Volume VII, Issue 47
November 26, 2018
Word of the Week: nostalgia
Dear ,
I thought you might enjoy seeing a good portion of the Griffin clan gathered after Thanksgiving dinner. The construction hats were Harry's idea. (He's the little guy on the far left in the turkey t-shirt.) Even his five-month-old little sister got
one. (Little Ellie is on her mom's lap, but my daughter Amanda didn't realize that only her head was showing. Ah, well.) What? You don't have a crowd-size stack of yellow plastic construction hats lying around? For this, I can think Mary Struble Deery, a member of one of my Under Construction classes, who donated them to me after a class skit. (Mary has the entertainment skills of a cruise ship director and we are all in awe of her imagination and execution skills. She's also quite a photographer.)
I must have been channeling Mary. To get four grandchildren, four
children, one mother-in-law, one sister-in-law, one son-in-law, one girlfriend, and Richard and me to sit still long enough for this photo—and in plastic yellow hats to humor Harry—was quite an accomplishment.
I might have had five minutes on this full, full day to feel nostalgic for the days I spent Thanksgivings with my mom and dad and my brothers and sister, in between making pumpkin pies with one of my granddaughters who couldn't stay for dinner and sautéing onions for
the dressing to go with Richard's grilled turkey. But, no. Clearly the antidote for nostalgia is surrounding yourself with people who are glad to be together. And cooking for them.
The nostalgia will come later, when I'm walking alone at dusk and the third verse of "Silent Night" shows up in my head, uninvited. What to do but succumb, humming? And call one of those siblings of mine to remind myself that, while memory is sweet, making new memories is sweeter yet.
And with that thought, I will leave you, dear reader (I am reading a novel that begins with these words; isn't that enough to make one nostalgic?) to enjoy this week's featured writing, an essay called "Nostalgia for Everything" by the marvelous Andrei Codrescu. Don't let the business of life keep you from the sweet satisfaction of writing something
that connects you with the best of yourself! (Maybe that will be this week's prompt?)
Love and light,
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)
ONLY ONE SPOT LEFT FOR THE
NOVEMBER 29TH SESSION!
Just for you, a MONTHLY 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.
And you'll have the opportunity to share one of your stories (up to 1,200 words) 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: Thursday morning, November 29th, 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
COST: $65/three hours.
Or save by taking the series of seven for $335. The dates are:
November 29
December 20
January 31
February 28
March 28
April 25
May 23
Feel free to try out the first class before committing to the series. If you'd like to continue, the cost of the first class will be deducted from the total.
TO REGISTER: Please send an email with your contact information to info@wordplaynow.com and the subject line: “Gift of Memoir” and we’ll reply with more information. Hope to have you there! CLASS SIZE LIMITED TO 8 PARTICIPANTS.
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THE SEVEN ENERGIES OF WRITING WINTER RETREAT
(Writing as Renewal / Creating New Writing / Tools and Techniques to Enhance Creativity and Productivity in Your 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. This year, in addition to enjoying various seasonal prompts that elicit beautiful material for essays, poems, stories, articles, and/or self-reflection, we'll
be writing through the lens of what I call the "Seven Energies of Writing."
If you’ve ever had a hard time getting started writing, finishing what you’ve begun, or gotten stuck in the middle (“writer’s block), knowing how to engage in the most helpful “energy of writing” at each stage of your process—and on any given day—will be a game-changer. Throughout the day, as we celebrate the
coming of the winter season, we’ll explore—and practice—the ins, outs, and benefits of all seven of these energies. You’ll learn invaluable tools and strategies you’ll use again and again to write with maximum ease and effectiveness. Yes, you can be more productive, creative, and fulfilled, no matter what kind of writing you do or how experienced you are!
You’ll also enjoy a communal lunch (you’ll pick what you like from the Panera Bread menu), and private time that can be used to work on your own writing in any way you like and/or play with your choice of "energy-related" 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 15th, 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, please click this link where you can pay with a credit card or by using PayPal.
This time of year for some reason I get filled with nostalgia like a Jules Verne balloon.
I'm like Marcel Proust, who smelled a cookie and couldn't stop remembering.
Wood fires are my cookie. I remember walking through an old square in my hometown in Romania, late fall 1958, kicking leaves with my feet and feeling as nostalgic as
I do now for something I remembered then.
I remember sitting on the steps of the Santa Maria Maggiore cathedral in Rome in 1965, eating an apple while everything turned to nostalgic gold around me.
I sat in a steamy café by the Spanish Steps later with a bitter, hot espresso, looking wistfully on the fashions of the year 1965, mini-skirts and polka dots, and feeling so terribly young and alone.
I remember the wind whistling with snowflakes in it down Woodward Avenue in Detroit as I looked for a warm place to sit and contemplate the future year 1967, for which I
already felt nostalgic though it hadn't even happened.
I remember the Blimpie's on the corner of Sixth Avenue and Ninth Street in New York across from the long-gone Women's House of Detention where I sat writing nostalgically in my diary about the incredible year 1969 that was just around the corner.
I remember the back porch of Gabriel's hilltop apartment in San Francisco in 1970, looking on a pastel blue and gold city and wondering where winter was.
I went looking for it in Golden Gate Park, wrapped in its cocoon of eucalyptus and ocean salt, and rocked like a baby listening for hints of 1971.
I remember the mists swirling above the Knotty Room in Monte Rio in 1974 while Pat and Jeff and I drank Rhoda's bad coffee and looked out to the huge redwood trees bending in an awesome wind announcing the torrential winter rains of 1975.
I remember late fall, early winter, at the Mt. Royal Tavern in Baltimore in 1978, when all the lights went out and we continued drinking and talking by candlelight as the world fell apart.
And the autumnal little cafe near Pont Neuf in Paris in 1981, where nostalgia was invented.
I'm writing now at the Déjà-Vu in New Orleans at the end of 1992, and I miss this place already.
This essay is from: In Short: A Collection of Brief Creative Nonfiction by Mary Paumier Jones (Editor), Judith Kitchen (Editor)
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 "nostalgia."
PROMPT: What makes you (or one of your characters, or someone you know) nostalgic? Write a scene, essay, poem, story, etc. that includes this emotion that so often shows up during the holiday season.
OPTIONAL: Write a Thanksgiving scene, as a part of a work of fiction or memoir, or as an essay or poem.
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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