”
Modeled after the Gotham Writers’ Workshop, the leading private creative writing school in New York City and online, the mission statement for the Westport program is inviting, offering “friendly, supportive creative writing workshops designed to nurture your creativity, inspire your imagination, and develop your writing skills.”
Writers, from beginner to professional, can now have a temporary reprieve from their commonly lone endeavors. The school not only provides interactive workshops, but for a reasonably priced yearly membership fee, writers can regale in an invigorating community of diversely creative individuals, enjoy special literary events, informal readings, discussion groups and café evenings. For instance, Bram said that each Friday writers could bring their laptops and do what they do best. She further described the day as similar to a “writers’ study hall.”
The 800 square-foot combination studio and classroom space “really has a literary feel to it,” the founder said. During Bram’s search for a setting, 3 Sylvan Road South came complete with wall-to-wall bookshelves, ready and waiting for bibliophiles. Where better, too, than Westport, onetime home to such literary greats like F. Scott Fitzgerald, J.D. Salinger, Max Shulman, Peter De Vries and others?
Bram’s first classroom in the early 2000s germinated around her dining room table where she taught memoir writing to a handful of students. Eventually, the reputation grew, the staff expanded and classes sprouted to other venues.
“It became clear to me that there’s a very rich community here of writers and people interested in writing in this area,” Bram said. Continued...
Good writing, regardless of genre, engages the mind, but great writing touches a reader’s heart. Craft mastery helps achieve this coveted outcome.
In other words, expert writing rarely bypasses the red pen. The career and personal life of Jessica Bram, journalist, radio commentator, author as well as founder and president of the Westport Writers’ Workshop, officially opened earlier this month, have not escaped some fine-tuning and tweaking.
The results, however, have been laudatory. Blossoming in tandem this spring on the heels of her new school is a new marriage. In addition, Bram’s book, “Happily Ever After Divorce: Notes of a Joyful Journey”, published last April, won first prize last month in the category of Best Adult Non-Fiction in the Connecticut Press Club’s Annual Awards Contest.
Meanwhile, her workshop, boasting a faculty of 12 including Bram, despite uncertain economic times, has segued into an instant prototype of success. At press time, the school had sold out many of the more than dozen eight-week spring workshops offering instruction in fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry and children’s literature, starting at $400; Saturday workshops run around $150 each and include topics like “Business Writing for Results.”
Modeled after the Gotham Writers’ Workshop, the leading private creative writing school in New York City and online, the mission statement for the Westport program is inviting, offering “friendly, supportive creative writing workshops designed to nurture your creativity, inspire your imagination, and develop your writing skills.”
Writers, from beginner to professional, can now have a temporary reprieve from their commonly lone endeavors. The school not only provides interactive workshops, but for a reasonably priced yearly membership fee, writers can regale in an invigorating community of diversely creative individuals, enjoy special literary events, informal readings, discussion groups and café evenings. For instance, Bram said that each Friday writers could bring their laptops and do what they do best. She further described the day as similar to a “writers’ study hall.”
The 800 square-foot combination studio and classroom space “really has a literary feel to it,” the founder said. During Bram’s search for a setting, 3 Sylvan Road South came complete with wall-to-wall bookshelves, ready and waiting for bibliophiles. Where better, too, than Westport, onetime home to such literary greats like F. Scott Fitzgerald, J.D. Salinger, Max Shulman, Peter De Vries and others?
Bram’s first classroom in the early 2000s germinated around her dining room table where she taught memoir writing to a handful of students. Eventually, the reputation grew, the staff expanded and classes sprouted to other venues.
“It became clear to me that there’s a very rich community here of writers and people interested in writing in this area,” Bram said. Continued...
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The backstory indubitably would formulate a blockbuster novel. When the New York City-born woman moved to Westport from New York State as a recently divorced single mother with three young sons in 1998, she knew no one. Fortunately, Bram’s verve and impressive resume helped her jumpstart the wheels of fate. In 2000, she developed her own public relations company, Jessica Bram Communications. However, she said, “What I’ve always done out of love and passion is been a writer myself.”
In 2003, after writing an article about Lifetime Learners Institute at Norwalk Community College, an organization of people 50 and over who want to continue learning, Bram, whose work had appeared in publications like the “Hers” column of The New York Times, approached the volunteer-based organization about teaching memoir writing.
“I enjoyed it so much; I started teaching for Westport Continuing Ed. Then Norwalk Community College hired me to do their Adult Ed program, and then as an adjunct professor in their actual credit program. I was teaching for the love of it. I developed a following and people continued with me privately.”
