On the heels of the Moby-Dick Marathon reading, our July 2025 Westport Writers Group’s Waterscapes reading at the RJD looks much different.

The poet’s work is a work of “art” in itself. Seeing Architectural #1 in person gives me my first spark…that the “house” is really one façade with a back and a front. And each façade is quite different: the “front” being an example of classical architecture and the backside harder to pin down, but with geometric symbols on the wall and a strange “space” inside, minimally delineated.

Living in New England offers us a unique opportunity to experience extremes on the scale of duality. Through the changing of seasons, freezing cold hands in winter are contrasted by a sunburned face in summer—yet the physical feeling is indeed quite similar. We still have the same sun, ocean, sand dunes, and woods to walk in year-round.

“I love being both a writer and a photographer. I find myself able to easily shift from one to another and use my skills in both to influence my work. For people used to working in only one medium, it can be revolutionary to explore a viewpoint and method of creating that is completely different.”

As I drive through Milton, where we moved when I was six and my older brother was learning to drive, I listen to Steve describe how the system kept his and my birth parents and the facts of our adoptions secret from us. Steve seemed pissed. I was just oblivious.

Lauren begins her writing process with quiet moments, waiting for the muse to spark. Her mind travels, wanders, and she patiently waits. Words flow on Lauren’s various projects as she writes first thing every morning. After the spark, time passes, which allows ideas to simmer until there is a click. Following her intuition, the pieces fall into place and she begins book writing in earnest. Some novels could be complete in a few months. Other times, questions may arise and she sets the project aside, returning once those questions answer themselves and word flow begins again.

A writer’s dream often includes the big book deal or the accolades from impressive foundations and institutions. I think deep down we all want that for our art. But it’s my hope and ambition to make my friends, the artists of the Southcoast, feel that same sense of pride and accomplishment right here at home.

If you are like most of us, the holidays – no matter how you may feel about them: good, bad, indifferent, annoyed – are disruptive to routines. Kids out of school, strange travel plans, loads of things we’re supposed to buy, or make, or events to attend.

In the late 1980s, I lived in Jefferson, NH, where I worked with an arsonist at the local family restaurant. Now before you get the wrong idea, I didn’t know he was an arsonist at the time. Heck, I sometimes wonder if even he knew, as he was a few sandwiches short of a picnic. The actual infernal mastermind of the fires was the owner of one of two gas stations in town, who could often be seen sweeping microscopic pieces of fluff from the tarmac in front of his convenience store while wearing a pair of vintage Mickey Mouse ears.

The South Coast Almanac’s Walking Book Club walked their first anthology on Westport’s Gooseberry Island. Along the way we learned how about how a group of surfers successfully changed a local landmark’s name.

I find myself sitting, and staring, and delaying, and distracting, trying and failing, lost. I know exactly where I want to end up with my art but unsure of how to get there, bombarded on top of that with all the big and little challenges and wrongs that surround me. So when you are facing insurmountable odds, or many little evils, there are two ways to respond – through escapism or resistance.

While the state of Rhode Island is considered to have the largest concentration of stone walls in New England, Westport, MA, which borders Rhode Island, is said to rival adjacent Little Compton for the most stone walls in one town. Many of the stone walls in Westport were constructed in the early eighteenth century and have served as inspiration for artists and writers for generations.

Writers read from their anthology. Stewards of the land shared their stories. All spoke to the same theme.

Whether you seek a quiet haven on a hot summer day or wifi and a larger screen, library discovery is a fine onshore activity for cruisers. Sailing into a harbor brings you a different perspective on a town. The library tells you much about its history and character.

From the prompt “  “Instructions for living a life. Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” by Mary Oliver comes this beautiful story of the shrines we make in our lives to our memories, our experiences, and our loved ones.

Last month 88 people signed up to walk through a Mattapoisett salt marsh together. Along the way was a violinist from the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra. And then there was the book…

There’s a whole South Coast community of writers and we’re doing awesome things. Wouldn’t it be great if there were a one-stop shop for these community connections?

You never quite know what’s going to emerge at the monthly Westport Writers Group. And that’s a good thing!

A whole town writing together. Students at the school. People at the library. Customers buying scones at the local cafe. Writing about the seasons and about where they live.

How is creativity influenced by landscape?  How do artists of different genres see differently?