Category: Blog

There’s a story at every address. Is it yours?

On October 6 we debut at an amazing facility right down the road on Beach Road in Fairfield. It’s the brand new Fairfield Museum. If you haven’t been there, you’ll be blown away when you do wander through. It’s nothing rinky dink, I swear. Our storytelling is the Awake After Dark program we’ve done so successfully elsewhere. And for this special place, it’s called Stories on the Green. Fairfield was the original town that gave life to Westport, and to all of the other towns around that are called Fairfield County. For reasons that defy my logic for living in New England (with attitude) we don’t have “Greens” like the one that was left in tact in Fairfield. They also have sidewalks.

The Green is where all of the “stories” could be heard during the days before no telephones, cars, etc. You walked on the Green and you met folks you wanted to talk to. Or folks you didn’t want to talk to…but they were there in the wide open public space.  You read the Town Crier information posted on a board on the Green, before newspapers. You heard “Hear Ye, Hear Ye,” and you could know who was in the jail for the night— drunk and disorderly. Maybe it was me?

The exhibit that is going up at FMHC on September 24th is all about the development of performance theater after the railroad came barreling up the road from Altoona or even New York and into  Fairfield County. It’s called  “BRAVO! A Century of Theatre in Fairfield County” The FMHC is actually building sets of the real Westport Country Playhouse, Lucille Lortel Barn and the famed, but now defunct, (we hope not forever) Shakespeare in Stratford CT.

The first play we decided to highlight from the incredible archives going into this museum for  in our storytelling series is, “Our Town,” by Thornton Wilder. But we are calling for themes about your little town, even if it’s a big city.

In your neighborhood, your town, there may have been rumors about the people at the end of the block, there are always the kindly old couples who walk by everyday. You may have been the high school hero, or the one who went to reform school. Who knows? As Paul Simon wrote, “In my little town/I grew up believing god shines his light on us all/ as I pledged allegiance to the wall.” Where did you say the pledge of allegiance. We want to know. Give us a buzz or shoot us an email and let’s hear about your town, foreign or next door.

Why you stayed? Why you strayed?

If you haven’t received an announcement about our big adventure in schooling, one where we are holding our event for an administrator to welcome her parents and students back to school, hang on! It’s coming soon. Meanwhile, if you are interested in becoming a storyteller, get in touch with us here.

Gabi and I were both early adapters in the digital world. And, for writers it’s been a blessing and a curse. One of the blessings is how much connection we’ve been able to have with the writers in our local community and other earlier adapters who were not raised in the digital era. It’s frustrating to learn, but rewarding to know how to submit and share your work online. Don’t give up.

One of the best connectors is a truly early adapter to the business of publishing; Westport’s Tessa Smith McGovern was the first person I knew personally to start a digital publishing company. Fortunately for Gabi and myself, we had been honing our craft on the keyboard for a very long time.  We’ve both been writing since we can remember. And, being rejected more than we care to remember. We’ve been seeing our names in print online, and on paper, just enough to keep our bylines recognizable to our families. 🙂

When Tessa shared her amazing literary company launch idea with us, we both submitted work to what it now her highly praised collections. The first big push is taking place on September 20th. The selection process is for work is quite arduous. So be proud of anything you get accepted. Tessa’s site is very competitive. Global, for sure.

http://echook.com/save-the-date-memoir-launch-networking-event-20th-sept-7pm-westport-barnes-and-noble/

Come and cheer us all on in September at the launch party. There are all sorts of networking possibilities. Also, guest authors have a chance to write about their favorite stories. Here’s my blog about a story I read many years ago.

http://echook.com/guest-blog-ina-chadwicks-favorite-short-story/

Join our free Writers Artists Cafe on Wednesdays at the Westport Arts Center starting in October. Be in with the “in” and be part of sharing what you learn, what you feel.  But don’t forget to try to see  some of your work in print.  Why?  I couldn’t find my favorite short story online and had to take it out of the library. In print.  I held onto the book for many weeks. I owe the library half a month’s mortgage. Who else but writers and lovers of words run up overdue fines? Bless the library.

Ina

Awake After Dark Storytelling At Landmark Academy

Go back to school with Awake After Dark(TM) Storytelling. Our theme “Adventures In Parenting” will have you laughing and crying with us as we share the most important moments of our lives.

Entertainment, food, beverages.

If you are interested in auditioning please email ina@mousemuse.com with your story idea and we can audition you and give you feedback.

Our fabulous storytelling event at Matt Davies’ Barn in Connecticut was a great success. Suzanne Sheridan took these photos as the sun went slowly down but the level of heat stayed up – way up!

