Volume IIII, Issue 44 November 2, 2015 Dear ,
There's a reason I got to thinking about potatoes this
weekend, and here he is: the sweetest Mr. Potatohead around, all ready to "Trick-or-treat!" (I'm pretty fond of his mom and dad, too.)
But my grandson Rhys aside, potato is a pretty great word-of-the-week on its own merit—I bet you've eaten plenty of
them in your life, with a number of different people in a number of different places.
In fact, a potato might be just the thing to make a piece of your writing come alive to your reader, whether they're baked, fried, mashed, or grated for potato pancakes. What's your (or one of your character's) favorite potato memory? You can read one written by acclaimed novelist Anne Tyler from her The Accidental
Tourist below. (Click here to read my favorite quote from this novel that is, to quote Time, "Comic. . . sweetly perverse. . . animated by witty invention and lively personalities."
Upcoming WordPlay
COASTAL
WRITING RETREAT
(Coming this weekend-One spot still available!)
(Writing—and
More—as Renewal and Inspiration)
Want to take advantage of this open spot? Here's what you need to know:
WHERE: The Sunset Inn, 9 North Shore Dr., Sunset Beach, NC 28468
WHEN: Friday, November 6 – Sunday, November 8, 2015
COST: (Includes retreat, lodging, two breakfasts and Saturday lunch) - $418 plus lodging tax (Bonus: 50% off Sunday evening lodging if you would like to stay an extra night)
TO REGISTER: Contact the
Sunset Inn at 888.575.1001
WANT MORE INFORMATION? Here's the link to our website which includes details, photos, and a description:
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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 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.
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WINTER WRITING RETREAT
(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
Baked Potatoes
For supper they had Rose’s pot roast, a salad with Macon’s dressing, and baked potatoes. Baked potatoes had always been their favorite food. They had learned to fix them as children, and even after they were big enough to cook a balanced
meal they used to exist solely on baked potatoes whenever Alicia left them to their own devices. There was something about the smell of a roasting Idaho that was cozy, and also, well, conservative, was the way Macon put it to himself. He thought back on years and years of winter evenings: the kitchen windows black outside, the corners furry with gathering darkness, the four of them seated at the chipped enamel table meticulously filling scooped out potato skins with butter. You let the
butter melt in the skins while you mashed and seasoned the floury insides; the skins were saved till last. It was almost a ritual. He recalled once, during one of their mother’s longer absences, her friend Eliza had served them what she called potato boats—restuffed, not a bit like the genuine article. The children, with pinched, fastidious expressions, and emptied the stuffing and proceeded as usual with the skins, pretending to overlook her mistake. The pepper should be freshly ground. Paprika
was acceptable, but only if it was American. Hungarian paprika had too distinctive a taste. Personally, Macon could do with paprika altogether.
~ Anne Tyler
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 "potato."
PROMPT:
Write a scene, story, poem, or essay that contains a potato (or potatoes.) Want some help getting started? Use the opening of Leonard E. Nathan's poem "The Potato
Eaters": Sometimes the (naked) taste of potato reminds me of...
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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