Volume VI, Issue 5 January 30, 2017 Dear ,
Take a
deep breath, especially if you've been worrying that that there's something wrong with your brain because you can't remember what you used to, and can hardly imagine how you'll find the time and energy to write—it's just the "Crazy Busy" way we live.
There are simple cures, according to Edward Hallowell, M.D., whom I “met” via my latest obsession, Marie TV. Here’s the link if you want to watch his clear, very helpful suggestions on to deal with busyness and overwhelm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBV2vBFD29I Truly so well worth your time, and I know how valuable it is, —our most precious resource after all.
In it, Hallowell shares five tips that have really helped me feel so much better as I navigate my own crazy busy life. One of them is to "make a plan." (Which reminds me, if the opportunity and support to "make a plan" for writing you book would help you, I hope you can join me at beautiful Sunset Beach for PROJECT BOOK: GET YOUR BOOK OUT OF YOU AND INTO THE WORLD Friday, February 24-Sunday, February 26.)
Another is what I call "the energy of rest." If stepping away to a beautiful, peaceful place where you can soak up as much solitude and/or time with kindred writers writing as suits you in the moment, then I hope you can join me, again at Sunset Beach, for a COASTAL WRITING RETREAT Friday, February 17-Sunday, February 19.
Look where you'll be, either way!
Whether or not you attend a WordPlay coastal retreat, I hope you'll take the time as we say goodbye to January and hello to February to curb your "crazy busy-ness" and give yourself whatever nurturing and support
you need. As Jack Kerouac says, "Rest and be kind, you don't have to prove anything."
Upcoming WordPlay
COASTAL WRITING RETREAT
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. $378 for the weekend beginning Friday, February 17th through Sunday, February 19th. 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 to Coastal Writing Retreat participants the opportunity to stay Sunday night, February 19th, at half price. (Extra 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 17 – Sunday, February 19, 2017*
TO REGISTER: Contact the Sunset Inn at
888.575.1001 or 910.575.1000 (if you would like to handpick your room, view your choices here first, then call). Because the Inn is holding rooms for you, our participants, they are blocked off as unavailable online.
*Also, please let the Inn know when you call if you are interested in staying Sunday night, February 19 at half price. The Inn will hold your reservation with a credit card.
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PROJECT BOOK RETREAT:
GET YOUR BOOK OUR OF YOU AND INTO THE WORLD
(Writing / Publishing Your Book-length Writing Project) A hands-on workshop for any writer who would like to write and/or publish a
book and
1) doesn’t know how
2) doesn’t get around to it
3) feels
a) intimidated
b) confused
c) overwhelmed
d) uninspired
e) all of the above You’ll gain clarity, confidence, direction, momentum, and working knowledge of the steps you need to take and the procedures and pieces that are necessary (overview, synopsis, outline, and all that jazz), as well as an
introduction to today’s publishing world (major publishers, university presses, small presses, self-publishing, e-publishing, and print-on-demand). We’ll talk about marketing, too, whether you’re an introvert, extrovert, or ambivert. $378 (plus tax) includes retreat, lodging, two breakfasts and
Saturday lunch. Note: Class doesn’t include critique of your book manuscript, which is a separate service.
$378 for the weekend beginning Friday, February 24th through Sunday, February 26th. Includes Project: Book sessions, two nights’ lodging, two breakfasts and Saturday lunch (hotel tax and Saturday dinner at a local restaurant not included). Additionally, for those who
might like to stay another day to work on their writing, or to just enjoy the beach, the Inn is offering Coastal Writing Retreat participants the opportunity to stay Sunday night, February 26th, at half price.
WHERE: The Sunset Inn, 9 North Shore Dr., Sunset Beach, NC 28468
WHEN: Friday, February 24 – Sunday,
February 26, 2017*
TO REGISTER: Contact the Sunset Inn at 888.575.1001 or 910.575.1000 (if you would like to handpick your room, view your choices here first, then call). Because the Inn is holding
rooms for you, our participants, they are blocked off as unavailable online.
*Also, please let the Inn know when you call if you are interested in staying Sunday night, February 26, at half price. The Inn will hold your reservation with a credit card.
More WordPlay opportunities here. Photo courtesy of http://www.drhallowell.com/meet-dr-hallowell/press/ Featured Writing
An excerpt from
Crazy Busy: Overstretched, Overbooked,
and about to Snap!: Strategies for Handling
Your Fast-Paced Life
by
Edward Hallowell, M.D.
from Chapter 16: “New Words for New Problems— Some with New Solutions”
The Megaloctopus: This beast pursues you every day. Wherever you go, the megaloctopus extends its tentacles, trying to trap you and keep you from doing what you’re trying to do. The megaloctopus is made up of all the people who want your time, all the tasks you’re supposed to get done, all the places you’re supposed to go, all the opportunities you possibly could pursue, all the temptations you try to resist, all the hopes
you’ve ever had as well as all the fears—in short, all that may rise up and steal you away from the task you are trying to complete right now, in the present moment.
The best way to combat the megaloctopus is to know it’s there. Don’t fall into the trap of believing you ought to do everything you’re asked to do or could do. The megaloctopus depends upon your believing that. You can do only what
you can do, and you will do what you can do much more effectively if you’re not trying frantically to squeeze in more than you reasonably can. Cut those tentacles when they start to entwine you.
Fuhgeddomania and Loseophilia: While people have always struggled with the problems of forgetfulness and losing things, today’s rush and gush have made these problems make millions
believe they have early Alzheimer’s. People are flocking to doctor’s offices to make sure they do not have some kind of dementia, as they swear that their memory is fading fast and they can’t keep track of items as well as they used to.
”Fuhgeddomania” and “Loseophilia” denote the modern manifestations of these age-old problems. The amount of data and items people have to remember and organize
today exceeds what it has ever been before in history. What looks like forgetfulness derived from a neurological problem is really fuhgeddomania, forgetfulness derived from data overload. And what looks like a tendency to lose things based on some kind of brain decay is really loseophilia, a tendency to lose things based on the fact that a person has more things to keep track of than a normal human brain can manage.
The solutions to both fuhgeddomania and loseophilia are to add structure to the environment—lists, reminders, filing systems, computer programs—and to delegate the tasks of remembering and organizing whenever possible. Placing certain items in the same place every time you finish using them helps combat the problem of loseophilia. In addition, it is good to set a limit on how much you commit yourself to remember or keeping track
of.
~ Read more about Crazy Busy: Overstretched, Overbooked, and about to Snap!: Strategies for Handling Your Fast-Paced Life 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 "busy."
PROMPT: Do some mulling on the ways that "busy" shows up in your/your character's life. What are the tasks? Where does the time go? Then brainstorm about the way "busy" feels in your/your character's body, mind, emotions.
Create a free write, scene, poem, essay, journal entry, etc. based on your reflection.
Now, imagine you/your character moving through a day without "busy-ness." Describe the day in detail, hour by hour.
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. One of her long-held dreams came true in July of 2015 when Garrison Keillor read one of her poems on The Writer's Almanac. 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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