Since the early days, Bram’s teaching method has been consistent. “I taught these workshops from the perspective of the way I was taught in the 20 years or so that I was taking (writing) workshops, mostly at Sarah Lawrence (College), which was to develop the craft. This isn’t about personal stories, or sharing your memories, or it’s not about journaling to get your feelings out, it’s really developing the craft of a writer; because when you want to be published, which I certainly did, you have to get better, which is developing the craft.”
Soon, budding writers sought after fiction courses. Not a fiction writer, she inquired from a former teacher, Suzanne Hoover, Ph.D., who had been teaching the graduate writing program at Sarah Lawrence, “How do you teach fiction?”
“Well, I think you should stick to what you know; I’m available.”
Dr. Hoover remains on a roster of a distinguished array of faculty members.
Through the process, Bram had realized that her interest in developing writers outweighed her commitment to her PR agency. “About two years ago, I took a big financial leap. I let go of my last PR client, and I devoted myself to doing this full-time.”
What distinguishes the workshop, Bram said, is that “I have been really keeping the standards very high for quality of teaching; exceptional teachers…just because you’re a talented writer, doesn’t mean you’re going to be a good teacher.”
Each workshop is kept small (Bram’s limit is six) so attention can be given to each student’s writing assignments done outside of class every week. “I’m a big believer that writers write because they want to be read, and to be read, you’ve got to really develop your craft and learn how to serve a reader as opposed to just expressing your feelings.” Continued...
In 2003, after writing an article about Lifetime Learners Institute at Norwalk Community College, an organization of people 50 and over who want to continue learning, Bram, whose work had appeared in publications like the “Hers” column of The New York Times, approached the volunteer-based organization about teaching memoir writing.
“I enjoyed it so much; I started teaching for Westport Continuing Ed. Then Norwalk Community College hired me to do their Adult Ed program, and then as an adjunct professor in their actual credit program. I was teaching for the love of it. I developed a following and people continued with me privately.”
Since the early days, Bram’s teaching method has been consistent. “I taught these workshops from the perspective of the way I was taught in the 20 years or so that I was taking (writing) workshops, mostly at Sarah Lawrence (College), which was to develop the craft. This isn’t about personal stories, or sharing your memories, or it’s not about journaling to get your feelings out, it’s really developing the craft of a writer; because when you want to be published, which I certainly did, you have to get better, which is developing the craft.”
Soon, budding writers sought after fiction courses. Not a fiction writer, she inquired from a former teacher, Suzanne Hoover, Ph.D., who had been teaching the graduate writing program at Sarah Lawrence, “How do you teach fiction?”
“Well, I think you should stick to what you know; I’m available.”
Dr. Hoover remains on a roster of a distinguished array of faculty members.
Through the process, Bram had realized that her interest in developing writers outweighed her commitment to her PR agency. “About two years ago, I took a big financial leap. I let go of my last PR client, and I devoted myself to doing this full-time.”
What distinguishes the workshop, Bram said, is that “I have been really keeping the standards very high for quality of teaching; exceptional teachers…just because you’re a talented writer, doesn’t mean you’re going to be a good teacher.”
Each workshop is kept small (Bram’s limit is six) so attention can be given to each student’s writing assignments done outside of class every week. “I’m a big believer that writers write because they want to be read, and to be read, you’ve got to really develop your craft and learn how to serve a reader as opposed to just expressing your feelings.” Continued...
The workshop instills, if anything else, productivity. “A lot of times, people just come to the workshop because they say, ‘I know I’m a writer, and I love to write, but if I don’t have a deadline, I’m not going to write’ and that gets people writing.”
In essence, Bram, whose dream is now a reality, wants to pass it on. “I really hope to attract people who have always thought about writing; wished they could be a writer, wondering if they could have been a writer, fantasized about writing, and I want to encourage them to try it and develop their skills.”
Pass it on, she has. Some students have enrolled in her class offerings from the beginning; others have completed and are publishing books.
One need not meet Bram in person to experience her charisma. Readers can get an inspirational charge perusing her book’s collection of essays that chronicle her journey as a single mother. “It was a life of, yes, challenges and difficult times, but also wonderful discoveries, and growth and new friendships and new vistas. I really wanted it to be a sign of hope for anybody who’s either struggling in a bad marriage or recently divorced, thinking ‘I can never be happy again’; and give them a sign that life can be great again and will be great again.”
Nothing less than great is news of her recent bridal bliss, in fact, the New York Times featured the wedding in its column, “Vows.” Bram said her nuptials complete the story…at least that one: a good writer like a good teacher never runs out of juice; the telltale sign is a red pen.
