Volume V, Issue 30 July 25, 2016 Word of the Week: mountains Dear ,
Oh, my gosh, this picture with its mountain background taken at the John Campbell Folk School back in 2013 when I first met the fabulous Lyn Hopper (that's her to my left, sporting her name tag) sure makes me smile! What a great time I had with these dear people!
I'm thinking about mountains—and Lyn—today for two reasons:
First, because I'll be at the John Campbell Folk School to teach "Write Like a Genius" in less than two weeks (I'd love for you to join me! Details below),
and second, because Lyn's beautiful book of poetry, The Hum in Every Blossom, just came out and I'm featuring it (and Lyn) this week. Lyn lives in the mountains,
and they are a steady source of inspiration, as they are for so many people. I hope you enjoy her "White Pine Cabin" poem as much as I do, especially the last three lines.
Wishing you the peace and inspiration mountains bring, no matter where you are! Upcoming WordPlay (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.
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SUMMER WRITING RETREAT
(Writing as Renewal / Creating New Writing / Tools for a Writing Life)
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 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, August 6th, 10:00 a.m. to
5:00 p.m. TO REGISTER: To pay with a check via mail, email info@wordplaynow.com for instructions. To pay online, please click this link to check out using PayPal.
More WordPlay opportunities here. WordPlay Success Story
"Maureen helped me understand how to achieve a pleasing flow
from one poem to the next in a book of poetry,
and I know my book is better because of her help."
Meet Lyn
Hopper Lyn Hopper lives in the mountains near Dahlonega, Georgia, with her husband of 40 years and a cat with serious attitude. She has just
published her first poetry chapbook. Her poems have been published previously in Summerfield Journal, Georgia Journal, Habersham Review, Poetry of the Golden Generation, The Reach of Song, The Stonepile Writers’ Anthology, and other works. She is an active member of the Georgia Poetry Society and two writing groups.
What Lyn says about WordPlay
Nearly three years ago I had my first encounter with Maureen Ryan Griffin at the John C. Campbell Folk School. After a week-long class with her, I was thrilled to be selected for a profile in her Word-zine, and I wrote the following as part
of my Writing Success Story.
All that is necessary to break the spell of inertia and frustration is this: Act as if it were impossible to fail. ~Dorothea Brande
“Everything you do is perfect,” insisted Maureen Ryan Griffin, my writing teacher at John C. Campbell Folk School last September. And isn’t that true for all of us? We are perfect just as we are, and we must strive to be better. Holding these two thoughts simultaneously has always been difficult for me. But I’m getting there! And the writing
workshop moved me closer. What a warm circle writers create when they work together under the right conditions. And Maureen created just the right atmosphere. (from a post September 24, 2013 in the blog “Only Moment: Mindfulness in Everyday Life” at http://quotesqueen.wordpress.com)
Since that time, I have taken more of Maureen’s workshops, returned to the Folk School to serve as her assistant for the writing class, and taken advantage of her expert guidance in putting together my first chapbook. Maureen helped me understand how to achieve a pleasing flow from one poem to the next in a book of poetry, and I know my book is
better because of her help. I will forever be indebted to her for pulling some words from a poem in the manuscript and declaring, “This could be your title!” My working title, Sun and Shadow, became The Hum in Every Blossom: a magical transformation, and much more interesting and reflective of the tone of the book.
Find Lyn's book, The Hum in Every Blossom, on Amazon here.
Featured Writing White Pine Cabin by Lyn Hopper
The wind is never far away from this mountain cabin. A breeze is sometimes just
around the bend even when the pines are stone-still. In these days, a hammock hung between before and after, I sing to the mountain laurel growing in thickets on the knoll. I gather pine cones, memories, resolutions for the life ahead. I unfold my failures like old clothes, hug them to me, then let go, watch them sail away on the wind. 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 "mountains."
PROMPT:
Write about a mountain experience of your own, or of one of your character's.
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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