Volume V, Issue 8 February 22, 2016 Dear ,
So often, our thoughts, intentions, and pathways to where we'd like to go feel murky or obstructed—the opposite of clear.
Stepping away can bring us the clarity we're longing for, whether it's for a good hour with your journal, a brisk walk, or a writing retreat.
I'm so grateful that the six wonderful women pictured here in front of the Sunset Inn with me chose the Healing Power of Words Writing
Retreat this past weekend! It was a fabulous mix of joy and tears, insight and inspiration, and a whole lot of getting clear!
Their stories may be showing up in a future zine. Meanwhile, I am very honored to share WordPlayer Alice Carnes with you. Alice's courage, kindness, and
authenticity are a great gift to me, and I hope you enjoy reading about her "clear" discovery. I hope you'll check out the writing by Rachel Naomi Remen that inspired it, too, as well as try your hand at this week's writing prompt—all in the name of clarity, of course! Love and Light, Maureen Upcoming WordPlay
SPRING WRITING RETREAT
(Writing as Renewal / Creating New Writing /
Tools for a Writing Life)
Renew and delight yourself. The Spring Writing Retreat is an opportunity to create new pieces of writing and/or new possibilities for our lives. Enjoy various seasonal prompts; they 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, April 2nd, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
COST: $97 (includes lunch and supplies)
TO REGISTER: To register securely online with your credit card, click here. To pay with a check via mail, email info@wordplaynow.com for instructions.
More WordPlay opportunities here. WordPlay Success Story "As I came and went and came again, Maureen welcomed me back
with a loving heart as she continued to nurture and support
my writing endeavors."
Meet Alice Carnes
Alice Carnes retired from counseling students with disabilities at Central Piedmont Community College in 2013. She enjoys circle dancing, yoga, bicycling, traveling, writing, and cooking. For the past two
years Alice’s writing project is a fictionalized turn-of-the-century memoir about her Vaudevillian grandparents—the comedy team of McMahon and Chappelle.
What Alice says about WordPlay
I’ve known Maureen Ryan Griffin for over two decades, meeting her first through an awesome Artist’s Way class at Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) in 1993 or 1994. Over the years, I’ve enjoyed a variety of Maureen’s offerings: classes, workshops during CPCC’s Literary Festival (now Sensoria), and both one-day and weekend retreats. As I came and went and came again, Maureen welcomed me back with a loving heart as she continued
to nurture and support my writing endeavors. When I retired, I made a focused commitment to take Maureen’s Under Construction Writing class. Writing for me continues to be a spiritual experience, and lucky for me to have found Maureen, who continues to create a safe and creative writing sanctuary.
Featured Writing
Choosing My Word of the Year
by
Alice Carnes
It always amazes me where and how I find my answers. There is a practice, developed by Christine Kane, of choosing a word of the year and then living
and embracing the meaning of the chosen word. This year trying to select the right word became elusive.
My new year began with aggravation, since all of my stuff was spilling out of bookshelves, drawers, cabinets and closets. So, I read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo. Following Kondo’s advice, I’ve made unbelievable
advances in clearing and discarding the non-joyful from my life. Also, I’m trying to clear out old thought patterns and habits that are no longer useful in my life and don’t lift my spirit.
For my word of the year, I was trying to decide between tidy and tidying. Actually I liked what these words meant—clarity, focus, and an unobstructed view—more than the actual
words. The word of the year is supposed to resonate. Finally, I decided on the word clearing, because that was what I was doing while tidying.
Today in my study, while still tidying, there were several folders stuffed with an assortment of papers that I had not looked at for a long time. Instead of just discarding them, I gave myself permission to peruse the contents. Well, you know,
just in case. I was glad I did.
Nestled in one of the folders was a star of wonder holiday card from my writing teacher, Maureen Ryan Griffin from 2008, the same year Lee and I married and I took Maureen’s Artist’s Way class. Opposite Maureen’s wonder-filled message is a poignant writing gem called "Getting Clear" by Rachel Naomi Remen from her book My Grandfather’s Blessings: Stories of Strength, Refuge and Belonging. Someone Rachel loved gifted her with an antique silver bracelet engraved with the word clear.
My skin tingled and my eyes moistened. Before reading the
rest of the story, I knew that my word for this year is clear. In Rachel’s story she wondered why the bracelet she received was engraved with the word clear and not her name. Her companion told her to look up the word, but only in a very large dictionary. So Rachel did and here’s some of what she found: Free from obstruction; free from guilt; free from blame; free from confusion; free from entanglement; free from limitation; free from debt, free from impurities; free from doubt;
free from uncertainty; free from ambiguity; and so on.
I looked up clear in Merriam Webster’s on-line dictionary and found: a clear conscience, a clear victory, and a clear passage, followed by a clear gaze, which is untroubled and serene. And best of all: easily understood, i.e. She's a clear writer. She writes clearly. My profound hope and
wish.
Rachel’s story ends with these words: Sometimes it takes a lifetime to become clear. No matter. It may be the most worthwhile way to spend the time. Amen to that!
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 "clear."
PROMPT:
Make a list of times in your (or a character's) life when you were very clear about what you wanted/what choice you would make/what path you would take.
Then make
another list of times when you were very unclear about what you wanted/what choice you would make/what path you would take.
What insights and ideas can you glean from comparing your lists? After reflection, write about you or your character "getting clear" about something or someone.
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! |
|
|
|
