Volume IIII, Issue 35 August 31, 2015 Dear ,
How sad that the kind soul who agreed to snap this photo of my "Spinning
Words into Gold" class at the John C. Campbell Folk School after our "standing room only" reading last Thursday cut off part of one of our participants faces -- Nathanial has such an awesome grin! Still, I am happy to have a record of a splendid evening with these seekers of writing tools and practices. If their applause-laden reading was any indication, they got what they were looking for.
Many of us who love to write are seekers, don't you think? I bet you
are. Me, too. I often share, as I did last week with these talented folks, that when I was a kid I once told my dad that when I grew up, I was going to "learn everything about everything." Can you imagine my dismay when he told me that I couldn't?
What I could do, he said, was "learn a little bit about a lot of things or a lot about a few things." (Did you guess that I wasn't dismayed at all, because I didn't believe him? Ah, the foolishness -- and optimism.
And pigheadedness!)
Over time, I have come to see that my dad was right -- on this side of heaven, I will not be able to learn everything about everything. But I haven't stopped seeking to learn all I can about the things that I love.
Take sassafras. Ever since I learned, as a ten-year-old at Camp Hawthorne Ridge, that sassafras trees contain three different shapes of leaves: oval ones, three-lobed ones,
and two-lobed ones that look like mittens (the perfect blend of the lyrical and scientific that suits me to a T), I have loved sassafras trees. (Truthfully, I would probably have loved them for the joy of their name alone.)
I had put on my to-do list to plant one in my backyard this fall, once I got back home from the Folk School. How had I gone this long without owning my own sassafras tree?! And lo and behold, what did I see out of my
studio window yesterday afternoon but a sapling sporting three shapes of leaves! Could it be this easy? (Sometimes, I have discovered it is.) But despite their shapes and my deep desire, these leaves had edges
seemed a bit too saw-toothed. The texture was off. And there was no sassafras smell when I crushed a leaf.
Why, you might ask, does this matter? What can seeking sassafras (and/or whatever else you love) give you? If what you love is something "of this world", you will gain authority and specific detail that will make your writing come alive in readers' imaginations, just as mine did when I encountered these
lines in Laura Fargas's "Timshel" from her book An Animal of the Sixth Day:
...From the sassafras,
you may have one of each of the three shapes of leaf, and in different colors, too. Listen how copiously the world is raining these permissions, and how wisely the grass is drinking them down....
I believe, along with William Carlos Williams, that there are "No ideas but in things" -- that the way to best communicate our own (or our characters') thoughts and emotions is through the imagery and workings of the world around
us.
So go forth and seek not just for what you love, but more knowledge as well. Your writing will be the better for it.
Love and light, Upcoming WordPlay
UNDER
CONSTRUCTION
Starts tomorrow! Two spaces available
(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, which will take you to PayPal.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 clarity, confidence, direction, momentum, and working knowledge of the steps you need to take and the
procedures and pieces that are necessary (overview, synopsis, outline, and all that jazz), as well as an introduction to today’s publishing world (major publishers, university presses, small presses, self-publishing, e-publishing, and print-on-demand). We'll talk about marketing, too, whether you're an introvert, extrovert, or ambivert. $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 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 "seek."
PROMPT: What specific things of the world do you love? Make a quick list, then have some fun Googling one of the items on your list. Then, take something new that you've learned and incorporate it into an essay, poem, or story.
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! |
|
|
|
