Volume VII, Issue 39 October 1,
2018 Word of the Week: network Dear ,
Are you an introvert like me? The word "network" sounds at first like an introvert's nightmare—sales-y and schmooze-y and
nobody talking about anything real or important, and just plain too many people talking in general.
But none of these have anything to do with the "Network" that's preceded by the three magic words "North Carolina Writers'." (Yes, we're happy to welcome folks from other states as well.)
I'm thinking about NCWN a lot right now, as it's only one month until the North Carolina Writers' Network's Fall Conference here in Charlotte, North
Carolina November 2-4 at the Hilton Charlotte University Place. Registration is now open.
You may not be able to come, of course, even if you want to. But I'm encouraging you spend some time this week searching out some ways to connect with other writers. I'm
using the dictionary.com definition here, suggesting that you find "a supportive system of sharing information and services among individuals and groups having a common interest." That sounds pretty good, don't you think?
I've been an NCWN member now for 20+ years and could list at least fifty ways it's helped me as a writer. I'd love to tell you about them sometime! Today, though, I'm more interested in how NCWN (or some other network of writers) could help YOU, especially if you're an introvert. At a conference (or other event) for writers, you'll be among your own kind, with people
who love to talk about books and writing and ideas. You'll have the opportunity to grow as a writer in at least a dozen different ways. And you'll get to meet some terrific writers and people, like Judy Kurtz Goldman, who was one of my first poetry teachers way back in 1989.
Judy’s memoir Together: Memoir of a Marriage and a Medical Mishap, will be published by Nan A. Talese/Doubleday in February 2019. She’s also the author of two novels, two poetry collections, and an earlier memoir. That memoir, Losing My Sister, was a finalist for SIBA’s Memoir of the Year and ForeWord Review’s Memoir of the Year. Her fiction won the Sir Walter Raleigh Award, Mary Ruffin Poole Award for First Fiction, and was a finalist for SIBA’s Novel of the Year. Her poetry won the Gerald Cable Prize and the top three prizes for a poetry book by a North Carolinian. (And her accomplishments go on!)
Judy will lead the Master Class in Creative Nonfiction "How to Get the Words on the Page to Match the Fabulous Vision You Have in Your Head" at the NCWN's 2018 Fall Conference, and I'm honored to be a member of the faculty with her, teaching the master class in poetry, using some of the techniques I learned well from her so many years ago.
This year, NCWN has been celebrating publishers based in North Carolina, so they asked me to answer the following prompt: "Congratulations! You've inherited a large fortune, on the
condition that you use it to start your own publishing house. What kind of books are you going to publish?"
Scroll on down if you'd like to read my answer. (It's this week's featured
writing.)
I'd love to see you at the NCWN Fall Conference. Or hear that you have tapped into a network of your own, whether it's in person or online. Community is a splendid thing, even for the introverts among us.
Happy
networking,
Maureen Upcoming WordPlay
THE GIFT OF MEMOIR: How to Get Your Most Meaningful Life Stories on Paper with Ease (Preserving Family History; Writing for and about Your Family; The Art of Memoir)
NEW OFFERING FOR OCTOBER 2018!
Just for you, a two-session Gift of Memoir class to help you get your most meaningful life stories written. As best-selling author Rachel Naomi Remen says in her book Kitchen Table Wisdom, facts bring us to knowledge, but stories bring us to wisdom. If you are interested in writing family and/or personal life stories—those significant tales of adventure, transition, love, loss, and triumph, as well as lovely everyday moments from times past or the present, come learn specific tools and techniques to retrieve and record them.
You will learn and practice the fundamental tools and steps needed to both capture individual events that have been important to you, reflecting on the impact and meaning as well as
what happened, and the process of collecting events together into a full-length memoir or book of essays—whether this is for personal reflection, to share with family and friends, or to publish to reach a larger audience.
At the second session, you’ll have a chance to share one or two of your stories with the class to receive feedback and guidance in moving forward.
Our stories are a precious legacy. Putting them in writing is a gift to all who know and love us—they can be treasured and enjoyed for generations to come. It is also a gift to ourselves.
* For the benefit of participants, an audio recording of the class will be made each week so that participants are able to listen to classes they miss and/or review material covered at any convenient time and place. These recordings are available throughout the class session, along with all handouts, in a
shared Dropbox folder.
WHERE: The WordPlay studio, Ballantyne area. Directions will be sent upon registration.
WHEN: October 18th and 25th, from 10:00 a.m. –12:30 p.m.
