Volume III, Issue 24 July 14, 2014 |
Word of the Week: dessert
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Dear ,
Are you a dessert
lover? I sure am -- homemade dessert almost every night of the week was one of the few ways my mother "spoiled" her children when we were growing up. So how can I help but love Susan Woods's poem "The Family Table," which ends with the words, "Dessert, we say, because we all deserve/some sweetness in the end"?
(I have food writing on my mind today, since I am leading a free "Delicious Memories" workshop at the South Branch Library in Charlotte this Thursday night. If you're free and in the area, I hope you'll join me -- there are still a good number of spots left. Register here.)
Yes, too much dessert can be bad for us, but sweetness is one of life's best "spices." So when my daughter, way back when she was 10 or 11, asked for a "Life's short. Eat dessert first" t-shirt, of course I said yes.
I think that same philosophy applies to writing, too. When my clients and students ask me how to pick between writing projects, I almost always tell them to go for the one that will bring them the most pleasure.
Why not? Isn't sweetness a great motivator as well as a good payoff?
What writing "dessert" can you whip up for yourself today?
One of my favorite writing desserts is creating writing communities, so this photo of my thoroughly bonded Chautauqua "Spinning Words into Gold" participants taken at our last class on the 4th of July makes me as happy as my mother's blueberry pie a la mode! (My only regret is that, because of the holiday, four of our
members couldn't be with us for the photo shoot.) Now,scroll on down for this week's "ingredients-based" prompt, and go whip up some sweet writing. And try inviting a fellow writer or two to write along with you. (Long distance writing partners work, too.) Bon Appetit,
Maureen 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. This workshop is offered FREE. WHERE: South County Regional Branch Library
5801 Rea Road, Charlotte, NC 28277
WHEN: Thursday, July
17th, 2014 from 6 to 7:30 pm
TO REGISTER: Register online here.
Questions? Call the South County Regional Library, 704-416-6600.
SUMMER WRITING RETREAT (Writing as Renewal; Creating New Writing)
Renew and delight yourself. The Summer Writing Retreat is an opportunity to create new pieces of writing and/or new possibilities for our lives. Enjoy various seasonal prompts; they have not failed to elicit beautiful material that can be shaped into essays, poems, stories, or articles. After a communal
lunch, you'll have private time which can be used to collage, work with a piece of writing from the morning, or play with a number of other writing prompts and methods. You'll take home new ideas, new drafts, and new possibilities. $97 includes lunch and supplies. WHERE: South Charlotte area. Details will be provided upon registration.
WHEN: Saturday, July 19, 2014, 10 am - 5 pm. TO REGISTER ONLINE, CLICK HERE. Or click here for a printable, mail-in
form.
THE GIFT OF MEMOIR: WRITING PERSONAL
AND FAMILY STORIES
(Preserving Family History; Writing for and about Your Family; The Art of Memoir) Our life stories are a precious legacy. Putting them in writing is a gift to all who know and love us-they can be
treasured and enjoyed for generations to come. It is also a gift to ourselves. As best-selling author Rachel Naomi Remen says in her book Kitchen Table Wisdom, facts bring us to knowledge, but stories bring us to wisdom. If you are interested in writing family and/or personal life stories-those significant tales of adventure, transition, love, loss, and triumph, as well as lovely everyday moments
from times past or the present, come learn specific tools and techniques to retrieve and record them. To suit your busy schedule, the summer sessions of The Gift of Memoir are offered individually at $35
each. WHERE: Covenant Presbyterian Recreation Center, 1000 East Morehead St., Charlotte, 28204. Click here for map. WHEN: Thursday morning, 10 am to noon, July 24 and/or August 14.
TO REGISTER: Click here to register online. Or click here for a printable, mail-in form. More WordPlay opportunities at
http://www.wordplaynow.com/classes-and-workshops/
WordPlay Now! Writing Prompt
This is WordPlay -- so why not revel in the power and potential of one good word after another? This week, it's
"dessert." And since we're talking of food, here's a "recipe" to create a piece of writing. You may want to, in honor of your own "delicious memories," write about food, but you don't have to -- pick any subject that feels like "dessert" to you: 1. First, read Susan Woods's poem "The Family Table." 2. Now, pick a group that you (or any character, real or fictional) are or have been a member of. Examples: your family, either nuclear or extended, your co-workers, your church congregation, Boy Scouts, class of '66, marching band, Weightwatchers, etc. 3.Write
a "piece" (memoir, fiction, nonfiction,or poetry) that speaks for this group, and be sure to use first person plural somewhere in it. Susan Wood does this at the very end of her poem, when she says, "Dessert, we say, because we all deserve/some sweetness in the end." See what happens when you speak as a member of a group rather than as an individual. Before you begin writing, gather these "ingredients" to include in your writing: - A phrase that uses a negative rather than a positive, statement, saying what something "isn't" or "doesn't", as this poem does with "Old hurts aren't forgotten exactly..."
- An adage, like "You can't teach an old dog new tricks" or "A rolling stone gathers no moss" or "Sticks and stones can break my bones..." etc., etc. but twist it from the original, as this poem does with "Time doesn't heal all
wounds."
- At least one simile, as this poem does with "...sometimes it covers them like layers of skin"
- At least one list of at least three items, as this poem does with "talk of how many blueberries each child picked today,of rebels in Nicaragua, of swimming and a protest at a nuclear plant" and "in every story there a stranger at the door, a cancer blooming deep in the chest, a scorpion crouched amid fragrant boughs
of pine"
- Words that capture each of these five senses. Examples:
sight - "on the blue plate the red claws"
sound - "hammer a nail"
smell - "fragrant boughs of pine"
taste - "dipped in lemony butter"
touch - "where you fell through the rotten porch"
(There are
many others.) - Words to include each of these tenses:
the past - "thirty years ago"
the present - "Tonight there is good talk"
the future - "afterwards there will be"
4. Take the "ingredients" and use them to "assemble" your piece of writing. (Some people find it easier to write a draft first, and then come up with the ingredients and weave them in.) \
Sound too complicated? Feel a bit intimidated? It's fun to begin your prompts with fellow WordPlayers, and be able to share the results when you're done. You can find out about WordPlay classes, workshops, and retreats here.
I'd love to see what you come up with! Email it to me at info@wordplaynow.com -- you could be featured in a future Word-zine. |
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! |
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