Volume VIII, Issue 4
January 28, 2019
Dear ,
So, if you have probably already heard about the WordPlay Open House on Groundhog Day (This Saturday afternoon), an opportunity to meet other WordPlayers, from beginning writers to published authors (and their books), as well as celebrate my newly released Tag, I’m It!: A Daily Journal of Thanks-Giving, Act-Knowledge-ment, and Gratitude. It would be so nice if you
could drop by between 1 and 5 p.m.! (There are details below if you haven't heard about it yet.) Why Groundhog Day? Read on to find out. And whether or not you're able to make it to the Open House, I wish you the happiest Groundhog Day you ever
had!
And the Happy Chinese New Year? Well, this week's featured WordPlayer, Hope Solomon Young, recently released her first book, The Foreigners Are in 709, a humorous look at an American couple
who embed themselves in an ancient Chinese section of Beijing for a year on a tourist visa with their two adopted Chinese daughters. They set up a household, enroll their daughters in a Chinese public school, work odd jobs, and unexpectedly travel Asia every sixty days to satisfy visa requirements. She's experienced a real Chinese Chinese New Year, and shares a bit about that below.
Hope with husband, Jim, and daughters Rose and Ella in Beijing on another holiday: Mother's Day
Hope will be having a book signing at Park Road Books on February 10, 2019
beginning at 2:00 p.m. You are warmly invited to attend! (Besides Park Road Books, her book is available in Charlotte at Green With Envy, and also on Amazon.)
As for the mishaps? Well, as Hope says, they naturally arose throughout her family's travels due to
the cultural and language differences. They make for entertaining reading, and her book will also teach you a lot about the culture and people of China today. (You'll read about a mishap or two below in her excerpt, too.)
Mishaps often make for a good story, right?
May all your mishaps end happily,
Maureen
Upcoming WordPlay
YOU'RE INVITED TO THE WORDPLAY
GROUNDHOG DAY OPEN HOUSE!
WHEN: Drop in between 1 and 5 p.m. (stay a little while
or a long while) on Saturday, February 2nd
WHERE: The Wordplay Studio, near Stonecrest Shopping Center
in Charlotte (email info@wordplaynow.com to RSVP and for directions)
WHY: Because I’m so thankful AND grateful for you
and your words! And everything is more fun
when it’s shared….
WHAT:
- An opportunity to meet other like-minded people who love the written word and share ideas, inspiration and fellowship
- A chance to celebrate your own writing successes as well as those of other members of the WordPlay community
- A time to share what’s great about your own work and
learn about books written by other WordPlayers
(There will be a 10-15-minute “Open Mic” at 1:30, 2:30, 3:30, and 4:30. If you'd like to sign up to read, email info@wordplaynow.com)
- An atmosphere of thanks-giving, acknowledgment, gratitude, and encouragement
- Take-home writing prompts, book giveaways, and other fun
- Good, healthy things to eat and drink, including—wait for it—groundhog cookies!
- A celebration of my new book Tag, I’m It!: A Daily Journal of Thanks-Giving, Act-Knowledge-ment, and Gratitude
HOPE YOU CAN DROP BY! I'D LOVE TO VISIT WITH YOU!
RSVP to info@wordplaynow.com
for directions & details.
More WordPlay opportunities here.
"Maureen took me step by step through the process of making and publishing a book...it was an amazing journey with a person I trust."
What Hope says about WordPlay
I really didn't consider myself a writer. However, I did spend five years writing focus group synopses for clients. But, I wasn't in a writing group and on my own time, the most writing I did was to-do lists. I certainly never dreamed of writing a book. In fact, I found writing difficult. Then, I went to China for a year and wrote a blog to my friends about our everyday life. I
got a kick out of it. Writing the stories made me see the humor in our experiences and made me fully process them.
When we arrived back in the states, I really wanted my daughters to have something to help them remember our trip, since they were only nine and ten. Turning the blog into a book seemed to be the answer. A friend who was writing a book told me, "Take a writing course from Maureen. You'll be in good hands."
So, I took one of Maureen's courses in which everyone reads a few pages of their writing at each class and suggestions are made. Maureen's advice was spot on for everyone. From this, I knew I could totally trust her with my writing.
After the writing class, Maureen guided my writing. I wrote and rewrote—again and again! She gave me suggestions to help clarify my writing, like using present tense for the time we were in China. I had no idea how hard tenses are! Maureen reassured me that tenses are hard. Her insights on details that were missing and passages
that were cumbersome were invaluable.
