Dear ,
Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you have a wonderful weekend with someone(s) you love.
I'm writing to let you know that two WordPlay Writing Retreats are coming up very soon -- next weekend (February 20 -22) and the weekend after that (February 27 - March 1) and you are warmly invited to attend.
Sunset Beach is famous for its sunsets, but as you can see from the photo above, it has amazing sunrises, too. Each one seems more beautiful than the last -- I can't resist snapping photo after photo when I'm there on retreat. This one, taken on a day I was sure I
wouldn't set eyes on the sun because the clouds were so thick, reminds me that wonderful surprises happen if I'm willing to just show up -- for my writing, as well as for sunrises. Which makes me think of a quote by Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen), author of Out of Africa: “Write a little every day, without hope, without despair.”
If it's been too long since you've written at least a little (with or without hope), if you've lost touch with your love of writing and/or are yearning for some renewal time, one of these retreats will give you back to yourself.
There are three spots left in each retreat as of now (only eight writers can attend) -- is one of them yours?
It would be a joy to have you.
Love and light,
Maureen COASTAL WRITING RETREAT Connect with Your Creativity at the Sunset Inn (Writing—and more—as Renewal and Inspiration)
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. $378 for the weekend beginning Friday February 20 through Sunday February 22. 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, February 22, at half price. More information here. WHERE: The Sunset Inn, 9 North Shore Dr., Sunset Beach, NC 28468
WHEN: Friday, February 20 – Sunday, February 22, 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------- (Writing As a Healing Process)
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. More information here. 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. More WordPlay opportunities here. Words from a WordPlay Coastal Retreat Participant
Meet Carol Injaychock
I arrived at The Sunset Inn on the island of Sunset Beach, North Carolina, with my sister, on a warm February day. We were there to share some sister comradely while attending a writing retreat hosted by Maureen Ryan Griffin. I had already taken several writing classes with Maureen in my hometown of Charlotte, which had generated some essays regarding my cancer journey. For two and a half days, eight of us wrote together in the
sunlit meeting room of the Inn.
In our spare time, we walked on the beach.True to its name, we basked in the beautiful sunsets the island provided. As I walked, contemplating the new cancer writings that had been bubbling up at this retreat, I reflected on the fall of 2002 when I was here staying at a
house just down the road from the Inn. Four of my friends had been with me. All of us were in our early 40's, and healthy. For some reason, once they found out I had not had a mammogram in four years, they encouraged me to have one. My friend Tracey had gone for a run on the very beach I walked during the retreat, and sensed that she had to make sure I would get a mammogram soon. It was important, the waves of the beach roared to
her.
As the writing retreat began to wrap, I proclaimed, "I think I've got a list of chapters for a book regarding my cancer journey." I was excited to proclaim this dream of mine to the group.
And after I went back home, I kept writing, chapter after chapter. Most of the book was written because of Maureen's writing prompts in the multiple WordPlay classes and retreats I participated in. Five years and many words later, with the help of Maureen and Amy Royal, a friend of Maureen's who became my editor, the dream was almost complete. The chapters were ready, I had
a title and a logo for the book, but was uncertain what I wanted on the book cover. I knew I would prefer to have the picture come from a friend, versus finding some random stock photo on the internet.
My friend Gretchen Birdwell is a portrait photographer: weddings, families, special
events. Not the type of picture I was looking for, but I asked her if she might have something. "If I don't have one, Carol, I'll go shoot it!" We both knew she would know what "it" was when she saw it. But first, she suggested I go to her website and look at the scenery photos she had there.
It took me all of 30 seconds to find the picture of waves breaking on the shore. Somehow, I knew that was the one for the book. "Gretchen," I asked, "where was that picture taken?"
"Sunset Beach, last year while I was visiting my
mother."
Of course it was Sunset Beach. How could it be from any place else?
I've come full circle with Sunset Beach: the
girlfriends who loved me there; a sunlit room where the book dream began; and the waves that roared to their proper place on the front of my book putting the final touches on my dream that became a reality.
And when my sister finished reading my book, she said, "You spun words into
gold."
Of course I did, I was taught by the lady who knows how to teach a novice writer how to "spin."
You can
connect with Carol here: 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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