Upcoming WordPlay

COASTAL WRITING RETREAT: Connect with Your Creativity at the Sunset Inn (Writing--and more--as Renewal and Inspiration) / 1 weekend session

Back by popular request: a weekend writing retreat full of activities to reconnect you to your creativity. Renew yourself, whether you are a practicing writer, closet writer, or as-yet-to-pick-up-the-pen writer! The techniques and prompts we'll use will spur your imagination, and can be used to create nonfiction, fiction, and/or poetry-the choice is yours. There'll be ample free time to savor your beautifully appointed private room with king-sized bed, private bath and balcony, the large porches with rocking chairs and swings, and the coastal setting. For more information on the Sunset Inn, which is a five-minute walk from Sunset Beach and is next to a peaceful marsh where herons and cranes live, see www.thesunsetinn.net. You'll have your choice of rooms, each with its own distinctive style and color scheme. You'll return home refreshed, with new ideas and energy for your writing.

$378 for writing sessions, two nights' lodging, two breakfasts and Saturday lunch (hotel tax and Saturday dinner at a local restaurant not included). Additionally, for those who might like to stay another day to work on their writing, or to just enjoy the beach, the Inn is offering Coastal Writing Retreat participants the opportunity to stay Sunday night, February 23, at half price.

You'll need a copy of Spinning Words into Gold, available for $23.54 at the retreat. Or order a copy now via PayPal/credit card.

WHERE: The Sunset Inn, 9 North Shore Dr., Sunset Beach, NC 28468
WHEN: Friday, February 21 - Sunday, February 23, 2014*

(Note: There are two separate Coastal Writing Retreats. Friday February 28 - Sunday, March 2 will be a PROJECT: BOOK Retreat. See below for more information if you are interested in this.)

TO REGISTER: Contact the Sunset Inn at 888.575.1001 or 910.575.1000 (if you would like to handpick your room, view your choices here first, then call). Because the Inn is holding rooms for you, our participants, they are blocked off as unavailable online. Register soon by phone - this is a popular event and there are only 8 spaces available each weekend. Also, please let the Inn know when you call if you are interested in staying Sunday night, February 23, at half price. The Inn will hold your reservation with a credit card. 

PROJECT BOOK AT SUNSET BEACH: GET YOUR BOOK OUT OF YOU AND INTO THE WORLD (Writing/Publishing Your Book-length Writing Project) / 1 weekend session

A hands-on workshop for any writer who would like to write and/or publish a book and
    1) doesn't know how
    2) doesn't get around to it 
    3) feels
                a) intimidated
                b) confused
                                c) overwhelmed
                                d) uninspired
                e) all of the above
You'll gain working knowledge of the steps you need to take and the procedures and documents that are necessary (query vs. cover letter, book proposal, overview, synopsis, outline), as well as an introduction to today's publishing world (major publishers, university presses, small presses, self-publishing, e-publishing, and print-on-demand). Note: Class doesn't include critique of your book manuscript. 

There'll be free time to savor your beautifully appointed private room with king-sized bed, private bath and balcony, the large porches with rocking chairs and swings, and the coastal setting. For more information on the Sunset Inn, which is a five-minute walk from Sunset Beach and is next to a peaceful marsh where herons and cranes live, see www.thesunsetinn.net. You'll have your choice of rooms, each with its own distinctive style and color scheme.

$408 includes Project: Book sessions, two nights' lodging, two breakfasts and Saturday lunch (hotel tax and Saturday dinner at a local restaurant not included). Additionally, for those who might like to stay another day to work on their writing, or to just enjoy the beach, the Inn is offering Coastal Writing Retreat participants the opportunity to stay Sunday night, March 2, at half price.

You'll need a copy of Spinning Words into Gold, available for $23.54 at the retreat. Or order a copy now via PayPal/credit card.

WHERE: The Sunset Inn, 9 North Shore Dr., Sunset Beach, NC 28468
WHEN: Friday, February 28- Sunday, March 2, 2014
TO REGISTER: Contact the Sunset Inn at 888.575.1001 or 910.575.1000 (if you would like to handpick your room, view your choices here first, then call). Because the Inn is holding rooms for you, our participants, they are blocked off as unavailable online. Register soon by phone - this is a popular event and there are only 8 spaces available each weekend. Also, please let the Inn know when you call if you are interested in staying Sunday night, March 2, at half price. The Inn will hold your reservation with a credit card. 

See http://wordplaynow.com/current.htm  for more details and more WordPlay opportunities. 

WordPlay Article

The Four Elements of Human Being

Include body,  mind, heart, and spirit in your writing...

I once heard someone refer to the emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual aspects of our lives as the "four elements" of being human. I had long been aware of how important it is to pay attention to each of these aspects in our daily lives as we consider what choices we make and what actions we take, but it wasn't until that moment that I had the thought that these elements, as a matter of logic, should also then each be present in our writing.

