Volume IIII, Issue 8
February 23, 2015
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Dear ,
I hope you had a great weekend. Can you tell from my goofy smile how good mine was? The Coastal Writing Retreat participants I got to be with for the weekend were a joy to write with -- and to walk with. Usually, I just post a picture of the whole group of us, but in honor of our "word of the week" I'm posting this "selfie" taken by WordPlayer Ann
Campanella too. (That's Sunset Pier in the background.) Ann loves walking on the beach in all kinds of weather as much as I do, which is saying something, and all of us enjoyed at least one good walk. (Shh, don't tell, but a few WordPlayers, whose names are being withheld to protect the guilty, were actually skipping on the beach at one point.)
(If the thought of writing and walking -- or even skipping -- on the beach sounds good to you, there's another WordPlay Coastal Retreat this weekend, "The Healing Power of Words." Details here.)
This week's word, "walk," however, was
actually inspired, not by walking on the beach, rather by WordPlayer Kim Love Stump's poem about her once-toddler-size-little girl who chose walking over being carried. You'll meet Kim below. Her smiling face has graced many WordPlay
events. Kim's daughter knew even as a small child that walking just feels good. It's also, as we all know, so good for us. For our bodies, of course, but also for our writing. First of all, as I asserted at this past weekend's retreat, "Your body" is the answer to the question, "What is your primary writing instrument?" After all, how could you possibly write without it,
the mind-body-spirit connection being what it is? Also, walking just may be the quickest way to find inspiration for your writing, whether it's an idea about what to write about, a perfect sentence or phrase for your latest story, an
apt metaphor for that poem you've been playing with, the inviting novel title you thought you'd never find, the solution to that thorny pacing or plot problem that's been aggravating you....the list goes on.
I don't know why walking works so well for writers, but we don't have to know why, right? As long as we know enough to put on our sneakers and get moving, lull our brains into that sweet spot through setting one foot in front of the other -- we can reap the rewards.
Love and light, Maureen Upcoming WordPlay
THE HEALING POWER OF WORDS (Writing As a Healing Process) Only two spaces left! What benefits can writing provide –physically, mentally, spiritually? Are some ways of writing more healing than others? And can we create quality literary work as we heal? In this retreat that incorporates recent discoveries in the field of mind-body-spirit connection and Dr. James Pennebaker’s ground-breaking ideas on writing as a way to move through loss and grief, you’ll learn methods of writing that
help navigate loss and grief on your life path of growth and wholeness. You will choose your ideal balance between community time and solitude as you use writing as a transformational tool in any way that best serves you. And, if you’re looking, you’ll find the genesis of new poetry, creative non-fiction, and/or fiction. Note: Tears honored. Laughter likely. Inspiration guaranteed. WHERE: The Sunset Inn, 9 North Shore Dr., Sunset Beach, NC 28468
WHEN: Friday, February 27 – Sunday, March 1, 2015 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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, March 28th, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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
"Maureen’s guidance is bringing my dream of being a writer to life—one assignment, one class, one submission at a time."
Meet Kim Love
Stump
Kim Stump has loved to read and write ever since she can remember. Whether it was the story she wrote in third grade, I am a Date, or the memory of curling up in her swinging chair reading
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, fiction in all its forms has always been the fastest way for her to transport herself somewhere else.
While fiction is her first writing love, she has written everything from equity recommendations for a bank trust department to bible studies. She particularly cherishes the time she spent researching, teaching and writing about the stained glass windows
of Myers Park Presbyterian Church, featured in the book To the Glory of God. She is also a frequent journaler and occasional memoirist.
Whether it is a snippet of real life or one of the intricate lands readers visit in her upcoming novel A Clearing in the Forest, Kim loves world building through words. The real-life world she has built in Charlotte, North Carolina, she happily
shares with her husband of 32 years and whichever family or friends are there to share a dose of love and joy.
What Kim says about WordPlay
"Providence. Serendipity. Synchronicity. Whatever you prefer
to call it, I experienced it when I signed up for "The Healing Power of Words" with Maureen Ryan Griffin in 2010. I chose the class, not because of the subject matter, but in spite of it. I wanted to take a writing class and the time worked best for my schedule, that was all. At least that’s what I told myself.
In reality, I was carrying a constant weight of sadness from my mother’s death
two years earlier. Through the course and Maureen’s tutelage, I experienced writing that healed my heart. The course was structured around writing about our personal pain or loss, but not just about that. Maureen encouraged me, and all of us in the class, to write about a variety of subjects and to try all kinds of writing: prose and poetry, lists and letters. By the end of the short course I felt as if the vise that had a perpetual grip on my heart had been unwound. I could breathe
again.
Since that first class, I have participated in eight WordPlay "Under Construction" sessions. This has provided me with inspiration and encouragement, as well as laugh-out-loud fun and joy. It has also been very productive. I have completed a young adult fantasy novel, A Clearing in the Forest, that I have wanted to write for over a decade. Maureen’s guidance is bringing my dream
of being a writer to life—one assignment, one class, one submission at a time." Featured Writing
Prefer
by
Kim Love Stump
Creaky knees lift potentially unsteady feet
over crunchy leaves scattered thick on the gravel
while loose-skinned arms and rough hands
protectively wrap around his back
to hold his granddaughter
securely in place for the ride back to the house. Blonde threads of her silky hair
brush his cheek as she
babbles on about her little brother, the baby birds
they'd checked on that morning, her mommy, her new
blue dress, the Popsicle Nana will have ready for her
once they reach the house.
He is winded and within
ten yards of the door
when she says,
Dahdah, you may put me down now.
Sometimes
I prefer to walk.
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 "walk." PROMPT: Take your writing out for a good, long walk. (I often actually carry a poem, short essay, or excerpt of a project I'm working on in my pocket, and I always carry a small notepad and pen, or my phone with its handy memo feature.) Let your mind mull over any and all aspects of your piece -- from title to rhythm, word choice to plot point. Don't force it, just hold your piece gently in mind as you take in the sights around you. Jot down
any ideas you get along the way.
ALTERNATE PROMPT: Write about walking. Where have you or has any character, real or imaginary, walked? You may write an entire piece about walking, or just a line or sentence or two, as I did in one of my poems when I spoke of the "red-kneed walks" I took to school in
the winter in Erie, Pa (that gap of leg between my Catholic school uniform and my knee socks got cold, cold, cold in that "lake effect" weather).
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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! |
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