Volume X, Issue 5
February 3, 2021
Dear ,
Last week, in one of my Under Construction classes via Zoom, one of my writers told us about a book she thought we'd love: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse by Charlie
Mackesy. She held it up for us to see, and, immediately, another writer held up her copy of this book to "second the emotion." "It keeps getting sold out on Amazon," one of them said.
Of course I had to check it out!
Wow. If this screenshot is too small or blurred for you, that's a 4.9 out of 5 stars, with 48,403 ratings. How could I not order a copy?
This is a sweet, sweet book, with a slim story, explained by the author in the first pages, followed by illustrated fragments of conversation between the Boy and his animal friends. Each "fragment" is on its own page, and each is as delightfully warm and wise as the others. (And as pithy, leaving the reader the fun of imagining the larger dialogue and story.)
Here's the book description you'll find on Amazon:
True story: I read through the book the evening I got it (perfect for bedtime) and chose the conversation I wanted to share with you. Then, when I went to Amazon to grab a screenshot of the
description to share, I saw that it included the very same bit of dialogue I'd selected:
"What do you want to be when you grow up?" asked the mole.
"Kind," said the boy.
While there were a number of strong contenders, this was the one I'd decided to go with. First, because "kind" was my word of the year for 2020, and I am not done with it yet. And second, because it immediately reminded me of a passage from Patricia Hampl's A Romantic Education that I adore.
I still smile when I think of the time a number of years ago—1994? 1995?—when I used this excerpt as a prompt in one of my creative writing classes at Queens. One of my students wrote that she had wanted to be the tooth fairy, and drew the most delightful illustrations of the tooth fairy's outfit and accessories.
My childhood career of choice changed a number of times, and each was much more prosaic than tooth fairy—a teacher, a writer, an editor, a therapist, a Girl Scout camp director, a Broadway singer and dancer . . . I've spent time engaging in some semblance of all of these, if you count my performances in high school musicals and my tap dancing on the Blumenthal stage with my adult dance class to "Papa Loves Mambo" at the Morrison YMCA's yearly recital. (We got a lot less
applause than the four-year-old class, but who can blame the audience for that?)
But I was humbled by the answer the Boy gave his friend Mole. There's more than one way to interpret that question, far above and beyond career choice. I'm glad Charlie Mackesy imagined another interpretation. What the world needs now, I believe, is all the people it can get who want to be kind when they grow up. (Because, after all, we are all still growing. Or can be, if we
choose.)
How about you? Scroll on down to read Patricia Hampl's thoughts on the matter, and then use the prompt to write about your own, or anyone else's, childhood aspirations, including those of one of your characters.
Love and light,
Maureen
Shaping Our Lives by Shaping Our Words
(Through the Pandemic and Beyond)
What benefits can writing provide—physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, even in challenging times? We know now that the words we use and the stories we tell shape our daily experiences. Learn to shape words that bring out the best in you—and others. In this class
incorporating Dr. James Pennebaker’s ground-breaking work, you’ll practice holistic, whole brain writing approaches that broaden your perspectives and deepen your compassion. And, if you’re interested, you’ll create new poetry, creative nonfiction, and/or fiction.
For more information, visit www.wordplaynow.com/shaping-our-words/.
WHERE: From the comfort of your home (or wherever you happen to be). Classes will be recorded if you can't attend live.
WHEN: 2:30 – 4:30 p.m., Wednesdays, February 10th, 17th, and 24th & March 10th and 17th
COST: $165
TO REGISTER: Choose what's best for you from these options:
- pay via PayPal (you can use a credit card or PayPal) with this link
- send Venmo payment (@MaureenRyanGriffin)
- pay via Zelle online banking (704-756-4641)
- mail a check, made out to WordPlay, to me at
6126 Hickory Forest Drive, Charlotte, NC 28277 (be sure to email info@wordplaynow.com to let me know you're coming
so I can send class information)
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POETRY ROCKS!
Would you like your writing—prose and/or poetry—to be more graceful,
powerful, beautiful? Do you sometimes find poetry confusing or intimidating and wish you could “crack the code”? Or do you enjoy writing and reading poems, but want a more thorough understanding of what makes a poem good? Then this poetry extravaganza is for you.
Expect a good time exploring what makes a poem a poem, gaining the knowledge you need to confidently create and revise poetry, and strengthening your writing skills in all genres.
It would be a joy and an honor to share what rocks about poetry with you. Learn more here.
