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We love the holidays at FCWS but, it has to be said, they can be stressful. So here’s a quick, simple way to create calm in just a few minutes from Dr. Marc Seifer, a graphologist and handwriting expert who wrote The Definitive Book of Handwriting Analysis. Seifer says that writing a calming sentence is a

Despite reports to the contrary, memoir is alive and well.

The memoir “Trying to Float: Coming of Age in the Chelsea Hotel,” leads the Sunday Styles page in the New York Times this week. Another, “Wear and Tear/The Threads of My Life,” graces page 7. About a month ago I finished reading the bestseller “When Breath Becomes Air” (Westport’s own Sybil Steinberg, the former book review section editor for Publishers Weekly, recommended it during her annual must-read talk at the library recently), and I’m still marveling at its mastery.

Each book, I think, carries different but important lessons about memoir:

“Every word was perfect, necessary, and profound.” This, from teacher, reviewer and book lover Patrick Andrus, in his review of Nora Raleigh Baskin’s new book “nine, ten: a September 11 story.” What a treat it was to attend Nora’s launch on Facebook on Sunday evening. I’ve been to lots of launches, but this was my first

Note: This is for teenaged participants.

Whether you’re in a band or just have a song in your head or your heart, 13-time Emmy-Award-winning songwriter Andy “A.J.” Gundell can help you get your own song on the page. In this four-day workshop, A.J. takes students new to songwriting step-by-step through the process of writing a modern pop song. It doesn’t matter whether lyrics or chord progressions are your strength – A.J. meets you where you are and, during the week, helps you write a hook, verses for your chorus and a bridge.

If your writing class has finished and you’re wondering whether you’ll be able to stick to your goals without the structure of weekly assignments, here are some tips for staying on track. Setting Achievable Writing Goals How do we define what is achievable? How many words or pages are an appropriate goal? The answer depends

Do you love mysteries and want to write one, but you don’t know a “cozy” from a “caper” or a “professional sleuth” from a “police procedural”? Never fear, award-winning mystery-author and teacher Edith Maxwell is on the scene to help unravel the secrets of thrillers and whodunits in this Saturday morning workshop here at the

The hard part – your book – is done. Now comes the harder part: talking about it. Even the best writers quake at the thought of speaking in public. But talking about your book is not only an important sales tool – it can also lead to a well-paying second career. The first session of

A unique three-session workshop for adults who want to explore feelings of loss and grief through writing. Writing can create moments of insight, and this workshop is designed to help writers access and explore some of those healing shifts in perspective in a safe and supportive atmosphere. Class will include writing prompts and optional sharing.

Beth Kephart, a professor of memoir at the University of Pennsylvania, raises some critical points here in her column in the Chicago Tribune about reviewing memoirs. The same holds true for memoir workshops. The goal, time and again, is to focus on the work on the page, not the author’s experiences. This can be a tricky tango when smart, intelligent, caring people gather to work on their pieces. Kephart writes, “We sit side by side and elbow to elbow around an old rectangular table. We read one another’s lives. We see one another’s eyes. We have not come to judge how much he drinks, how much she hurts, how little she now speaks to her own mother. We don’t engage in gossip.