More information about the Westport Writers’ Workshop is available at westportwritersworkshop.com or by calling 203-227-3250, email jessica@westportwritersworkshop.com; also follow Jessica Bram’s blog at jessicabram.com.
In essence, Bram, whose dream is now a reality, wants to pass it on. “I really hope to attract people who have always thought about writing; wished they could be a writer, wondering if they could have been a writer, fantasized about writing, and I want to encourage them to try it and develop their skills.”
Pass it on, she has. Some students have enrolled in her class offerings from the beginning; others have completed and are publishing books.
One need not meet Bram in person to experience her charisma. Readers can get an inspirational charge perusing her book’s collection of essays that chronicle her journey as a single mother. “It was a life of, yes, challenges and difficult times, but also wonderful discoveries, and growth and new friendships and new vistas. I really wanted it to be a sign of hope for anybody who’s either struggling in a bad marriage or recently divorced, thinking ‘I can never be happy again’; and give them a sign that life can be great again and will be great again.”
Nothing less than great is news of her recent bridal bliss, in fact, the New York Times featured the wedding in its column, “Vows.” Bram said her nuptials complete the story…at least that one: a good writer like a good teacher never runs out of juice; the telltale sign is a red pen.
More information about the Westport Writers’ Workshop is available at westportwritersworkshop.com or by calling 203-227-3250, email jessica@westportwritersworkshop.com; also follow Jessica Bram’s blog at jessicabram.com.
“The role of the writer is not to say what we can all say, but what we are unable to say. We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection.” – Anais Nin
Good writing, regardless of genre, engages the mind, but great writing touches a reader’s heart. Craft mastery helps achieve this coveted outcome.
In other words, expert writing rarely bypasses the red pen. The career and personal life of Jessica Bram, journalist, radio commentator, author as well as founder and president of the Westport Writers’ Workshop, officially opened earlier this month, have not escaped some fine-tuning and tweaking.
The results, however, have been laudatory. Blossoming in tandem this spring on the heels of her new school is a new marriage. In addition, Bram’s book, “Happily Ever After Divorce: Notes of a Joyful Journey”, published last April, won first prize last month in the category of Best Adult Non-Fiction in the Connecticut Press Club’s Annual Awards Contest.
Meanwhile, her workshop, boasting a faculty of 12 including Bram, despite uncertain economic times, has segued into an instant prototype of success. At press time, the school had sold out many of the more than dozen eight-week spring workshops offering instruction in fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry and children’s literature, starting at $400; Saturday workshops run around $150 each and include topics like “Business Writing for Results.”
Modeled after the Gotham Writers’ Workshop, the leading private creative writing school in New York City and online, the mission statement for the Westport program is inviting, offering “friendly, supportive creative writing workshops designed to nurture your creativity, inspire your imagination, and develop your writing skills.”
Writers, from beginner to professional, can now have a temporary reprieve from their commonly lone endeavors. The school not only provides interactive workshops, but for a reasonably priced yearly membership fee, writers can regale in an invigorating community of diversely creative individuals, enjoy special literary events, informal readings, discussion groups and café evenings. For instance, Bram said that each Friday writers could bring their laptops and do what they do best. She further described the day as similar to a “writers’ study hall.”
The 800 square-foot combination studio and classroom space “really has a literary feel to it,” the founder said. During Bram’s search for a setting, 3 Sylvan Road South came complete with wall-to-wall bookshelves, ready and waiting for bibliophiles. Where better, too, than Westport, onetime home to such literary greats like F. Scott Fitzgerald, J.D. Salinger, Max Shulman, Peter De Vries and others?
Bram’s first classroom in the early 2000s germinated around her dining room table where she taught memoir writing to a handful of students. Eventually, the reputation grew, the staff expanded and classes sprouted to other venues.
“It became clear to me that there’s a very rich community here of writers and people interested in writing in this area,” Bram said.
The backstory indubitably would formulate a blockbuster novel. When the New York City-born woman moved to Westport from New York State as a recently divorced single mother with three young sons in 1998, she knew no one. Fortunately, Bram’s verve and impressive resume helped her jumpstart the wheels of fate. In 2000, she developed her own public relations company, Jessica Bram Communications. However, she said, “What I’ve always done out of love and passion is been a writer myself.”
In 2003, after writing an article about Lifetime Learners Institute at Norwalk Community College, an organization of people 50 and over who want to continue learning, Bram, whose work had appeared in publications like the “Hers” column of The New York Times, approached the volunteer-based organization about teaching memoir writing.
