Volume IIII, Issue 32 August 10, 2015 |
Volume IIII, Issue 32 August 10, 2015 |
Word of the Week: travelogue |
Dear , This week's word was inspired by a children's story called Frog Travelogue by Carol Staton, who participated in WordPlay classes until she moved from Charlotte to Hillsborough, North Carolina, some years ago.
I can't wait to read Frog Travelogue to my grandson Rhys, who just got back from some
travel of his own (Myrtle Beach with his mom and dad).
Summer is traditionally a time that lends itself to the writing of a travelogue, whether we're hopping to a nearby pond, metaphorically speaking, or crossing an ocean.
Just this past weekend, in fact, my husband and I
drove a hop, skip, and a jump down to Union, South Carolina, where I led a Write Yourself! workshop at the brand new Piedmont Physic Garden, modeled after the Chelsea Physic Garden in London, founded in 1673.
Richard and I had a great time exploring the area, including a jaunt to nearby Buffalo, South Carolina. Who knew? Not I, who grew up just a hop, skip, and a jump away from what I thought was the only Buffalo in the country. We thoroughly enjoyed our meal at "Andy's of Buffalo," where everyone seemed to know
almost everyone else, but they didn't treat us a bit like strangers. We met in the former home of a physician, Dr. Paul Switzer, who read voraciously, traveled widely, and knew, I heard tell, "everything
about everything." What a treat it was to browse all the bookshelves and see his range of interests. The adjoining Piedmont Physic Garden is dedicated to him, in fact, and I wouldn't be surprised if a psychic would have sensed his happiness at how we relished the fresh-picked figs and mint sprigs straight from the garden... and wrote quite a bit about quite a bit, with much enthusiasm and camaraderie. The best part of it all for me (Well, except for the attendees, who were wonderful
company) was seeing the plans yet to come for the garden. Nothing I love more than a dream in the making.
There -- that's as much of a travelogue as you're going to get out of me today!
How about you? If you haven't been anywhere you'd like to write about, armchair travel
counts. And so does anthropomorphism...
And if you live in the Charlotte area and you're looking for enthusiasm and camaraderie for your writing dream, you might want to check out Under Construction, the class that Carol Staton talks about below. Love
and light,
Maureen Upcoming WordPlay
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
(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 from 7:00 to 9:00
p.m.
September 1, 8, 15 and 29, October 6, 13, 20 and 27, November 3 and 17, December 1 and 8
COST: $399 for 12 classes
TO REGISTER: To register by check, please email info@wordplaynow.com for details. To register online with a credit card, please click this secure link.
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PROJECT BOOK: GET YOUR BOOK OUT OF YOU AND INTO THE WORLD
(Writing/Publishing
Your Book-length Writing Project) A hands-on workshop for any writer who would like to write and/or publish a book and
1) doesn’t know how
2) doesn’t get around to it
3) feels
a) intimidated
b)
confused
c) overwhelmed
d) uninspired
e) all of the above
You’ll gain working knowledge of the steps you need to take and the procedures and documents that are necessary (query vs. cover letter, book proposal, overview, synopsis, outline), as well as an introduction to today’s publishing world (major publishers, university presses, small presses, self-publishing, e-publishing, and print-on-demand).
$418 (plus tax) includes retreat, lodging, two breakfasts and Saturday lunch.
WHERE: The Sunset Inn, 9 North Shore Dr., Sunset Beach, NC 28468
WHEN: Friday, November 13 – Sunday, November 15,
2015* TO REGISTER: Contact the Sunset Inn at 888.575.1001 or 910.575.1000 (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. Find out more here.
More WordPlay opportunities at http://www.wordplaynow.com/offerings/.
WordPlay Success Story
"I am glad Maureen inspired me to invest in myself. Ten years later, I am reaping rewards that I expect to continue far into the future."