I love having this lens to look through as a way to access how to make a piece of writing stronger. I'll look to see if each "element" is present, at least in some measure, and what the balance is between the elements. If an element is missing or barely there, it almost always feels like there is something off kilter or missing in the piece, whether it's a novel, a poem, a memoir, a self-help book, or a children's book.

Here's a run-through of what kinds of words and ideas belong in each of the elements:

Body (Physical): All the information that comes in through the whole body and all of the senses. (Speaking of, did you know that we humans have more than the five senses we learned about in kindergarten? Talk about fascinating! There's equilibrioception, thermoception, proprioception, nociception, chronoception, interoception... You can read about these and more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sense.) Any object, anything you can see, hear, smell, taste, and/or touch or feel. Time, especially in any way that can be experienced by the body, as in sunset, dawn, seasons. Geography. (You may have made the leap into the thought that I am talking about "setting" here. Yes, I am. You can read more about that on pages 90 - 96 of Spinning Words into Gold, a Hands-On Guide to the Craft of Writing if you're so inclined.)

Mind (Mental): All the "insight" words  - know, think, understand, consider, wonder (when used in an "I wonder what the king is doing tonight" way), etc. Literal thought/"ponderings" and "mullings"/thought processes that the author, narrator, or character is sharing with the reader. Metaphor, because without the mind, the connection cannot be made between, say -- to tip our hats to Emily Dickinson -- "hope" and "that thing with feathers that perches in the soul." 

Heart (Emotional): All the feeling words- - sad, sorry, blissful, excited, love, hope, etc. -- whether in narrative, exposition, description, or dialogue in which the speaker is describing how he/she feels about a person, situation, etc.

Spirit (Spiritual): Here's the tricky one! How I define spirit here, as it may show up in our writing, is very wide. Consider that what happens in heart, body, and mind, while it is often in response to something outside of us, is experienced within the confines of our own individual self. For our purposes, spirit shows up in any words that show one individual connected to something outside him or herself. The key word is "connection," whether it's to a Divine Being, to another person or group of people, or animals, plants, the earth... In this way, the word "believe" would be a "mind" word if one said, "I believe the answer is six," but a "spirit" word if one said, "I believe in God, the Father Almighty" or "I believe in you." And the word wonder belongs here if we are using it to describe something akin to awe.

Sometimes it's very hard to distinguish the exact words that demonstrate the element of spirit in a piece of writing from the words that demonstrate the elements of mind, body, and heart, so the best way to discern whether spirit is present in any given piece of writing is to ask if there is anything there that speaks of or to connection to something larger than one individual's interests and preoccupations.

It's very common for a word or group of words to contain more than one "element of human being." And the distinctions are very interwoven, and often subtle. Here are some example words and phrases from Kate DiCamillo's "Snow, Aldo":

Body (Physical): 

• New York
• Central Park
• an old man in a black overcoat walking
  a black dog
• springtime
• the trees were still
  bare 
• and the sky was
  gray and low  
• big fat flakes
  that twirled and landed 
• overcoat 
• the black dog's fur
• "Snow, Aldo" (dialogue is always something we "hear")
• laughed
• wagged his tail
• snow globes

Mind (Mental): 

• If I was in charge of making
  snow globes, this is what I would put inside 
• faces turned up to the sky
  as if they were receiving a blessing 
• something
  as simple as snow
  in March

Heart (Emotional): 

• he laughed
• The dog looked
  at him and wagged his tail
• two friends 
• faces turned up to the sky
• being blessed together

Spirit (Spiritual): 

• as if they were receiving a blessing
• as if they were being blessed together
  by something
  as simple as snow

Of course, I can't imagine that you will be thinking of these elements every minute as you read and write. You shouldn't be! But I do hope that you will spend a bit of time after you've finished, and perhaps beforehand, too, thinking about whether whatever you're writing contains in some way at least a bit of each element.

Are there thoughts and opinions for the reader to consider that will engage, and possibly expand, her mind?

Are there emotions for him to experience, so that he feels engaged by you as the writer or by your characters?

Are there physical details for her to bring to life in her mind so that she can enter the "world" of your writing piece?

And will his spirit be engaged and enlarged, so that she feels connected to something outside himself?

MAUREEN RYAN GRIFFIN, an award-winning poetry and nonfiction writer, is the author of Spinning Words into Gold, a Hands-On Guide to the Craft of Writing, a grief workbook entitled I Will Never Forget You, and two collections of poetry, This Scatter of Blossoms and When the Leaves Are in the Water. She believes, as author Julia Cameron says, "We are meant to midwife dreams for one another."

Maureen also believes that serious "word work" requires serious WordPlay, as play is how we humans best learn -- and perform. What she loves best is witnessing all the other dreams that come true for her clients along the way. Language, when used with intentionality and focus, is, after all, serious fuel for joy. Here's to yours!