“I enjoyed it so much; I started teaching for Westport Continuing Ed. Then Norwalk Community College hired me to do their Adult Ed program, and then as an adjunct professor in their actual credit program. I was teaching for the love of it. I developed a following and people continued with me privately.”
Since the early days, Bram’s teaching method has been consistent. “I taught these workshops from the perspective of the way I was taught in the 20 years or so that I was taking (writing) workshops, mostly at Sarah Lawrence (College), which was to develop the craft. This isn’t about personal stories, or sharing your memories, or it’s not about journaling to get your feelings out, it’s really developing the craft of a writer; because when you want to be published, which I certainly did, you have to get better, which is developing the craft.”
Soon, budding writers sought after fiction courses. Not a fiction writer, she inquired from a former teacher, Suzanne Hoover, Ph.D., who had been teaching the graduate writing program at Sarah Lawrence, “How do you teach fiction?”
“Well, I think you should stick to what you know; I’m available.”
Dr. Hoover remains on a roster of a distinguished array of faculty members.
Through the process, Bram had realized that her interest in developing writers outweighed her commitment to her PR agency. “About two years ago, I took a big financial leap. I let go of my last PR client, and I devoted myself to doing this full-time.”
What distinguishes the workshop, Bram said, is that “I have been really keeping the standards very high for quality of teaching; exceptional teachers…just because you’re a talented writer, doesn’t mean you’re going to be a good teacher.”
Each workshop is kept small (Bram’s limit is six) so attention can be given to each student’s writing assignments done outside of class every week. “I’m a big believer that writers write because they want to be read, and to be read, you’ve got to really develop your craft and learn how to serve a reader as opposed to just expressing your feelings.”
The workshop instills, if anything else, productivity. “A lot of times, people just come to the workshop because they say, ‘I know I’m a writer, and I love to write, but if I don’t have a deadline, I’m not going to write’ and that gets people writing.”
In essence, Bram, whose dream is now a reality, wants to pass it on. “I really hope to attract people who have always thought about writing; wished they could be a writer, wondering if they could have been a writer, fantasized about writing, and I want to encourage them to try it and develop their skills.”
Pass it on, she has. Some students have enrolled in her class offerings from the beginning; others have completed and are publishing books.
One need not meet Bram in person to experience her charisma. Readers can get an inspirational charge perusing her book’s collection of essays that chronicle her journey as a single mother. “It was a life of, yes, challenges and difficult times, but also wonderful discoveries, and growth and new friendships and new vistas. I really wanted it to be a sign of hope for anybody who’s either struggling in a bad marriage or recently divorced, thinking ‘I can never be happy again’; and give them a sign that life can be great again and will be great again.”
Nothing less than great is news of her recent bridal bliss, in fact, the New York Times featured the wedding in its column, “Vows.” Bram said her nuptials complete the story…at least that one: a good writer like a good teacher never runs out of juice; the telltale sign is a red pen.
More information about the Westport Writers’ Workshop is available at westportwritersworkshop.com or by calling 203-227-3250, email jessica@westportwritersworkshop.com; also follow Jessica Bram’s blog at jessicabram.com.
Good writing, regardless of genre, engages the mind, but great writing touches a reader’s heart. Craft mastery helps achieve this coveted outcome.
In other words, expert writing rarely bypasses the red pen. The career and personal life of Jessica Bram, journalist, radio commentator, author as well as founder and president of the Westport Writers’ Workshop, officially opened earlier this month, have not escaped some fine-tuning and tweaking.
The results, however, have been laudatory. Blossoming in tandem this spring on the heels of her new school is a new marriage. In addition, Bram’s book, “Happily Ever After Divorce: Notes of a Joyful Journey”, published last April, won first prize last month in the category of Best Adult Non-Fiction in the Connecticut Press Club’s Annual Awards Contest.
Meanwhile, her workshop, boasting a faculty of 12 including Bram, despite uncertain economic times, has segued into an instant prototype of success. At press time, the school had sold out many of the more than dozen eight-week spring workshops offering instruction in fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry and children’s literature, starting at $400; Saturday workshops run around $150 each and include topics like “Business Writing for Results.”
Modeled after the Gotham Writers’ Workshop, the leading private creative writing school in New York City and online, the mission statement for the Westport program is inviting, offering “friendly, supportive creative writing workshops designed to nurture your creativity, inspire your imagination, and develop your writing skills.”
Writers, from beginner to professional, can now have a temporary reprieve from their commonly lone endeavors. The school not only provides interactive workshops, but for a reasonably priced yearly membership fee, writers can regale in an invigorating community of diversely creative individuals, enjoy special literary events, informal readings, discussion groups and café evenings. For instance, Bram said that each Friday writers could bring their laptops and do what they do best. She further described the day as similar to a “writers’ study hall.”