Meet Carol
Staton
After high school, Carol had hoped to go to a good journalism school in a warm climate. Her father wouldn’t let her apply to Stanford because it was too far away from her Maryland home. An out-of-state student, she
wasn’t accepted at UNC-Chapel Hill. So her writing career took a long detour when she went to Duke and majored in Economics, worked for a bank in Atlanta, and then was welcomed into UNC’s MBA program. She worked in banking for 12 years, birthing three children along the way. The third child was her excuse to escape her banking career, but she needed another income source. “What am I good at?” she thought. Her bank jobs had included a lot of communications, keeping project teams on track with
memos and meeting minutes, then reporting on the budget of the operations subsidiary. So in her 40's, she launched herself as a freelance copywriter. Later she partnered with web and graphic designers working from home to form a small marketing company called Smart Stuff, creating web sites and marketing collateral.
On the more literary side, Carol would pen an occasional poem. Then, during a
life transition, she took a variety of Wordplay classes, and kept her writing skills honed by writing a blog called “free for all; history as spirit unfolding” (spiritunfolding@wordpress.com). She also got her credentials as a grant writer and tried to start another freelance business, which went nowhere. After moving from Charlotte to Hillsborough, she opened a store
called Nature’s Way (www.natureswayshop.com). There she sells native plants, antiques (recycled home furnishings!), natural and locally made products, and benches she makes with reclaimed wood. The store is her way of helping others learn about creative, earth-friendly products and practices. Selling her first children’s book, Frog Travelogue,
face-to-face to her customers has been lots of fun. A second book for older children and maybe even adults is in the works.
What Carol says about WordPlay
I don’t remember how Maureen’s marketing net caught me, but I am so glad it did. My first class was the micro-essay, definitely my genre, but until I heard of the class, I didn’t know the genre existed. I enjoyed being with other writers, had never done so before. The atmosphere was supportive, the class structured and
non-threatening.
Thus encouraged, I dove into a longer “Under Construction” class, where some of my classmates were working on all kinds of long-term projects. Others were submitting their writing to magazines and we celebrated when their work was accepted. I remember speech pathologist Kathy Gruhn’s project in particular, because she succeeded in a complex project about child development that I
continue to be interested in (http://mybabycompass.com/).
I was in a hiatus in my life, and this group became my support group. Even though I have moved from Charlotte, I continue to be interested in the achievements and goings-on of these fellow writers. I
learned to appreciate the many different writing talents represented by these women. And I was pleased to see that Kathy Gruhn had taken the time to write a review of my children’s book on Amazon (Maureen must have told her about it), so the feeling is mutual. Very gratifying.
My immediate take-away was a better understanding of the writing process, and the many ways to add structure to
it. Maureen’s book is worth in weight in gold to help with that! I also now have a collection of micro-essays that will be a book one day. It has been lots of fun to self-publish my first children’s book. It was a practice book for another, longer one that it has been my goal to publish for a long time.
Maureen is a wonderful resource for all kinds of information
about writing, publishing, and about how to live your dreams. Her incredibly hard work and sharing of her own journey were perhaps most inspirational of all.
I am glad Maureen inspired me to invest in myself. Ten years later, I am reaping rewards that I expect to continue far into the future.
Featured Writing
An excerpt from
Frog
Travelogue
by
Carol Staton Carol starts out her book with a page about how it came into being, which is also a mini-lesson in real frog behavior -- and the value of curiosity -- for kids (and adults!): Frog Travelogue is a story about frogs finding this pond (yes, there's a real photo)
in my backyard. I had read in a book that frogs would come to my pond. But where would they come from? How would they get there? How would they even know I had a pond? I wondered about all these things while I waited and waited for frogs to arrive. I imagined what it would be like to see frog hopping across the lawn. I have never seen
a frog in the middle of a lawn. Have you? Then one day, I saw a flash of movement and heard something plop into the pond. Then I heard a second plop. Was it possible that not just one, but two frogs had come to my pond? Indeed it was!
I won't spoil the surprise of this charming, informative book with its rollicking rhythm and rhymes! But I am sharing a page so you can get a sense of how adorable the illustrations are, and how fun it is to read aloud to the kid(s) in your life.
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 "travelogue."
PROMPT: Write a no-more-than-two-page travelogue that takes you (or a character, real or imagined) from any "here" to any "there" -- say, an old pond to a new one, or from Charlotte, NC, to Buffalo, SC.
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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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