HERE’S WHAT YOU GET:
- 23 poetry creation tools, delivered one per day (Monday through Friday) to your inbox. Each tool zeroes in on one aspect of poetry and provides an innovative method to approach writing a poem. Many of them are great for creating prose, too. The tools include:
* a purpose, so you’re clear what you will learn
* background information when helpful
* “how-to” directions to create a poem
* an example that illustrates the poetry tool in action
* a short reflection to solidify the concepts covered
* “Hone Your Craft” suggestions for further exploration
* a short reflection to solidify the concepts covered
- A PDF document of each tool that you can print or save on your computer
- An audio recording of each tool, so you can learn by listening and/or reading
- Instruction on the role of audience, reading like a writer, and the process of revision, including a handy Revision Checkpoint Chart—this information can be applied to strengthen your prose as well as poetry
- An e-book that contains the information and resources covered, as well as your 23 poetry creation tools for ongoing use
WHERE: From the comfort of your own home, via the web.
WHEN: Any time you want! And once you receive all 23 tools, they’re yours to keep, which means that you can keep using them for years to come.
COST: $45
TO REGISTER: To pay with a check via mail, email here for instructions. To register for Poetry Rocks! online, click here.
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TAG, I'M IT!
Both the year-long TAG, I'M IT! (on sale for 15% off for Valentine's Day!) AND three-month TAG, I'M IT!
journals offer—in no more than five to fifteen minutes—a simple way to recap and celebrate the very best of each day of your life. The practice of writing out your “T’s” (things you’re thankful for), “A’s” (actions you can acknowledge yourself for), and “G’s” (gifts you’re grateful for) is a transformative one, especially combined with the
final step, I’M IT!, in which you intentionally choose three do-able, most-important-to-you actions you’ll take the next day.
The TAG, I'M IT! journal grounds you in two important habits: keeping your focus on appreciating and celebrating the good in your life and intentionally accomplishing what matters most to you. You’ll also create a record of
your most meaningful, happiest events and experiences.
Start your journal—or restart, if needed—whenever you like. (Valentine's Day is a perfect time. You can gift one to a friend or family member and share the process. It's more powerful, and more fun, that way.)
An introduction with tips and ideas will help you make this practice your own. Soon, you’ll notice that you’re living your days with more joy, presence, purpose, and intention.
More WordPlay opportunities coming soon.
Stay posted!
Featured
Writing
an Excerpt from
A Romantic Education
by
Patricia Hampl
I wanted to be a writer. Didn’t everybody? I didn’t think this would stop me from also being a doctor, or a microbiologist. (I liked putting something that appeared to be one thing under a lens to see the crammed, multiple life: a strand of hair, for instance, as our biology teacher demonstrated.) I could also
see being a teacher, or a nun (the kind that wore sandals and never spoke), or, in a particularly long-lived fantasy, a concert pianist. These occupations and many others—actress, oceanographer, tree surgeon—fascinated me.
Writing, on the other hand, was not fascinating; it was something I just did. In compensation, though, it possessed a reality none of these other occupations, with their glamour, could approach. What after all was an oceanographer? A person who looked at oceans? Looked at them hard? And then? Wrote about
them. And I didn’t have to wait until I grew up to be a writer, an advantage over oceanography. I could sit at the dining room table and ask my mother how to spell the hard words.
Later, in college, I was proud to be “majoring in English,” which to me was like choosing everything for your subject. The allure of any occupation, anything at all, seemed always to circle back to writing. Because writing, I sensed, let you in; it subsumed these other things, oceans and microscopes,
teachers, dining room tables. Writing was the soul of everything else. Being a Catholic, I found the word soul came easily; it still does. Wanting to be a writer was wanting to be a person.
I wrote poetry: it was easier than prose. In high school I wrote frantically—about the lilacs, about the sunset, about there being no God, about arson and madness. I was phenomenally sane. The fact that people went crazy or were tormented—a favorite word—was a marvelous discovery. It confirmed something, I couldn’t say what.
I was breathless with lyricism. It was as if I was clutching in my bare hand a lilac, an arsonist, a tormented lesbian, the reddest sunset (I wrote about all these things) and crying, Me, me, me! It was the most satisfying, exultant message I had.
That was lyricism. It was also adolescence, the personal discovery of everything. Of lilacs, which had always been there in the back yard, down the neighborhood alleys where they cloaked the garbage cans and hugged the sides of old garages too small for the finned fish of that decade’ s cars. For the first ‘time
the lilacs came to me nostalgically because I noticed them. Nostalgia and the living, immediate lilac met in a first sensation of adulthood, the knowledge that objects carry their dense bundles of significance dense bundles of significance out of unconsciousness all the way to—I could almost sense it ahead—the end of the line. To death. I encountered the fragility of the life around me. In this way, objects gradually became images.
Patricia Hampl, A Romantic Education
Learn more about Patricia Hampl and A Romantic Education 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 “be.”
What did you, one of your characters, or someone you know want to be when you/she/he "grew up"? What became of this desire? (Did it get fulfilled, abandoned, replaced, etc.?) Write a scene, essay, story, poem (in other words, whatever form feels right to you) about the genesis of that desire, the path to fruition or abandonment, and/or the outcome.
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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