Volume VI, Issue 35 August 28, 2017 Dear ,
This week's
word comes from a just-published children's picture book by Clara Barnes Link, the smiling woman second from the left in this photo from a past WordPlay Gift of Memoir class. (By the way, there is one spot left in our Fall 2017 class, which starts on Thursday, September 7th. If you'd like to claim it, email info@wordplaynow.com for instructions on how to register.
Details about the class are below. You can read what Clara has to say about it below as well.) I cannot tell you how grateful I am that Clara asked me to coach her through the process of creating a children's picture book, and then publish it through my very own (tiny) Floating Leaf Press. Because Clara is a
joy to work with, and her book is, as they say here in the South, pure t fun! (Well, there's a nice dose of inspiration in it, too—hence the "just try" theme.)
You see, Clara and her husband Eddie have a boxer dog named Amber who
happens to be the most agreeable dog on the planet. (You may want to argue that statement, and I'll concede if you email me dozens of photos of your dog posing in awkward positions wearing cumbersome clothing and headgear.)
Eddie loves dressing up the ever-accommodating Amber and photographing her, and
the results have given friends and family many a smile, a chuckle, a full-out laugh.
Then Clara had the thought, what if I wrote a story about Amber, using some of these photographs? And, voila, Amber the Boxer
Dog was born!
I hope the excerpts that are this week's featured writing bring you a smile, a chuckle, or a full-out
laugh. And that Clara's story has you think about what you can "just try."
Because nothing good, including publishing a
book—or for that matter, getting your own most important stories out of you and onto the page, or creating any worthwhile result—happens without a good faith effort. And you'll never
know what you could accomplish if you don't give it a whirl. (And then another whirl, and then another...)
So just try, and keep on trying,
Upcoming WordPlay
UNDER CONSTRUCTION:
YOUR WRITING (Fulfilling Writing
Dreams & Goals; Creating New Writing; Revising & Polishing Your Writing)
This class is designed to fulfill your writing dreams and projects. You’ll set goals and support structures and watch your writing flow! You’ll also get feedback on your work (any genre) and learn revision tools and methods. Each week, writing
prompts will generate material for new writing or further a piece in process, whatever your preferred genre. Through examples of accomplished writers, you’ll learn techniques to aid you right where you are in the process.
* 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.
We offer both a Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning class to fit your schedule.
Tuesday evening class:
WHERE: South Charlotte area. Details will be provided upon registration.
WHEN: Tuesday evenings, from 7:00 – 9:00
p.m. September 12, 19 and 26
October 3, 10, 17 and 24
November 7, 21 and 28
December 5 and 12 COST: $425
TO REGISTER: If you’re interested
in attending, please email us at info@wordplaynow.com to be put on the waiting list.
Wednesday morning class:
WHERE: Covenant Presbyterian Recreation Center, 1000 East Morehead Street, Charlotte, 28204. Click here for map.
WHEN: Wednesday mornings, 10:00 a.m. – noon. September 13, 20 and 27
October 4, 11, 18 and 25
November 1, 8 and 29
December 6 and 13 COST: $425 TO REGISTER: If you’re interested in attending, please email us at info@wordplaynow.com to be put on the waiting list.
----------------------------------------------- THE GIFT OF MEMOIR: WRITING PERSONAL AND FAMILY STORIES (Preserving Family
History; Writing for
and about Your Family; The Art of Memoir)
Our life 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. 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.
* 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: Covenant Presbyterian Recreation Center, 1000 East Morehead Street, Charlotte, 28204. Click here for map.
WHEN: Thursday mornings, 10:00 a.m. – noon. September 7 and 21
October 5, 19 and 26
November 9 and 30
December 14 COST: $275
TO REGISTER: If you’re interested in
attending, please email us at info@wordplaynow.com for instructions on how to register.
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FALL WRITING RETREAT
Renew and delight
yourself. The Fall Writing Retreat is an opportunity to create new pieces of writing and/or new possibilities for our lives. Enjoy various seasonal prompts; they elicit beautiful material that can be shaped into essays, poems, stories, or articles. After a communal lunch, you’ll have private time which can be used to collage, work with a piece of writing from the morning, or play with a number of other 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, September 23rd, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
More WordPlay opportunities here. WordPlay Success
Story
"I have been fortunate to accomplish work that I didn’t think would be possible, due to Maureen’s
instruction."
Meet Clara Barnes Link
Clara Barnes Link has lived on Lake Norman in North Carolina with her husband, Eddie, for over thirty years. They have raised four children, along with several dogs, cats, fish, and one lone gerbil. After many
years of homeschooling, Clara now devotes her time to writing, quilting, and playing the cello.
Here’s what Clara has to say about her first children's book—based on a very special member of their family, Amber—now available on
Amazon.
Amber the Boxer Dog has taken about a year to complete. For a long time, I had considered making a book out of a collection of photos that my husband had taken of our dog, Amber. The humorous shots had always made our friends and family laugh, but it wasn’t until I seriously undertook the project by laying out the photos on my worktable that I began to get a specific
idea for the story. Now, after overcoming many challenges during the process, I am very excited to be publishing my first book.
What Clara says about WordPlay
Five years ago, when I walked into Maureen’s WordPlay classes, I immediately felt welcomed, as if meeting up with old friends. Maureen, especially, made me feel at ease and comfortable. She and the other students were accepting of me, one of the newbies,
and there was only encouragement as I began learning how to put words on a page.
Maureen is a very caring and inspiring person, offering her students a variety of ways to aid them in excelling as writers, as well as a safe environment in which to share their work. Her teaching ability, her valuable and
tactful insight and advice, and her experience as a published writer have all contributed to helping her students produce wonderful pieces of writing. I have been fortunate to accomplish work that I didn’t think would be possible, due to Maureen’s instruction. Featured Writing by
Clara
Barnes Link
Meet Amber the Boxer Dog, who came to live with Clara and her family seven years ago, when she was just a puppy. Here’s what she had to say soon after she arrived: And here are just a few of the things she tried:
Amber went on to get her diploma through homeschooling and online classes, and you won’t believe what she got for a graduation gift! To find out, and to see what other amazing things she accomplished because she tried, order a copy of Amber the Boxer Dog 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
"try."
PROMPT: Your writing prompt is below.
But first, a "life prompt": this week, try something you've
never done before, whether it's a new activity, like, say, tap dancing, or taking a pottery class, or planning to go somewhere new, like my husband Richard and I did this summer. (Richard is my chief encourager, whose faith in me and example of persistence in action has caused me to "just try" many times.)
Here we are at Acadia National Park, where we did lots of hiking, including the "rocky and steep" Anvil trail on the Schoodic Peninsula, our favorite part of the park, in part because it is so uncrowded.) Small "try's" count, too, like
taking a "selfie" if you've never done that (you'll note that I'm not that great at this yet, but I keep trying), or even walking in a different neighborhood or trying out a new restaurant. WRITING PROMPT: Set your timer for five minutes and make a list of things that you, or one of your characters "tried" (as in doing something for the first time, whether it was the only time or the start of something done repeatedly).
Now, pick the most interesting "try" and write about it, in an essay, poem, or scene.
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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