Dreams can come true!  One of our Writers’ Cafe supporters, Mary Grace Dembeck, has had a short story made into a 30-minute movie by British director, Jack Ryder. Act of Memory, based on an incident from Mary Grace’s life and originally set in Brooklyn, has been transposed to England in 1948. The film stars Anna Massey, Claire Skinner and Grace Cooper Milton. It will be shown on British TV this Christmas.

Multi-talented Mary Grace Dembeck has exhibited paintings at The National Academy of Design
in New York City. Her writing has been published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal
and Reader’s Digest. She is also the author of a collection of children’s poetry, MOONSNACKS
And Assorted Nuts, and she delights in the Steve Allen quote found in the back of the book.
She has collaborated on a number of songs with renowned singer Maureen McGovern, many of which were turned into  the children’s musical The Bengal Tiger’s Ball, and performed in Florida.

You can fnd out more by checking out the press release at: http://actofmemory.com/

Mary Grace – you owe the Writers’ Cafe a dollar for this brag! (That’s what writers put into the kitty when they brag about something at the Cafe.  Next one is on July 13 from 1-2ish at the Westport Arts Center.

We had a great group on Wednesday, with so many ideas that I can’t cover them all!
First the bragging:
Christine Shaffer is one of five finalists in a memoir contest being judged by the University of Minnesota. First prize is $1000 and publication of her book. We’re rooting for her!
Ina Chadwick talked about the new writing contests  – more chances to submit!
Shira ‘fessed up that she’d finally submitted something – a huge leap forward!
Elsie showed us her two memoir essays published by the New Canaan library in a book of memoirs.
I had an essay published on the Partnership at Drugfree website. http://intervene.drugfree.org/2011/06/5-things-i-wish-id-known-about-mental-illness-and-teens/#comments

We talked about informal writers’ critiquing groups, and how to set them up. If you’re interested, let us know, and we’ll see what we can do to organize something.

I was inspired by Ina’s mentioning the current NPR series on All things considered – Summer Sounds. So I submitted a piece today, about the sounds I remember from the age of the dinosaurs (the 50’s) in England. We’ll see.

Margaret Rumford told us about the self – publication of her memoir. She used a company in Vermont, who did the design, layout, (but not the proof-reading) and got it printed very reasonably. Email me if you’d like to contact Margaret for more information.

We talked about the 30 creative things in 30 days, and I rashly committed to doing it and reporting on it via my Facebook page (see below).

That’s enough about me.  Keep writing! Gabi
See you next month – Wednesday July 13, 12.30-1.30ish at the Westport Arts Center

Great Writers’ Café on Wednesday – we were a select group, and I had a number of topics I’d thought of covering. In the event, one of our writers asked if anyone had any ideas for how to overcome resistance, not to writing, but to submitting.

We shared our experiences and suggestions. Here are a few.

If you really can’t face the work, or don’t have the time, try Writers’ Relief, a New Jersey company that will take your work (if they feel they can place it) and find suitable places for you to submit it.  Ina explained that she had sent them a novel, which they had looked at and suggested 25 possible agents. They’d provided cover letters and Ina had replies from 14 of them – three of them very interested. Other people had submitted short fiction and had been given some editing suggestions, a final copy correctly presented, and a cover letters for around 30 literary journals to which to send the work. There are several levels of service – pick what you need.  Here’s the link:

http://www.writersrelief.com/submission-guidelines-for-review-board.aspx

Jessica Bram of the Westport Writers’ workshop suggested two websites that provide lists of literary agents:

http://aaronline.org/ and    http://www.agentquery.com/

Online magazines suggested included Open Salon,  http://open.salon.com/cover Mused, http://www.bellaonline.com/review/submissions/ and the Good Men Project http://goodmenproject.com/. All of these take non-fiction (including some memoir) and Mused takes fiction as well.

Completely off topic – I found a funny website that re-titles famous books so that you know what to expect when you buy them. http://betterbooktitles.com/ So The Great Gatsby becomes Drink Responsibly, James and the Giant Peach becomes It’s OK If Giant Fruit Kills Your Aunts So Long As They Were Bitches, etc.  The Guardian Newspaper in Britain took this and ran with it, providing a further 200 or so titles submitted by their readers. My favourite: Winnie-the-Pooh – Fat, Greedy Bear Annoys His Neighbours.  Here’s that link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2011/apr/29/book-titles-describe-content

Happy Submitting!

Gabi Coatsworth