Volume VII, Issue 49
December 10, 2018
Dear ,
I hope you're warm and cozy, whatever the weather wherever you are! Here in Charlotte, in my neighborhood at least, our expected "wintry mix" that could have been several inches of snow turned out to be a small sprinkle of the white stuff and plenty of rain and sleet to wash it away.
I must admit I'm a little disappointed. This photo, circa 1968, in front of our house in Erie, Pennsylvania with my brothers Mike and Tim and my sister, Mary, (that's me on the far left petting Pepper, our beloved Pepper) shows you what I picture when I picture a winter storm.
Not, mind you, that I want a steady diet of this! My standard line, when people ask how I ended up in North Carolina, is, "Scarlett O'Hara
said she was never going to be hungry again; I decided I would never be cold again." But still. To me, winter isn't winter without at least one respectable snowfall. (Please forgive me this indulgent thinking if your power is out or you are in any way suffering hardship due to the storm.) "Relearning Winter," which is the title of this week's featured writing, is not always easy.
We all know that, while winter can be a "wonderland," it can also bring extreme hardship. It's a season that holds the most darkness; hence the season that most leads us to appreciate the light.
You'll have a chance to write about winter if you check out this week's prompt. And should you live in the Charlotte area, you're invited to write about winter in community this Saturday at the WordPlay Winter Retreat. (Details here and below.) It's an opportunity to learn (or relearn) the nitty gritty details about how to take best advantage of the seven energies of writing I've identified while reveling in the best winter has to offer us, both in its real life particularities and the rich metaphors it provides. (There'll be cocoa with marshmallows, of course, and peppermint sticks, as well as cinnamon tea and coffee, among other choices.
And lunch from Panera Bread.)
Meanwhile, may this season bring you joy and reflection and at least one "Wish Book" dream come true. (Just for fun, thanks to the Wishbook Web Project, you can check out the 1968 Sears Wish Book Catalog here. If a window about Adobe Flash pops up, click the X in the upper right corner to close it and then you can flip through the catalog.)
Love and light,
Maureen
Upcoming WordPlay
THE SEVEN ENERGIES OF WRITING WINTER RETREAT
This Saturday, December 15
(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.
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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)
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, December 20th, 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
COST: $65/three hours.
Or save by taking the remaining series of six for $287. (Only one spot left for the series!) The dates are:
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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WRITING WITH HEART, MIND, BODY, AND SOUL
Do you wish you knew the secret to creating writing that readers love? And when and how to show versus tell? Then this workshop is perfect for you, whether you write fiction or nonfiction, memoir, essays, short stories, or novels. You will learn to identify and practice the use of showing and telling through the lens of the four
“elements” of human being: heart, mind, body, and soul. Whether you’re a new, rusty, or accomplished writer, you’re sure to learn something new about the art and craft of writing prose that will leave you—and your readers—more satisfied with your work.
WHERE: Morrison Regional Library, 7015 Morrison Blvd, Charlotte, NC 28211
WHEN: Wednesday, January 9th, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
COST: Free!
TO REGISTER: To register online, please visit the Morrison Regional Library website here.
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COASTAL WRITING RETREAT
AT THE SUNSET INN
Connect with Your Creativity at the Sunset Inn (Writing—and more—as Renewal and Inspiration)
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. $418 + room tax for the weekend
beginning Friday, February 22nd through Sunday, February 24th. 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.
(Extra writing retreat sessions are a possibility too. Email info@wordplaynow.com if you’re interested.)
WHERE: The Sunset Inn, 9 North Shore Dr., Sunset Beach, NC 28468
WHEN: Friday, February 22nd – Sunday, February 24th, 2019
COST: $458 + room tax for the weekend
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.
More WordPlay opportunities here.
Featured Writer
Mark Svenvold
Mark Svenvold is first and foremost a poet, working on his next collection. He has written recently about bicycle nomads for Orion Magazine; wildcat oil geology for Fortune/Small Business; and solar power and offshore wind power for The New York Times Magazine. Svenvold’s books include Big Weather (Henry Holt Co, 2005)
about tornado chasers and the culture of catastrophilia and Elmer McCurdy: The Misadventures in Life and Afterlife of an American Outlaw, (Basic Books, 2002), which unravels the bizarre career of a Long Beach, California, fun house mummy. A 2007 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow in Nonfiction, he covers renewable energy for AOL’s DailyFinance. Mark teaches poetry and nonfiction writing at Seton Hall University and is actively engaged in the undergraduate literary and
performance scene on campus.
Hello Winter, hello flanneled
blanket of clouds, clouds
fueled by more clouds, hello again.
Hello afternoons,
off to the west, that silver
of sunset, rust-colored
and gone too soon.
And night (I admit to a short memory)
you climb back in with chilly fingers
and clocks, and there is no refusal:
ice cracks the water main, the garden hose
stiffens, the bladed leaves of the rhododendron
shine in the fog of a huge moon.
And rain, street lacquer,
oily puddles and spinning rubber,
mist of angels on the head of a pin,
hello,
and snow, upside-down cake of clouds,
white, freon scent, you build
even as you empty the world of texture —
hello to this new relief,
this new solitude now upon us,
upon which we feed.
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 "winter."
PROMPT: Write a poem, scene, story, essay, or personal remembrance that takes place in winter or is about winter itself, like Mark Svenvold's poem above.
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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