Volume V, Issue 42 October 17, 2016 Dear ,
If you've been to my website, you may have noticed Kim Love Stump's photo and words about WordPlay. I can't tell you how much I enjoy this woman, and how proud I am of having been a part of her new young adult fantasy novel, A Clearing in the Forest ~
Journeys from Ayrden. It's a delight to share Kim and her book with you this week! And it was also a delight to find this photo of a path on Pixabay (free images for all uses, yay!) that matches exactly the scene in my head when I first read the excerpt of Kim's book featured below.
Princess Adriana, the main character of A Clearing in the Forest, has trouble finding (spoiler alert: and later, choosing) her path. That can happen to all of us, both in our writing and in our life. But Princess Adriana has been given some wonderful guidance (see excerpt below), and she has courage in abundance. So does Kim—watching her take on completing, publishing, and marketing her book has been nothing short of inspiring! If
your writing path includes letting people know you have a book to sell (now or someday), and you want a role model, check out her Twitter feed: scroll back (waaaay back, Kim did the smart thing and started early). And no worries if you don't even know what Twitter is, all you have to do is follow Kim's path backwards...
Wishing you every success and much joy on your own path! Love and light, Maureen P.S. If you've been
wanting to write at the beach, one of our retreat regulars has had to bow out of the Coastal Writing Retreat November 11th through 13th. While this makes me very sad, it does allow me to offer you a spot. You can come with a friend if you like. There are currently two spots left. Details below and here. Call the Sunset Inn now to reserve if you'd like to come. Upcoming WordPlay
COASTAL WRITING RETREAT (Writing—and more—as Renewal and
Inspiration)
2 spots left!
Morgan and I are so grateful that our friends at the Sunset Inn survived Hurricane Matthew with minor damage and are up and running! We offer our
sympathy and best wishes to all who were impacted.
Renew yourself and reconnect with your own creativity, whether you are a practicing writer, closet writer, or as-yet-to-pick-up-the-pen writer! The techniques and prompts we’ll use will spur your imagination, and can be used to create
nonfiction, fiction, and/or poetry—the choice is yours. $418 for the weekend. The Coastal Writing Retreat includes writing sessions, two nights’ lodging, two breakfasts and Saturday lunch (hotel tax and Saturday dinner at a local restaurant not included). Additionally, for those who might like to stay another day to work on their writing, or to just enjoy the beach, the Inn is offering to Coastal Writing Retreat participants only, the opportunity to stay Sunday night, November 13th, at half
price.
WHERE: The Sunset Inn, 9 North Shore Dr., Sunset Beach, NC 28468
WHEN: Friday, November 11 – Sunday, November 13, 2016* TO REGISTER: Contact the Sunset Inn at 888-575-1001 (if you would like to handpick your
room, view your choices here first, then call). Because the Inn is holding rooms for you, our participants, they are blocked off as unavailable online. Register soon by phone — this is a popular event and there is only 1 space available.
*Also, please let the Inn know when you call if you are interested in the bonus opportunity to stay Sunday night, November 13th, at half price.
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WINTER WRITING RETREAT
(Writing as Renewal/Creating New Writing/
Tools for a Writing Life)
Renew and delight yourself. The Winter Writing Retreat is an opportunity to create new pieces of writing and/or 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, December 17th, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. TO REGISTER: To pay with a check via mail, email info@wordplaynow.com for instructions. Click here to pay online, using PayPal.
More WordPlay opportunities here.
WordPlay Success Story
"...my dream of being an author came into full-fledged reality because of the wonderful Maureen Ryan
Griffin."
Meet Kim Love Stump Kim Love Stump has loved to read and write ever since she can remember. While fiction is her first writing love, she has written everything from equity recommendations for a bank trust department to Bible studies. She’s
also a frequent writer of memoir. Whether a snippet of real life or an intricate fantasyland, Kim loves world building through words. The real-life world she has built in Charlotte, North Carolina, she happily shares with her husband of thirty plus years.
