Volume III, Issue 33 September 15, 2014
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Like James Taylor, I've never been to "Mexico." But it
is definitely on my bucket list. How about you? A lot I've heard about Mexico over the years has intrigued me -- the latest is finding out that my friend and mentor Irene Honeycutt is leading a workshop there in February, at the San Miguel Writers' Conference, which poet Joy Harjo says is "one of the best literary gatherings in the Western Hemisphere. It is the perfect blend of local and international, from the classes, readings and panels to the fireworks, dancing and celebration under the stars. It rates multitudes of stars. The best." Among the keynoters are Gloria Steinem, Alice Walker, and Scott Turow. I am dreaming... For I know that if Irene is involved, it will be magical. I still remember how excited I was when I found out, way back in 1990, that she'd arranged to bring writer Anne Lamott to Charlotte for the CPCC Literary Festival. Look at our grins as we
held up The Charlotte Observer article giving the details. (Yes, please look at that and not my "bad hair day" -- well, ok, it was a "bad hair year" -- do you sometimes wonder, what was I thinking?! when it comes to old hairstyles?) But I digress.... I'm writing to let you know of a star-studded Writers' Conference you just may find your way to attending, and also to urge you to consider the power of
place -- in writing, and in life. Maybe you have never been to Mexico either. But think of all the places you have been... And how they could figure in your writing... Intrigued? Read on! And if you're looking for a Writer's Conference in a
closer place, why not join me in attending the North Carolina Writers' Network Fall Conference, "Fit for Royalty," happening in my own "Queen City" of Charlotte November 21-23? Hope to see you there! Love and light, Maureen Upcoming
WordPlay WRITE LIKE A GENIUS (Expanding Our Creativity; Learning New Tools for Our Writing and Our Lives; Creating New Writing) Starts this Sunday, September 21st at the John Campbell Folk School, a wonderful place to spend a week -- think summer camp for grown-ups, with delicious, healthy food and creative people of every ilk from all over the country. Full details here. One spot left! Discover your own genius as you learn to apply seven fascinating approaches of Leonardo da Vinci to your writing at a week-long writing class in the North Carolina Mountains. These techniques enliven non-fiction, poetry
and fiction. Expect fun, inspiration and writing galore in your preferred genre, with opportunities to share your work. WHERE: John Campbell Folk
School, 1 Folk School Road, Brasstown, NC 28902. WHEN: Sunday, September 21 - Saturday September 27, 2014. COST: $594 for one week-long session, plus lodging and meals. TO REGISTER: Click here.
-------------------------------------------------------------- FALL WRITING RETREAT
(Writing - and More - as Renewal / Creating New Writing)
Renew and delight yourself. The Fall 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, October 11, 2014, 10 am - 5 pm. TO REGISTER: TO REGISTER: Register online here. Or email info@wordplaynow.com or phone 704-494-9961 for details on registering via mail.
-------------------------------------------------------------- COASTAL WRITING RETREAT
Connect with Your Creativity at the Sunset Inn (Writing-and more-as Renewal and Inspiration)
Full details here. Register now if you want to come: just two spots left!
WHERE: The Sunset Inn, 9 North Shore Dr., Sunset Beach, NC 28468 WHEN: Friday, November 7 - Sunday, November 9, 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).
-------------------------------------------------------------- COASTAL WRITING RETREAT: PROJECT BOOK GET YOUR BOOK
OUT OF YOU AND INTO THE WORLD (Writing; Publishing Your Book-length Writing Project)
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 Full details here. WHERE: The Sunset Inn, 9 North Shore Dr., Sunset Beach, NC 28468 WHEN: Friday, November 14 - Sunday, November 16, 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).
More WordPlay opportunities here. A Few Words on Place
First of all, if you have never read Eudora Welty's remarkable essay, "Place in Fiction," do that now! Here are two of my favorite excerpts on the importance of what we writers often call
setting: "It is by the nature of itself that fiction is all bound up in the local. The internal reason for that is surely that feelings are bound up in place. The human mind is a mass of associations -- associations more poetic even than actual. I say, "The Yorkshire Moors," and
you will say, "Wuthering Heights," and I have only to murmur, "If Father were only alive--" for you to come back with "We could go to Moscow," which certainly is not even so. The truth is, fiction depends for its life on place." And, if you don't write fiction, consider these words of Welty's: "I think the sense of place is as essential to good and honest writing as a logical mind; surely they are somewhere related. It is by knowing where you stand that you grow able to judge where you are. Place absorbs our earliest notice and attention, it bestows on us our original awareness; and our critical powers spring up from the study of it and the growth of experience
inside it. It perseveres in bringing us back to earth when we fly too high. It never really stops informing us, for it is forever astir, alive, changing, reflecting, like the mind of man itself. One place comprehended can make us understand other places better. Sense of place gives equilibrium; extended, it is sense of direction too. Carried off we might be in spirit, and should be, when we are reading or writing something good; but it is the sense of place going with us still that is the ball
of golden thread to carry us there and back and in every sense of the word to bring us home." Think about it: Place can take us all the way to Mexico, and carry us all the way back home. Even place names themselves have power. If Jan Karon's popular books based on
the North Carolina mountain town of Blowing Rock were set in "Wasatchville" instead of "Mitford," would it have made a difference in sales? Maybe not. But maybe. Similarly, readers will have a different reaction to "Skaneateles Lake" (located near Syracuse, New York, where I
lived from the ages of four to seven) than to "Lake Woebegone" of Garrison Keillor fame. And if the lake isn't named at all that creates yet a different effect. Our mind makes associations, and even perhaps assumptions, based
upon place names. When we know, as we begin reading a poem, say one of Irene Honeycutt's, that we are in the Museum of the Terezín Ghetto, in the Czech Republic, there is automatically an established context. (You can find this poem on page 180 of Spinning Words into Gold.) You may choose to paint the setting of your writing in the literary equivalent of oil paint, with lengthy, detailed physical description. Or in a few small water color brushstrokes of sight and sound. You may dab setting throughout
your piece, or concentrate it in one spot on your canvas of words. Remember that your setting, like the colors of a painting, will help to create the mood and/or theme of your piece. If you've read Thornton Wilder's Our Town, you'll know that it does provide "a picture of life in a New Hampshire village." But that setting is only a backdrop for what Wilder really wanted to accomplish -- "to find a value above all price for the smallest events in our daily life."
~ Maureen Ryan Griffin
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
"Mexico." So what's in a place name? To explore this, take the word "Mexico." Set a timer for five minutes and write down every single word and phrase that comes to mind -- think sights, smells, sounds,
tastes, objects... And note that you can do that even if you have never been. PROMPT: Now that you have some sensory impressions, set a timer again, this time for ten minutes. (If you want to write about a place other than Mexico, go right ahead. Just do the exercise above for your chosen location first.) Begin writing a piece of fiction, nonfiction, or an essay, article, or a
poem centered in Mexico (or your place of choice.) Weave in as many details from your list as you like.
If you want to keep writing after the timer applauds you for your efforts, go right ahead! As Stephen King says, "The scariest moment is always just before you start." If you don't stop, you won't have to have that scary moment before you start again ;).
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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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