Upcoming WordPlay

DELICIOUS MEMORIES: WRITING ABOUT FOOD
IN ANY AND ALL GENRES

Food not only nurtures and sustains us, it's a rich source of metaphor and memory! We'll explore our connections with food as we write of when, where, what, with whom, how - and even why - we ate! You can use your food writings to create a family cookbook, creative nonfiction, poetry, a food blog, etc. - or just for your own pleasure.

$89 for 2 sessions.

WHERE:Queens University, 1900 Selwyn Ave, Charlotte, NC 28207.
WHEN: Wednesdays, 6:30 - 9 PM, May 7 & 14.
TO REGISTER: http://www.queens.edu/Academics-and-Schools/Continuing-Education/Program-Categories/Writing-CE/Writing-Delicious-Memories-with-Maureen-Ryan-Griffin.html

WordPlay Success Story

"I came into Maureen's class with a couple of blossoming stories and poems I was proud of, and left with a world of knowledge and inspiration." 

Meet Lyn Hopper

Lyn Hopper retired recently from a long career in the public library field. She lives in the mountains near Dahlonega, Georgia, with her husband of 37 years and a spirited cat. Her poems have been published in Summerfield Journal, Georgia Journal, Habersham Review, Poetry of the Golden Generation, The Reach of Song, The Stonepile Writers' Anthology, and other works. She is an active member of the Georgia Poetry Society and two writing groups. 

You can read more of Lyn's poems here:

http://zenpoems.wordpress.com 

And, in Lyn's words, "Over many years, I have collected, and continue to collect, quotations that speak to me.  I began this blog in August of 2007 to share them and also to have a writing (and feeling and thinking and spiritual) practice":

http://quotesqueen.wordpress.com



WHAT LYN SAYS ABOUT WordPlay

All that is necessary to break the spell of inertia and frustration is this: Act as if it were impossible to fail. 

                                                       ~ Dorothea Brande

"Everything you do is perfect," insisted Maureen Ryan Griffin, my writing teacher at John C. Campbell Folk School last September. And isn't that true for all of us? We are perfect just as we are, and we must strive to be better. Holding these two thoughts simultaneously has always been difficult for me. But I'm getting there! And the writing workshop moved me closer. What a warm circle writers create when they work together under the right conditions. And Maureen created just the right atmosphere.

During the week, we learned to "Sprint," to "Gather," to "Sprawl," to write dialogue, to ask questions, to list, to "Leapfrog" off another's work, and much more. If you haven't seen Maureen's excellent book Spinning Words into Gold, check it out. It's full of great writing advice and exercises.

Thanks to Maureen and the other participants for making the folk school class so special for me. I am going now to plan my writing practice schedule for the weeks ahead. I'm sure it will be perfect.

Adapted from a blog post September 24, 2013 from the blog "Only Moment: Mindfulness in Everyday Life" (http://quotesqueen.wordpress.com).

Featured Writing

by

Lyn Hooper

Easter

The dogwood shines in the early light,
practiced from a night of bright moon.
The yellow-breasted chat is back,
repeating its repertoire.
To the east a pale orange glow
lies across the hills like a promise.

While some make last-minute trips for eggs,
you will think of "the old man," twenty-six,
flying over Poland that Easter, 1944,
the day that twisted his future into a new shape,
that made him the father you knew:
wounded, sober, uncomplaining.

He is falling, unconscious, thousands of feet
to a Danish beach,
ribs and ankle broken, and waking
to the mercy of strangers,
the offer of boxed chocolates
to make up for his missing arm.

Somehow he rises through all that dark
to find the stone rolled away,
an ordinary life awaiting.
Patient and peaceful, he abides
until his soul is freed, a calling shrike,
circling in the blue sky.

[Published in Poetry of the Golden Generation, vol. IV, Kennesaw State University, 2008]

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!