Think You Have A Book In You?

For aspiring book authors, two businesses in Westport are dedicated to helping them improve their craft.

The Westport Writers’ Workshop began in 2004 and offers writing seminars.

The Editing Company offers services designed to help writers with particular projects, and also teaches them to express themselves more freely.

“There was a definite need for serious writing workshops to accommodate the many highly talented and creative people in this area who wish to write,” said Jessica Bram, founder of the Westport Writers’ Workshop. 

Bram is a writer, radio commentator and author of Happily Ever After Divorce: Notes of a Joyful Journey, which published in April.  Her commentaries can be heard on NPR and her personal essays have been published and syndicated in national and regional newspapers and magazines.

Her business has been successful, and continues to expand.  “There’s a demand,” Bram said.  “People who take the workshops tend to come back.  They love them.” 

The simple discipline of having a weekly deadline inspires many writers and would-be writers to sign up for the workshops, Bram said.

“People are transformed by writing,” she continued.  “Our winter programs, which were just announced, are almost all full already.” 

Bram characterized the classes as “highly focused workshops designed to teach craft and develop concrete writing skills.”  Although they are open to professional and non-professional writers, they are geared to people who take their work seriously, and have a desire to acquire a level of artistic and/or professional excellence in their writing.

The Westport Writers’ Workshop also offers the Cape Cod Retreat in Provincetown in the spring and the fall.  Bram has recently launched a free online newsletter called “Be Inspired To Write.” 

She believes if you have the call to be a writer, you owe it to yourself to heed that call.

While Bram works with writers on developing inspiration and perfecting the craft, The Editing Company helps authors achieve their goals through manuscript critique, editorial assistance and/or hands-on collaboration.

Editing Company co-founder Patricia Fried, better known as "Tish," began in editorial work as an art director in the music industry. She left the music business when the president of a record company threw a compact disc at her head -- over a disagreement about the placement of a comma.

"You learn to think fast in the music business, or at least you learn to punctuate," she said.  Later on, as a divorced mom, Fried found herself helping her friends with their writing.  And she loved the collaborations. 

“The more I collaborated, the more ideas I had,” Fried said.

One of her personal collaborations is with her partner and co-founder Patrick McCord, who is editor-in-chief of the company.  The two are currently engaged to be married.

McCord has a PhD in Narratology (English) from the University of Georgia. He is an award-winning poet, a short story writer, and has sold teleplays and a screenplay.  Before launching his own writing career, he worked in project development at both New York's Circle in the Square and LA's Mark Taper Forum.

One of The Editing Company’s clients, Mark Greene, came to the couple with a completed manuscript.  After taking his novel apart under McCord’s tutelage, he put it back together — much improved. 

Though no deals have been finalized, Greene’s manuscript is currently being read by a major publisher.  All fingers are crossed.

Another venture for the pair involves storytelling. The Westport Historical Society recently hosted such an event.  But the long-term vision for Fried and McCord is to create a writers’ collective.  It would be a place for writers to go – one room would be for sharing, and the other would be for actual writing – no talking allowed.

Happily, the Westport Writers’ Workshop and The Editing Company coexist peacefully, even linking to each other’s websites. 

They feel their offerings are distinct and both feel in a town like Westport, there's enough creativity and talent to go around.