However, Maureen didn't make it a chore. It was challenging but, when I wrote something that made me laugh or expressed things the way I saw them, it was so gratifying. Maureen gave me the gift of WordPlay. I thought good writers wrote things once and were done. Maureen taught me to play with words until they say what I feel and see.
Once the writing was finished, Maureen took me step by step through the process of making and publishing a book: line editing, choosing the font, font size, size of the book, creating the cover and all those things you never think about until you write a book. It was an amazing journey with a person I trust. I now consider myself somewhat of a writer!
From the Chapter
“Fourth Visa Trip: Did I Tell You We Love Thailand?”
. . . We arrive back in Beijing [from Bangkok] on the last day of Chinese New Year—the celebration goes on for fifteen days. Who says the Chinese don’t know how to party? This day is a memory I hope never to forget. There are fireworks everywhere, and I mean everywhere all the time. In front and to the side of our
building, they’re setting off strings of crackers and the real deal, in the sky, fireworks and every kind of explosive in between.
From Rose and Ella’s bedroom window, we watch several different full-blown fireworks displays in the distance. The fireworks go on all day up to midnight. Can I just say our Fourth of July fireworks are pathetic compared to this?
I guess since the Chinese invented fireworks, they like them and they’re good at setting them off. It’s fun for the day, but I can’t imagine fifteen days of this. TaoTao [our adopted cat] has been on homeopathic tranquilizers at the vet during our time away for this very reason.
From the Chapter
“Fifth Visa Trip: Who Knew South Korea Was So Great”
The weather in Beijing is bearable and knowing that with our new visas we’ll have to travel again in thirty days, we settle back into Beijing life. Thirty days evaporate with school and tutoring. Now, it’s off to South Korea. Why South Korea, you may ask? Well, it’s only a two-hour direct flight, which is relatively
inexpensive. Plus, we’ve never been there.
Let’s just say that again I planned this trip by iPhone. I have no idea that tensions between North and South Korea are at an all-time high and missiles could be flying while we’re there. After booking the trip, I announce to my friends and family what our plans are, and they question how safe it is. I then do some
searches on my phone (remember no Google in China) and decide against any tours of the DMZ while we’re there, and I say a few silent prayers for peace.
We leave Beijing at 5 in the morning in a snowstorm. The night before brought botched cat boarding arrangements. Rose, Ella, and I can't leave TaoTao in an all-wire cage with a dog housed directly beneath her in the front window of a pet supply store. The final blow is when I ask the store owner about a litter box and
he asks if I brought one.
This is the place that came highly recommended by a Chinese woman we met at the vet in our building. I even called this place and questioned them about their experience with cats before I made the reservation. I thought this might be the answer to our boarding problems. This place is only twenty to thirty minutes from
our house, it’s $2 a day, they speak some English, and it came recommended. All I can say is, the Chinese have readily adopted dogs but still know little about cats … as pets.
But miracles do happen. So, we are at the recommended clueless boarding place that is beyond unacceptable. I am totally stressed out, Rose and Ella are being so good, and I have to pull myself together. I feel I could be on the brink of a breakdown. It’s started to rain and it’s getting dark. I’m beside myself
wondering what to do with the cat. So, as a last-ditch effort, I call ICVS, which is about an hour away, to see if they are still open. They are, and the person we know answers the phone and says she’ll stay open until we get there. Bless you, Mary.
The other part of the miracle is that when we finally get a taxi, which takes us a good forty-five minutes, Rose discovers the taxi driver lives in the same complex we do. This is a city of twenty million people, and we are a good twenty minutes from our apartment. Do you realize how unusual this is? So, he not only
waits for us to drop TaoTao with the vet and takes us back to the apartment but also agrees to pick us up at 5 a.m. the next morning to take us to the airport. Rose and Ella arrange all this in Chinese, since our driver speaks no English.
When we wake to snow-covered roads, I realize what a miracle all this really is. There are no cars on the road, much less a taxi. We never would have made our flight if not for the mishap with the cat. I don’t know what you’ve experienced, but it’s always when I think everything is going against me that something truly
miraculous happens. It does make me think someone, somewhere, somehow is watching over me.
Hope will be having a book signing at Park Road Books on February 10, 2019
beginning at 2:00 p.m. You are warmly invited to attend! (Besides Park Road Books, her book is available in Charlotte at Green With Envy, and also on Amazon.
Thanks for your support and happy reading!
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 "mishap."
PROMPT 1: Write about a mishap you or one of your characters had while in a "foreign"
place, whether that's another country, another state, another city, or even a never before visited spot in a hometown.
PROMPT 2: Write about a mishap that ended, either with a miracle, or at
least happily.
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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