Volume IIII, Issue 40 October 5, 2015 Dear ,
Honestly, I didn't know what my word of the week was going to be until I looked at this picture of the beautiful-inside-and-out souls I was lucky enough to spend this past Saturday with at the Fall Writing Retreat. I literally felt a glow as I looked at their glowing faces. Thanks to each of these writers pictured who braved the rain to come! We had a cozy, word-rich day together, and it was a joy to hear essays and poems and stories springing into
being, like all the wild mushrooms that are loving this rain...
I hope the prompt below brings a glow to your heart that lasts until the sun is shining again!
Upcoming WordPlay
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.
(Writing as Renewal/Creating New Writing/
Tools for a Writing Life) Renew and delight yourself. The Winter 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, December 19th, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
TO REGISTER: To
pay with a check via mail , email info@wordplaynow.com for instructions. To pay online with your credit card or PayPal, click here.
More WordPlay opportunities here. WordPlay Featured Writing
an excerpt from
for my parent's fiftieth anniversary
In the old photographs, it is always autumn.
Colors fade to the sepia of remembered thought:
my mother in a flapper dress, my father
proud beside the Model A. They glow
in the light of dreams that I can never know....
Read "Golden" in its entirety 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 "glow."
PROMPT:
Even if I hadn't been lucky enough to be with my parents to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary, I would love Gernes's "Golden" poem for all that glows within it, in the face of winter and what it inevitably brings. Because, always, on our way to winter, we have the opportunity each year to take in,
as Gernes puts it in stanza three of her lovely poem, "the October trees all aflame with praise."
Today, take three minutes to make a list of
"glow-filled" moments in your life. What comes to mind? Think small and specific, such as an ordinary activity shared with someone you love. (Though spectacular activities are great too!)
Next, pick one (the one you would most enjoy writing about), and take seven minutes to write out the experience, in any way
and form that you like.
Ten minutes—that's all it takes to bring about a glow...
And now, if reading what you just wrote would bring a glow to someone else, why don't you send it to them?
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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