Her debut novel, A Clearing in the Forest
~ Journeys from Ayrden, begins as Princess Adriana leaves her beloved Kingdom of Ayrden on the Journey of her sixteenth year. Adriana will risk her life and her heart on this journey that neither she, nor any reader, will ever forget! Kim's essay, Sounds of Love and Life, will be published later this fall in the anthology Here in the Middle. She is currently working on her second book in the Journeys from Ayrden series and on a shorter, contemporary novel for
younger readers.
You can read about Kim and her writing at her website:
You can also connect with Kim via:
What Kim says about WordPlay
"As far back in my childhood as I can remember I wanted to own a horse and I wanted to be an author. A wonderful horse trainer named Claude Shiflet helped make the first of those wishes come true in 1972. It was like magic. One moment all I had were wishes and a four leaf clover for luck, then came Squire and Truly and Matt and Bandit among others.
In much the same way—but many years later—my dream of being an author came into full-fledged reality because of the wonderful Maureen Ryan Griffin. For a long time, all I had was an idea, then it became written snippets of a story, then finally, over many months, an actual manuscript. But even at that point my dream to be a published author might have died, if it weren’t for the incredibly encouraging environment that Maureen creates week
after week in her Under Construction class. Each class taught me something that I was able to weave into the story to make it better and stronger. Every critique group brought something—better dialogue, more description, or simply the pleas of wanting more of the story. And while a year ago today that manuscript still languished in my computer, today it sits on bookstore shelves, adorns readers' bedside tables, and is “available for purchase wherever books are sold” as they say. Truly it’s like
magic. I’m not sure if Maureen is the magician or the magician’s assistant—but I do know this. It wouldn’t have happened without her!"
Featured
Writing
an excerpt from
A Clearing in the Forest: Journeys from Ayrden by Kim Love Stump Not at all sure how the path was supposed to open before her, Adriana cantered Sultan across the vast expanse of lawn. She scanned the woods for any entrance the entire time she rode towards them, but saw nothing. When she finally arrived at their edge, the castle was far in the distance behind
her.
She turned Sultan parallel to the forest’s edge and rode alongside it for several minutes, wondering what to do. There was no one to ask now, and over and over she’d merely been assured that the way would open before her.
But there was no path. Her eyes swept the
towering trees and the dense underbrush at the edge of what seemed an impenetrable forest and she rode. On and on she rode.
Finally she stopped and rode a distance away from the forest before turning Sultan to directly face it. She sat comfortably, but looked with confusion at her first apparent task of the Journey.
How was she to get the path to open before her? What had she been taught? What lessons had she learned that might apply to this situation? She bit her lip nervously and once again surveyed the line of the forest where it met the cleanly groomed grass of the castle lawn.
“Father said I’ll not make my best decisions if I’m worried,” she muttered under her breath. “Well,
I am worried. What if my Journey never begins?” She blew her breath out through pursed lips.
"Today’s outcome need not be the same as the days' that have gone before," Emaht had said. Surely she wasn’t to do this day after day, she thought with frustration.
And at just that moment a
fragment of her mother’s teaching came to her.
Your belief makes a way.
That might apply. But I did believe it would be here waiting for me, she thought, and there is no path. However, she realized, that wasn’t precisely what she’d been told. The oft-repeated phrase
was actually, “The way will open before you.” If I believed that, what would I do? Adriana asked herself.
The answer was suddenly obvious to her and, summoning all the courage she possessed, she urged Sultan to a full gallop straight towards the thick forest. They drew closer and closer and still there was no opening, yet she kept riding. Wasn’t that the point? My belief will make a
way, my belief will make a way, she chanted to herself in time to Sultan’s hooves. And just before she absolutely had to make a decision to stop or turn, the way opened.
They were in! Sultan’s stride lengthened and, like a boat plowing through the water, the woods simply gave way and parted in front of them. Adriana rode like this for some distance before glancing over her shoulder to
see that just behind them the woods returned to their place, erasing the path on which they were riding.
Amazing.
Could she turn back, even if she wanted to? Fear rose in her throat. How long could they go on like this? Was this what the Journey was supposed to be
like? A Clearing in the Forest is available on Amazon, here.
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 "path."
PROMPT: What path would you (or one of your characters) like to forge? And/or what path are you (she/he) proud of following? Write about travel down any path toward something desired. 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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