Volume VI, Issue 19 May 8, 2017 Dear ,
Maybe you got the very loose allusion to a Golden Oldie in my subject line. Truth is, I love songs and singing. And so do many of the women in my Tuesday morning Under Construction class, in which one or another of us has been known to spontaneously burst into song. Especially this week's featured WordPlayer Mary Struble Deery, the woman on my right in this picture,
who is the one "who wrote the song about when the river went all wrong." Mary's also is also the one who took this picture of our class —she's
filled with energy and she jumps right in! (We all got a laugh out of how I look like the happiest meditator ever! Oh, well.)
I could go on and on about Mary's gifts—she's a natural "connector" of people (her neighbor became my amazing realtor), she's a prize-winning short story writer, she's a lavish celebrator of any and every special event, complete with props (my grandson Rhys loves the plastic yellow "Under Construction" hats she brought for an end-of-the-semester party) AND lyrics to familiar songs custom-made for the occasion. But what I
may appreciate the most about her is the way she models being a beginner. with zest and verve. When she decides something would be fun, or interesting, or just ought to happen—well, like in the above photo, she leaps right on in.
I'll let Mary tell you the story!
Love and light,
Upcoming WordPlay
WRITING OUR WAY TO HAPPINESS
(Full, but you can put your name
on the waiting list)
(Learning New Practices and Strategies for Our Writing and Our Lives; Creating New Writing; Expanding Our Well-being) Come explore time-tested ways writing can increase your happiness level! This class will not only teach you how to use writing as a tool to increase your sense of well-being, but also jumpstart your pen and provide inspiration and knowledge about the process of creative writing, whether you want to write memoir, fiction, nonfiction, or poetry. For
writers of all levels, including beginners, who are interested in expanding their writing practice—for personal fulfillment or for publication.$630 for one week-long session (lodging and meals are additional – options can be found on the Folk School
website)
WHERE: John Campbell Folk School, 1 Folk School Road, Brasstown, NC 28902
WHEN: Sunday, May 28th – Saturday, June 3rd, 2017.
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WRITE YOURSELF!
Reap writing’s benefits—physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. Give yourself the gift
of exploring how creative writing (journaling, memoir, poetry, fiction) can enrich your life, and what your writing can provide for others. You will learn and practice a number of fun, easy tools and methods to help your words flow, whatever your particular interest. Whether you have published widely, sometimes write in a journal, or haven’t written anything since your senior year of high school, you will enjoy this lively, informative
workshop.
WHERE: Matthews Branch Library. 230 Matthews Station St. Matthews, NC 28105
WHEN: Saturday, June 10, from 10:30 a.m. –
noon
COST: Free! TO REGISTER: To register, visit the Matthews Branch Library registration page here. (Registration opens May 11th.)
And also…
WHERE: Scaleybark Library. 101 Scaleybark Road. Charlotte, NC 28209
WHEN: Tuesday, June 20, from 6:00 – 7:30
p.m.
COST: Free! TO REGISTER: To register, visit the Scaleybark Library registration page here.
More WordPlay opportunities here. WordPlay Success Story
"The name of [Maureen's] business,
WordPlay, is so apt." Meet Mary Struble Deery Mary, with singer/songwriter David Childers
Mary Struble Deery fancies herself to be an artist. Not a sculptor or painter, but a “Word
Arranger.” She’d prefer playing Scrabble with words. Individual letters, even if they’re Z’s and Q’s worth a whopping 10 points each, don’t satisfy.
Mary worked in the media side of advertising, with numbers and dollars, so never had a chance to unleash her creative side. She’s now making up for lost time. If you want to find Mary, put her keyboard coordinates into your GPS. There you’ll find
her fingers flying all over. What Mary says about WordPlay When my husband or children ask what I want as a gift, I request consumables. I just don’t need any more stuff.
One consumable gift I give myself is Maureen Ryan Griffin’s Under Construction class. The name of her business, WordPlay, is so apt. In that class (going on 12 years now) I do more
than just learn the craft of writing. I actually produce work. But, it doesn’t feel like work. It feels like play.
Featured
Writing HOW I GOT MY NAME
ON THIS NEW RECORD COVER by Mary Struble Deery Even though I wasn’t a musician, I told everyone that I was going to write a song about an amazing event I learned about at a presentation on local history:
On July 17th, 1916, two storms met in the Catawba Valley in Western North Carolina. Twenty-four inches of rain fell in twenty-four hours. The Catawba River raged, rising to 50 feet above normal. Railway officials positioned train cars on the trestle in
Belmont, hoping they would be safe there. But the trestle collapsed under the pressure of the rushing river and debris. That day twenty-four men died at the site.
Such a sad story deserved a song like “The Edmund Fitzgerald,” I thought. Though I’d only written parody songs and never tackled an original, I
decided to take it on. My husband, Kevin, doubted this song would ever happen, but never discouraged me. I figured the more people I told, the harder it would be to drop the project.
To learn all about the flood and the train incident at Belmont, I went to the library and waded through a couple weeks’ worth of The Charlotte Observer from the weeks after the
flood. The event was so devastating that it knocked World War I off the front page for days.
Admitting my days as a musician would be, at best, in the distant future, I decided to just write a poem. What I learned about the flood had stewed in my brain for a good six months. Finally, on a long trip, I took out my notebook and it poured out.
I gave my poem, “When the River Went All Wrong,” to Richard Allen Taylor, an accomplished poet who’d just finished an MFA at Queens. He reviewed it and sent it back to me. It looked like the diagram of a mass murder crime scene, covered with circles and arrows. He pointed out passive language, tense changes, and so many other broken rules.
Simultaneously, I sent the poem to Tom Hanchett, Charlotte’s leading historian, whose presentation had started me on my train song journey. He assured me that even with its imperfections, the poem worked. He cited poet/singers Howard and Dorsey Dixon from the thirties who wrote in just that style.
After the feedback I got from both Richard and Tom I decided some minor
tweaks might be in order, but I’d go with Tom’s evaluation.
One day, after I read the poem aloud to my critique group that meets in Starbucks, and told them my dream, a stranger sitting at an adjacent table came over. He said, “You need to get in touch with David Childers. He writes songs like that.”
I learned that David Childers is an accomplished singer/songwriter in North Carolina. What the heck, I thought. Why not give it a try?
I found him on Facebook and he agreed to be my friend—I’m sure thinking he’d garnered another fan. I sent him a private message about my project and how I was looking for someone to set my work to
music.
Fast forward to today. Using my song, David Childers has written a four-stanza song entitled “Belmont Ford.” This song is on his new album Run, Skeleton, Run, produced by Ramseur Records, the same label as The Avett Brothers and R.E.M.
The only lucky thing about this whole song project was the fellow in Starbucks. Every other step was purposeful and hopeful, and it worked! Hey you writers out there, never give up on a dream. Do
the work. At the very least, it will build new synapses.
You can hear David Childers singing “Belmont Ford,” the song based on the poem Mary wrote, here:
You can order the CD using one of the links below:
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 "song."
PROMPT: You may want to try your hand at writing song lyrics based on a real life event, like Mary did.
Or you may not have any desire or inclination to write a song. If that's the case, try putting a song into your writing.
Write a new scene, essay, story, or poem that
incorporates a song. Or resurrect a piece of poetry or prose that you're not quite happy with. Find a place where you can weave a song in. Are you (or a character) in a car? What song is playing on the radio? Wherever you or one of your characters happen to be, what music is/was/could be part of the scene? Humming counts.
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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