Volume VI, Issue 1 January 2, 2017 Dear , When WordPlayer Nancy Currid read our Gift of Memoir class her essay on not getting something she desperately wanted, I knew immediately I wanted to share it with you—for so many reasons, not the least of which because I have always felt just the way she does about a
particular article of clothing. (How's that for a teaser?) Today, as we reflect on the past year and its gifts, joys, and sorrows, and look ahead to what we want for ourselves and our loved ones, seemed the perfect time.
I hope you got exactly what you wanted in 2016, whether it was wrapped in a box or gift bag or not. Here's a photo of my best Christmas gift, well, besides getting to be with so many members of my family—my son Dan and I playing Christmas carols for a family
sing-along.
It's the simple things, right?
But it wasn't really so simple,
with our large and at times complicated family. I've been wanting us to do this for many years, and finally, I got what I wanted. How sweet is that?
I hope your 2017 is full of getting what you want! And if one that includes more time and structure and support for your writing, check out two class
opportunities that start next week here or below...
Love and light,
Upcoming WordPlay
UNDER CONSTRUCTION:
TUESDAY EVENINGS
(Fulfilling Writing Dreams & Goals;
Creating New Writing; Revising & Polishing Your Writing)
This class is designed to fulfill your writing dreams and projects. You’ll set goals and support structures and watch your writing flow! You’ll also get feedback on your work (any genre) and learn revision tools and methods. Each week, writing prompts will generate material for new writing or further a piece in process, whatever your
preferred genre. Through examples of accomplished writers, you’ll learn techniques to aid you right where you are in the process.
WHERE: South Charlotte area. Details will be provided upon registration.
WHEN: Tuesday
evenings 7:00 to 9 p.m., starting in January, 2017.
January 10, 17 and 24
February 7 and 28
March 7, 21 and 28
April 4, 11 and 25
May 2 TO REGISTER: If you’re interested in attending, please email us at info@wordplaynow.com for more information.
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GIFT OF MEMOIR
(Preserving Family History/Writing for and about Your Family/The Art of Memoir) Our life stories are a precious legacy. Putting them in writing is a gift to all who know and love us—they can be treasured and enjoyed for generations to come. It is also a gift to ourselves. As best-selling author Rachel Naomi Remen says in her book Kitchen Table Wisdom, facts bring us to knowledge, but stories bring us to wisdom. If you are interested in
writing family and/or personal life stories—those significant tales of adventure, transition, love, loss, and triumph, as well as lovely everyday moments from times past or the present, come learn specific tools and techniques to retrieve and record them.
WHEN: Thursday mornings, 10:00 to noon, starting in January, 2017.
January 12 and 26
February 2 and 16
March 9 and 23
April 6 and 27
REGISTER: If you’re interested in attending, please email us at info@wordplaynow.com to be put on the waiting list.
More WordPlay opportunities here. WordPlay Success Story
"[Maureen's] strengths, coupled with her notable gift of encouragement, have provided me with the coaching and goal-setting I was looking for
in a way that inspires and galvanizes me."
Meet Nancy Currid
Nancy Currid spent her early growing-up years in western Pennsylvania, where at age nine she served as editor-in-chief of the Red Hot News (four issues currently extant). Following that venture, during
pre-email and nationwide-calling-plan days, she made a series of cross-country moves and honed her letter-writing skills via regular dispatches to far-flung friends. As an adult, Nancy spent over a decade working for an investment research firm and writing white papers for company management and clients. The greatest writing influences, however, were the born storytellers in her family, including a grandmother who in her late eighties published two children’s stories. Nancy is hopeful that
before she reaches her eighth decade, she likewise may have a few pieces for her own children, grandchildren, and friends to enjoy. What Nancy says about WordPlay “I had a mishmash of stories in my head and on paper. But I knew that if they were ever to be birthed, tidied up, and presented to outsiders, I needed instruction and guidance. I picked the brains of three local writers, each of whom suggested Maureen.
