Volume V, Issue 18 May 2, 2016 Word of the Week: dissatisfaction Dear ,
What inspired me to use this particular word this week is the featured writing
below, a selection from an inspiring article by Maria Popova that quotes from Agnes De Mille's book Martha: The Life and Work of Martha Graham- A Biography. Martha Graham's words about the "divine dissatisfaction" that all artists of all kinds experience resonated with me. My gratitude to WordPlayer Savannah Stoner for
sharing this with our Thursday evening Under Construction class so that I could share it with you. (You can check out one of Savannah’s beautiful essays here on the WordPlay website.
I thought about this "divine dissatisfaction" yesterday while my sweetie Richard and I were strolling through Concord, NC's Memorial
Gardens.
This is an absolutely lovely garden, with beauty at every turn, and Richard and I exclaimed to each other several times about the labor that must be put in to keep it so impeccably maintained. And then, around
a corner, a saw a woman bending to pick up a small branchlet that had fallen on the path.
"Ah," I said to her, "you're the one who keeps this garden so beautiful!"
She smiled with pleasure and told us that she was one of two full-time gardeners, and that another one came in on the weekends to lay down pine straw and other such tasks to give them time to do other tasks. "You just missed the tulips," she said. "There were 1,400 of them blooming."
"I saw them," I said. "Made me sad to see those empty stems."
"Come back in July," she said. "It's a whole new blooming season."
I didn't point out the small leaf on her cheek that added so to her charm, only thanked her and told her I would be back, with my journal next time, to sit by a fountain and write for a while.
Then off she went to do more work, clearly filled
to the brim with the divine dissatisfaction that kept her so busy keeping this "best-kept secret in Concord" the haven it is.
What could you allow your own dissatisfaction to propel you to write and polish and
share?
Love and light (and a proper dose of divine dissatisfaction), Maureen Upcoming WordPlay
"WRITING OURSELVES WHOLE"
Writing Workshop
Come and explore the benefits writing can provide—physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. In this workshop, you will learn and practice simple yet profound ways to use words to heal, to transform, and to grow, as well as to reflect on the way God is working in your life. These methods can also be used to create stories, poems, and/or essays. Whatever form
your writing takes, you will leave this retreat with a new set of skills for writing and growing. Our time together will be ideal for beginners as well as for seasoned writers as we explore the renewal and deepening of our relationship with God, self, others, and the world.
WHERE: Olmsted Manor Retreat Center. 17 E. Main Street, Ludlow, PA 16333.
WHEN: Saturday evening, May 14 until Monday afternoon, May 16, 2016
COST: $252 (includes tuition, room and board)
TO REGISTER: To register online, please visit the Olmsted Manor
Retreat Center website here.
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POETRY ROCKS!
(Learning the Ins and Outs of Poetry; Strengthening Your Writing Skills; Adding a New Layer of Literary Beauty to Your Life)
You’ll receive a daily “Poetry Creation Tool” in written and audio form (23 in all!) beginning on the day you register, AND, at the end of the program, an e-book
that contains all your Poetry Rocks tools and resources.
Would you like your writing—prose and/or poetry—to be more graceful, powerful, beautiful? Do you sometimes find poetry confusing or intimidating and wish you could “crack the code”? Or do you enjoy writing and reading poems, but want a more thorough understanding of what makes a poem good? Then this poetry extravaganza is
for you.
Expect a good time exploring what makes a poem a poem, gaining the knowledge you need to confidently create and revise poetry, and strengthening your writing skills in all genres.
It would be a joy and an honor to share what rocks about poetry with you!
HERE’S WHAT YOU GET: - 23 poetry creation tools, delivered one per day (Monday through Friday) to your inbox—in honor of National Poetry month. Use them as you get them, use them when you can, use them over and over to create poems. Each tool zeroes in on one aspect of poetry and provides an innovative method
to approach writing a poem. Many of them are great for creating prose, too. The tools include:
* a purpose, so you’re clear what you will learn
* background information when helpful
* “how-to” directions to create a poem
* an example that illustrates the poetry tool in action
* a short reflection to solidify the concepts
covered
* “Hone Your Craft” suggestions for further exploration
* a short reflection to solidify the concepts covered - A
PDF document of each tool that you can print or save on your computer
- An audio recording of each tool, so you can learn by listening and/or reading
- Instruction on the role of audience, reading like a writer, and the process of revision, including a handy
Revision Checkpoint Chart — this information can be applied to strengthen your prose as well as poetry
- Additional poetry resources
- An e-book that contains the information and resources covered, as well as your 23 poetry creation tools for ongoing
use
WHERE: From the comfort of your own home WHEN: Any time you want! And once you receive all 23 tools, they’re yours to keep, which means that you can keep using them for years to come. COST: $45
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WRITE LIKE A GENIUS
(Expanding Our Creativity; Learning New Tools for Our Writing and Our Lives; Creating New Writing)
Discover your own genius as you learn to apply seven fascinating approaches of Leonardo da Vinci to your writing. These techniques enliven non-fiction, poetry and fiction.
Expect fun, inspiration and writing galore in your preferred genre, with opportunities to share your work.
$630 for one week-long session (lodging and meals are additional – options can be found on the Folk School website) WHERE: John Campbell Folk School, 1 Folk School Road, Brasstown, NC 28902
WHEN: Sunday, August 7 – Saturday August 13, 2016.
TO REGISTER: To register, please click this John Campbell Folk School link to register
directly from them.
More WordPlay opportunities here. Photos courtesy of http://yearofwomen.tumblr.com and http://www.agnesdemilledances.com Featured Writing In 1943, De Mille was hired to choreograph
the musical Oklahoma!, which became an overnight sensation and ran for a record-setting 2,212 performances. Feeling that critics and the public had long ignored work into which she had poured her heart and soul, De Mille found herself dispirited by the sense that something she considered "only fairly good" was suddenly hailed as a "flamboyant success." Shortly after the premiere, she met Graham "in a Schrafft's restaurant over a soda" for a conversation that put
into perspective her gnawing grievance and offered what De Mille considered the greatest thing ever said to her. She recounts the exchange:
I confessed that I had a burning desire to be excellent, but no faith that I could be.
Martha said to me, very quietly: "There is a vitality, a
life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.
You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work.
You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. As for you, Agnes, you have so far used about one-third of your talent."
"But," I said, "when I see my work I take for
granted what other people value in it. I see only its ineptitude, inorganic flaws, and crudities. I am not pleased or satisfied."
"No artist is pleased."
"But then there is no satisfaction?"
"No satisfaction whatever at any time," she cried out passionately. "There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others."
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 "dissatisfaction."
PROMPT: Write about any kind of action, situation, or creation that you (or one of your characters) has been dissatisfied with, and what has (or could be gained) through this
dissatisfaction. 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 three collections of poetry, Ten Thousand Cicadas Can't Be Wrong, This Scatter of Blossoms and When the Leaves Are in the Water. One of her long-held dreams came true in July of 2015 when Garrison Keillor read one of her poems on The Writer's Almanac. 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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