Dear ,

Last week, you met Cheryl Boyer, a member of one of my Under Construction classes. (Remember, you're invited to Cheryl's drop-in book launch party for Counting Colors this Saturday, May 5, from 2 pm - 4 pm at 9925 Providence Road West, Charlotte 28277. RSVP to cheryl@myferriswheel.com.)

And this week, you get to meet another member, Lisa Kunkleman. (That's Lisa, in the black top, first on the left in the bottom row. Too bad I have my eyes closed—but don't I look like I've reached nirvana?) Tat's how happy these women make me!

Upcoming WordPlay

WordPlay Success Story

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Meet Lisa Batten Kunkleman

A former middle school counselor turned writer, Lisa Batten Kunkleman enjoys writing stories about daily life from a humorous slant. Let’s face it, people are funny and so is nature. She doesn’t have to look far to spot something entertaining. A closet genealogist and preserver of stories, she is the family historian for a massive family, which is spread throughout America and beyond. That means her office is filled with family albums and file cabinets filled with ancestry research results.

Lisa has been published in a variety of magazines and newspapers but her proudest achievement was during the election season of 2012, being featured on NPR reading her commentary on Politics and Civility: Can They Coexist. She’s also pleased to be a nonfiction award winner and reader for the Charlotte Writers Club. “Rest in Peace” won first place and is about a toad funeral.

Lisa and her husband Dan are parents of twenty-one-year-old triplets and their original model, a married twenty-eight-year-old daughter. Lisa and Dan, now third-year, empty nesters, live on a farm near Charlotte, NC. Surprisingly, their grown kids flutter in and out of the empty nest, often bringing two-legged friends and four-legged grand pets for visits. No problem. Lisa and Dan have three dogs, a cat and two horses already so what’s a few more critters.

She spends far too much time letting her dogs in and out of the house, which slows the progress of her upcoming book, Life Stories and Beyond. She publishes essays regularly on her blog, which sports the same name. www.lifestoriesandbeyond.com. Lisa has written stories since she was a kid, to before she developed stretch marks, to the present, when she's embracing age spots, gray hair, and wrinkles. Lisa hopes that her stories will provide entertainment, as well as information for folks in that situation called life. Lisa also hopes you enjoy her blog enough that you might consider recording your own day-to-day life. It's all life stories.

You can connect with Lisa:

Facebook: Lisa Batten Kunkleman

Instagram: lisakunk 

WordPress: www.lifestoriesandbeyond.com

What Lisa says about WordPlay

"Over a decade ago, I wandered into a poetry group at Barnes and Noble in Charlotte, led by Maureen Ryan Griffin. I produced my rhyming, humorous pieces, week after week, and was encouraged by the kind people who laughed in all the right places. Most everyone else brought serious and deep subject matter, which meant I stood out with my Dr. Seuss-ish ditties. After my failed attempts at more serious poetry, Maureen suggested I bring an essay to share with the group and I did. Sharing that essay felt like the real me was out in public. Wow. It felt great to receive such fine accolades from everybody. Maureen even said, “Lisa, I think you’re an essayist masquerading as a poet." 

I picked up an assortment of classes wherever Maureen taught. Eventually, she suggested I take a semester-long class called Under Construction. I think I started in 2009 and have never missed a semester since. I love the camaraderie and helpful critiquing among my classmates and the expertise and guidance Maureen provides weekly. We write and laugh and sometimes cry. We critique each other’s work and are encouraged to reach for our individual goals. It’s such a treat to watch classmates complete their books or projects, thanks to the Under Construction classes. Maureen is now helping me focus on publishing a book of humorous essays in the fall of 2018. I’ve come a long way from wondering if I’d have any ideas for critique group each time to knowing a thing or two about writing. I can’t say enough wonderful things about Maureen Ryan Griffin and Wordplay."

Featured Writing

Clutter, Collectibles, and Critical Keepsakes: Barriers to Clearing and Controlling the Chaos Even with an Empty Nest

A blog post

by

Lisa Batten Kunkleman​​​​​​​

Today, while clearing some space on a bookshelf over-stuffed like me in Spanx, with photo albums, baby books, and home movies, I discovered an unlabeled, black, three-ringed binder. Opening the notebook, I was pleasantly surprised and reminded of how organized I have always tried to be. Especially when paperwork is involved. I’ve done four baby books and journaled nearly every day of our kids’ lives, until now that our kids have flown from the nest. (Oh, and I've also written and gathered details about the lives of our extended family members, too.) 

It used to be magazine and newspaper clutter and piles of papers that I had to deal with. Back a few decades, with no such thing as the internet, as a young parent, I saved helpful and interesting magazine articles on all kinds of topics but especially on parenting. In a controlled, organized manner, I made this big notebook with the highest quality, expensive, acid-free sheet protectors.

My first thought was, Oh, yay: let’s clear this old stuff out and turn it into a notebook for another branch of our massive family tree. But as I was emptying the page protectors, the articles caught my eye. Uh-oh. I should never read when I’m purging, but oh well.

The notebook was filled with good ideas like, “20 Things Bored Kids Can Do at Home,” and “How Real Parents Handle Discipline Problems.” I like the titles, “When Your Child Won’t Go Out and Play,” “Mom, The Kids Don’t Like Me,” and “Kids and Stress.” Some issues are timeless.

Now that my kids are adults, my second thought was, this will be great for when the kids have kids. Or for me when I’m a grandparent to somebody besides all my grandpets, one of which is this dog who’s lying on the bed, helping me sort through all these papers.

So I started, stopped, and restarted removing papers from the sheet protectors and decided maybe I should put them back in and present the notebook to whichever kid becomes a parent first.

Then I decided not to waste this notebook. But, just in case, instead of recycling these articles with information that may never be used, I chose to save them in a file called “Parenting Ideas.” Not a bad plan, since now I have a free notebook, complete with page protectors, and I’ll keep that file tucked away until I present it to one of my adult kids.

I’m sure he or she will say, “Oh, Mom, you realize of course that you can find all of this online anytime you want to.”

Then my feathers will flop because that truly was my first thought when I was about to recycle all these pages. But I shoved that thought away and allowed my conscientious, rationalizing, clutter-keeper side of my brain to win out once again. No need to recycle this pile of paper yet. I’ll get some more use out of it first.

And so my file cabinet has one more fat file folder, filled to overflowing with family fun. And there’s some fabulous alliteration for you.

You can read this online, and many other posts, at Lisa's blog here: https://lifestoriesandbeyond.com/2018/01/27/clutter-collectibles-and-critical-keepsakes-barriers-to-clearing-and-controlling-the-chaos-even-with-an-empty-nest/