The 800 square-foot combination studio and classroom space “really has a literary feel to it,” the founder said. During Bram’s search for a setting, 3 Sylvan Road South came complete with wall-to-wall bookshelves, ready and waiting for bibliophiles. Where better, too, than Westport, onetime home to such literary greats like F. Scott Fitzgerald, J.D. Salinger, Max Shulman, Peter De Vries and others?
Bram’s first classroom in the early 2000s germinated around her dining room table where she taught memoir writing to a handful of students. Eventually, the reputation grew, the staff expanded and classes sprouted to other venues.
“It became clear to me that there’s a very rich community here of writers and people interested in writing in this area,” Bram said.
The backstory indubitably would formulate a blockbuster novel. When the New York City-born woman moved to Westport from New York State as a recently divorced single mother with three young sons in 1998, she knew no one. Fortunately, Bram’s verve and impressive resume helped her jumpstart the wheels of fate. In 2000, she developed her own public relations company, Jessica Bram Communications. However, she said, “What I’ve always done out of love and passion is been a writer myself.”
In 2003, after writing an article about Lifetime Learners Institute at Norwalk Community College, an organization of people 50 and over who want to continue learning, Bram, whose work had appeared in publications like the “Hers” column of The New York Times, approached the volunteer-based organization about teaching memoir writing.
“I enjoyed it so much; I started teaching for Westport Continuing Ed. Then Norwalk Community College hired me to do their Adult Ed program, and then as an adjunct professor in their actual credit program. I was teaching for the love of it. I developed a following and people continued with me privately.”
Since the early days, Bram’s teaching method has been consistent. “I taught these workshops from the perspective of the way I was taught in the 20 years or so that I was taking (writing) workshops, mostly at Sarah Lawrence (College), which was to develop the craft. This isn’t about personal stories, or sharing your memories, or it’s not about journaling to get your feelings out, it’s really developing the craft of a writer; because when you want to be published, which I certainly did, you have to get better, which is developing the craft.”
Soon, budding writers sought after fiction courses. Not a fiction writer, she inquired from a former teacher, Suzanne Hoover, Ph.D., who had been teaching the graduate writing program at Sarah Lawrence, “How do you teach fiction?”
“Well, I think you should stick to what you know; I’m available.”
Dr. Hoover remains on a roster of a distinguished array of faculty members.
Through the process, Bram had realized that her interest in developing writers outweighed her commitment to her PR agency. “About two years ago, I took a big financial leap. I let go of my last PR client, and I devoted myself to doing this full-time.”
What distinguishes the workshop, Bram said, is that “I have been really keeping the standards very high for quality of teaching; exceptional teachers…just because you’re a talented writer, doesn’t mean you’re going to be a good teacher.”
Each workshop is kept small (Bram’s limit is six) so attention can be given to each student’s writing assignments done outside of class every week. “I’m a big believer that writers write because they want to be read, and to be read, you’ve got to really develop your craft and learn how to serve a reader as opposed to just expressing your feelings.”
The workshop instills, if anything else, productivity. “A lot of times, people just come to the workshop because they say, ‘I know I’m a writer, and I love to write, but if I don’t have a deadline, I’m not going to write’ and that gets people writing.”
In essence, Bram, whose dream is now a reality, wants to pass it on. “I really hope to attract people who have always thought about writing; wished they could be a writer, wondering if they could have been a writer, fantasized about writing, and I want to encourage them to try it and develop their skills.”
Pass it on, she has. Some students have enrolled in her class offerings from the beginning; others have completed and are publishing books.
One need not meet Bram in person to experience her charisma. Readers can get an inspirational charge perusing her book’s collection of essays that chronicle her journey as a single mother. “It was a life of, yes, challenges and difficult times, but also wonderful discoveries, and growth and new friendships and new vistas. I really wanted it to be a sign of hope for anybody who’s either struggling in a bad marriage or recently divorced, thinking ‘I can never be happy again’; and give them a sign that life can be great again and will be great again.”
Nothing less than great is news of her recent bridal bliss, in fact, the New York Times featured the wedding in its column, “Vows.” Bram said her nuptials complete the story…at least that one: a good writer like a good teacher never runs out of juice; the telltale sign is a red pen.
More information about the Westport Writers’ Workshop is available at westportwritersworkshop.com or by calling 203-227-3250, email jessica@westportwritersworkshop.com; also follow Jessica Bram’s blog at jessicabram.com.
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