Volume III, Issue 36 October 6, 2014
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Word of the Week: centerboard
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Today is my
husband's sixty-first birthday, and he is the foremost "centerboard to my spinnaker." (I often turn to sailing metaphors, thanks to my father, who was in the Coast Guard and took me out in his boat many times.) But you, , are a centerboard for me, too. Knowing you're there sharing this journey of being a writer steadies me, keeps me from drifting, provides stability. And the spinnaker? Well, that's a sail at the front of a boat specially designed to balloon out when filled with wind. The term for when a spinnaker in use is flying. Fun, huh? But not if the boat tips over.
What about you? Are you more like me, a flyer who takes off in the wind, sometimes without adequate planning? Or are you more like my husband, a stabilizing centerboard?
In today's prompt, you can play with metaphors like these. And you can read the tongue-in-cheek love poem I wrote to my husband seven years ago. (How
these years fly! You'd think they had a spinnaker filled with wind pulling them along.) I found the poem in a file as I was gathering poems for my new book, and decided that, with a bit of tinkering, it would be a nice addition to the collection, which I sent in to the publisher just a little bit ago. Hurray! There is nothing like a deadline -- which is not completely unlike a centerboard, now that I think of it. I'll be sending ordering details soon, if you'd like to get a
copy.
Meanwhile, I hope you have a great time playing with metaphor. After all, Aristotle said that to be a master of metaphor was a sign of true genius. Think of all the brain cells you'll be stimulating!
Upcoming
WordPlay
FALL WRITING RETREAT - less than a week away!! Three spots left!!
(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: Register online here. Or email info@wordplaynow.com or phone 704-494-9961 to see if there's a spot for you.
-------------------------------------------------------------- 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. Featured Writing Love Poem to Richard on His Fifty-fourth Birthday from the upcoming book
Ten Thousand Cicadas Can't Be Wrong Happy fifty-fourth, honey, but that's not
the number I'm counting, which is 23, which means only 26 plus the odd half year or so until
we reach the 50th wedding anniversary you promised me- a promise I extracted the night we got engaged. A promise
underwritten
with a forgiveness clause, as practical as you take pride in being, in case God
(or the Universe) has other plans. Who could have imagined halfway would loom
so soon, our children
grown and gone before I could turn around
to wave goodbye? Who could have imagined we'd find so much to argue about, so many ways
to annoy each other -- that certain set of your jaw, the sarcasm
that drips from
your yes, dear, the way you refuse to give me my due when I'm right and you're
wrong, as is so often the case. (My transgressions shall go
unlisted, since this is, after all, my
birthday gift to you.) Darling, I love being the gosling to your pack mule,
the daylily to your sturdy oak. You are the locomotive
to my club car, the centerboard to my spinnaker, the one I can rely on
to call a spade a spade -- never anything more or less, and though
I could, as you know all too well, go on and on, because these words
are for you I will not, except to say thank you for delivering on so many
promises, spoken and unspoken, for waking before me
so many mornings to faithfully
walk the dog you didn't want, for cooking all those giant pots of homemade
spaghetti sauce that fed us all for days, for holding me close
against the coming dark.
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
"centerboard." After you've read my poem, check out another tongue-in-cheek love poem by the very funny Billy Collins, "Litany."
PROMPT: Now it's your turn to play with these kinds of comparisons. Use yourself and one other person you're close to -- a partner, a family member, a friend. Or use any two people, real or imaginary. This exercise can help you discover new
facets of your character. In fact, I first found a version of this exercise in a Young Adult novel by Bruce Brooks and Joel P. Johnson.
Step 1: Fill out this chart, using whichever two people you choose. For each category, put down the first
object that comes to mind. (note that in the category "transportation," I didn't use two different forms of transportation, but instead two "parts" of one kind of transportation. Any association works. Leave any of them blank if an idea doesn't come, or just write anything at all and see what ideas may grow. If you/a loved one were a... Category: My husband: Me: Animal (ex) pack horse (ex) gosling
Mode of Transportation (ex) locomotive (ex) club car Natural Object (ex) granite (ex) sand dollar
Body of water
(ex) lake (ex) waterfall Musical Instrument (ex) cello (ex) clarinet Household Appliance (ex) extension
cord (ex) refrigerator
Tool (ex) hammer (ex) paper clip Sport/Game
(ex) football (ex) Scrabble Step 2: Look over your chart. You'll probably have some items that are predictable, even cliched, like my "football" and "Scrabble." But if you're lucky, you'll have at least one or two that you find interesting. Try
weaving a comparison (or several) into a piece of writing. You can do anything from writing a love poem (or letter) to a loved one to inserting a phrase containing one of your items into a scene in a novel. Step 3: Now that you've expanded your "genius," be on the lookout for how other writers use metaphor. Gather interesting comparisons in a notebook or a file on your computer.
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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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