COST: $77 TO REGISTER: To pay with a check via mail, email info@wordplaynow.com for instructions. To register online
with a debit or credit card, please click this link to pay via PayPal. ------------------------------------------------------- 
THE ART AND CRAFT OF POLISHING A POEM
I have the honor of teaching the Master Poetry Class at The North Carolina Writers’ Network 2018 Fall Conference, November 2-4 at the Hilton Charlotte University Place in Charlotte, NC. The class, titled “The Art and
Craft of Polishing a Poem,” which will offer registrants the opportunity to learn and practice specific revision tactics, as well as get detailed feedback/critique on at least one of their poems.
For the first time, Fall
Conference will offer a full slate of sessions designed specifically for writers of stage and screen. In addition, as part of the Network’s ongoing mission to serve writers at all levels of experience, the Charlotte Center for the Literary Arts will sponsor a “Business of Writing” track at Fall Conference for those who feel ready to take their manuscripts to market. And, because of the Hilton’s convenient location, getting to (and parking!) at a Fall Conference in the Charlotte Metro area has
never been easier.
If a poetry master class is not for you right now, please check out the many, many other offerings available that provide so much ways to learn and grow as a writer no matter what
your level of experiences, plus many networking opportunities!
For more information, and to register, visit www.ncwriters.org. -------------------------------------------------------
COASTAL WRITING
RETREAT Connect with Your Creativity at the Sunset Inn
Good news! I've talked with the manager of the Sunset Inn,
and they are back open for
business, so our retreat is a go.
Meanwhile, I know you, like me, are continuing to think of all the people who are still struggling from the effects of Hurricane Florence and sending all best wishes for recovery.
Renew yourself and reconnect with your own creativity, whether you are a practicing writer, closet writer, or as-yet-to-pick-up-the-pen writer! The techniques and prompts we’ll use will spur your imagination, and can be used to create nonfiction, fiction, and/or poetry—the choice is yours.
$458 + room tax for the weekend beginning Friday, November 9th through Sunday, November 11th. The Coastal Writing Retreat includes writing sessions, two nights’ lodging, two breakfasts and Saturday lunch (hotel tax and Saturday dinner at a local
restaurant not included).
Want to extend your retreat? If you’d like to stay another day to write, or to just enjoy the beach, the Inn is offering Coastal Writing Retreat participants the opportunity to stay Sunday
night at half price.
WHERE: The Sunset Inn, 9 North Shore Dr., Sunset Beach, NC 28468 WHEN: Friday, November 9th – Sunday, November 11th, 2018
TO REGISTER: Please contact the Sunset Inn directly at 888.575.1001 or 910.575.1000. If you would like to handpick your room, view your choices here first, then call.
You’ll need a
copy of Spinning Words into Gold, available for $23.54 at the retreat. Or order a copy now.
Featured Writing
Shake People Awake with
Your Words
by
Maureen Ryan
Griffin
This year, NCWN has been celebrating publishers
based in North Carolina, so they asked me,
as a conference faculty member,
to answer the following prompt:
"Congratulations! You've inherited a large fortune,
on the condition that you use it to start
your own publishing house. What kind of books
are you going to publish?"
Here's my answer:
"Hurray! If you are reading this, I am likely to publish the kind of books you write. That is, if you write, as U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith puts it, as 'a way of affirming commitment to the belief that our lives can
and should matter to one another and to ourselves.'
"Because we are living in a polarized world, a disconnected world, a world where we can endlessly ingest and spit out trite or vitriolic or pandering words that do not touch our own hearts and souls, much less the hearts and souls of others. We are surrounded by people
disconnected from, not only the people in their own cities, but the people in the same room, including themselves. You and I, though, are writers who strive to shake people awake with our words, as Tracy K. Smith does, with soaring beauty and searing honesty.
"Will your work allow readers to notice their own breath,
recognize that all our hearts are beating, see and hear and smell and touch and taste the moments of their lives? Will your manuscripts, to quote again the marvelous Tracy K. Smith, use 'not the language of sharing and following, or buying and wearing, but rather that of bearing deep and unabashed witness to the urgencies and upheavals of lived experience, that comes closest to bringing us into visceral proximity with the lives and plights of others?'
"If so, then please submit your work for consideration. . . .
You can read the rest of my response 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 "network." PROMPT: This week, do at least a tiny bit of "networking." Registering for the NCWN Fall Conference counts, naturally (Or for any other writers' event. But so does writing a fan letter to a writer, editor, or agent who's put a
book out into the world that has made a difference to you. So does contacting someone you met in a writing class, even if it's been awhile, and inviting her or him to meet and share some recent writing. It's fun to play with prompts in community with fellow writers, and to be able to share the results when you're done. You can find out about WordPlay classes, workshops, and retreats here. 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 three collections of poetry, Ten Thousand Cicadas Can't Be Wrong, 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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