The Gift of Memoir class has been a delight and a challenge for me. I’m grateful for
both—the delight of hearing my classmates’ superbly crafted selections and watching Maureen coax the best out of us all and the challenge of tackling new-to-me writing exercises and genres.
One-on-one, Maureen has offered everything from specific editing suggestions (“That section doesn’t fit into the piece.”), to a paring-down blueprint (“Delete unnecessary parts—first by chunks, then by
sentences, and finally by individual words.”), to observations about my personality (“You like lists…”). These strengths, coupled with her notable gift of encouragement, have provided me with the coaching and goal-setting I was looking for in a way that inspires and galvanizes me.”
Featured Writing
"Something I Desperately
Wanted"
by
Nancy Currid
It wasn’t so much a thing I wanted as it was a privilege or perhaps a right. I could boil down my grievance to the short-sleeved,
yellow print dress, with gathered waist and red ricrac trim, the white anklets, and two-tone saddle shoes. Meanwhile, my brother Mike, off to the same locale, Central School, wore a plaid shirt and the pivotal item in my mind, a pair of rolled-up-at-the-ankle blue jeans. How he could enjoy the luxury of pants—and more than that, a pair of Levi's—was beyond me. Even at age six I knew a dirty deal when I saw it.
Dresses were bothersome in every way imaginable. The bodice at the top—snug and confining—cramped my football-passing abilities during school recess games and from time to time left me with armpit tears. And the scratchy tulle beneath the skirt induced squirming—legs stretched out, then crossed at the ankles; slumped in my chair, then seated bolt upright; weight shifting from right cheek to left. Plus, I was short, which meant the affront of alterations: try on that
wretched dress, stand immobile—like a dog on point—while Mom hemmed the skirt, and worse yet, model the finished product to my dad and grandparents.
However much I chafed at dresses, skirts, in general, were worse. They had three distinct disadvantages to dresses. First, a skirt required a top, which necessitated more shopping, and another clothing item to contend with. My mother, as though it
was a pleasurable pastime akin to her weekly bridge, scanned clothing racks for tops that coordinated with several bottoms, thereby exponentially increasing the sum total of outfits. She called it “mixing and matching.” I loathed the ambiguity of mixing and matching; at least dresses came as is and imposed no existential fashion decision.
Another drawback was the skirt’s waist, which had a
personality of its own. Some days it was accommodating—fitting comfortably around my middle and staying put. But more often than not, it vacillated between tortuously constricting and overly relaxed, the latter inviting the zipper to meander from back to front or side to side and my blouse to dislodge and fly unfettered.
Finally, skirts were mysterious. That zipper that roamed around my
waist—where, in fact, was its intended location? Was it a side (always on the left and not the right, another puzzlement) or a back zipper? The key lay with things like darts and seams, enigmatic entities unto themselves. Just putting the thing on, with the front facing the front, required an apprenticeship in dressmaking.
Although times have changed and standards relaxed—why, nowadays sassy
fashionistas champion pants to the prom—I still eye men’s britches with envy. My husband’s wardrobe is simple, his pant selection straightforward: suit pants, dress pants, khakis, and jeans—all fitting and zipping the same way, each coordinating with the same set of button-down shirts.
Meanwhile, I am left to mix and match a vast array of dresses, skirts, and yes, now pants, along with blouses
and sweaters and jackets and scarfs; not to mention hosiery, belts, shoes, and jewelry. And each capricious clothing category presents incalculable variables, endless choices, and conformity to unknowable fashion decrees, none of which my husband must confront.
More than fifty years later, I still know a dirty deal when I see it. 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 "want."
PROMPT: Write about something you (or one of your characters) desperately wanted—whether that desire was fulfilled or not. You may want to make a list of "wanted things" and/or look through photos of holiday gift-giving
celebrations for inspiration. 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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