Volume VIII, Issue 16
April 22, 2019
Dear ,
Today is Earth Day, first celebrated on April 22,1970 in the United States by some twenty million people. Today, the Earth Day Network estimates that a billion people worldwide will celebrate.
This is heartening news on a day my heart is sad. Saturday morning, I lost my uncle Joe, the last of my father's brothers. In this photo from a Ryan family reunion in 2007, Uncle Joe's on the right, next to my dad. Beside him is my aunt Joan, now the last of her generation, as my uncle George, on the other side of her, passed away a little over two years ago. I am beyond grateful I still have my precious,
loving, brilliant aunt, and my heart is breaking for her sadness.
I am in a "heart broken open" place, not a "business as usual" place. And I wanted to share with you, whom I know understands the grief of losing a beloved family member, a piece of writing I have visited
again and again and again since I first read it in in the early 1990s. It's a piece from Natalie Goldberg's book Writing Down the Bones called "The Power of Detail." And, just to show that grace is in full operation even if the midst of grief, when I turned to it, I discovered that the word earth is in it, not once, but twice. Yes, that gorgeous sentence in the subject line
is one of them. It reminds me that one of the great privileges of being a writer, or, in the case of my beautiful aunt Joan, a painter, is that we can, through our art, "Let it be known that the earth passed before us." And may we, on Earth Day, and every day, be good stewards of the earth's great gifts.
I hope you find inspiration for yourself and your writing in "The Power of Detail," as I have so many times. And my condolences if you are grieving the loss of a loved one, too.
Love and light,
Maureen
Upcoming WordPlay
THE SEVEN ENERGIES OF WRITING
ONLINE CLASS
(A Holistic, Whole Brain Approach, with Accompanying Tools and Strategies To Enhance Creativity, Productivity, and Writing Pleasure)
If you’ve ever had a hard time getting started writing, finishing what you’ve begun, or gotten stuck in the middle (AKA writer’s block), knowing how to engage in the most helpful “energy of writing” for you at each stage of your process—and on any given day—will be a game-changer. In this class, we’ll explore—and practice—the ins, outs, and benefits of all seven
energies of writing. You’ll learn invaluable tools and strategies you’ll use again and again to write with maximum ease and effectiveness. Yes, you can be more productive, creative, and fulfilled, no matter what kind of writing you do or how experienced you are.
WHERE: The comfort of your own home
WHEN: Tuesdays, May 14th and 21st, 2019 from 7:00 until 8:45 p.m.
COST for Workshop and Materials: $67
* For the benefit of participants, an audio recording of the class will be made so that participants are able to listen to parts 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.
TO REGISTER: To register with a check via mail, email info@wordplaynow.com for instructions. To register online, please click this link to pay through
PayPal.
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POETRY ROCKS!
(Learning the Ins and Outs of Poetry; Strengthening Your Writing Skills; Adding a New Layer of Literacy Beauty to Your Life)
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!
HERE’S WHAT YOU GET:
- 23 poetry creation tools, delivered one per day (Monday through Friday) to your inbox — in honor of National Poetry month. Use them as you get them, use them when you can, use them over and over to create poems. 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
- Additional poetry resources
- 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 info@wordplaynow.com for instructions. To register for Poetry Rocks online, click here.
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WRITE LIKE A GENIUS
AT THE JOHN C. CAMPBELL FOLK SCHOOL
(Expanding Our Creativity; Learning New Tools for Our Writing and Our Lives; Creating New Writing)
Discover your own genius as you learn to apply seven fascinating approaches of Leonardo da Vinci to your writing. These techniques enliven non-fiction, poetry and fiction. Expect fun, inspiration and writing galore in your preferred genre, with opportunities to share
your work.
WHERE: John Campbell Folk School, 1 Folk School Road, Brasstown, NC 28902
WHEN: Sunday, May 26th – Saturday, June 1st, 2019
COST is $630 for one week-long session
(lodging and meals are additional – options can be found on the Folk School website)
TO REGISTER: To register, please click this link to register through the John Campbell Folk School website.
Class size limited to 8.
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CLASSES AT CHAUTAUQUA INSTITUTION
WRITING OUR WAY TO HAPPINESS
(Week 2)
Come explore research-tested ways writing can increase your happiness level. You’ll learn how to use writing as a tool to increase your sense of well-being, as well as 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.
WHERE: Chautauqua Institution. 1 Ames Ave, Chautauqua, NY 14722. Alumni Hall Poetry Room
WHEN: Monday, July 1st – Friday, July 5th, 2019. 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.
COST: TBA
TO REGISTER: Register directly through the Chautauqua Institution website
here
TELLING YOUR LIFE STORIES WITH GRACE
(Week 7)
Our life stories are a precious legacy, imbued with grace we can often see only in hindsight. Capturing these stories “gracefully” in words is a gift, not only to ourselves, but to those who love us – they’ll be treasured for generations to come. Come learn engaging tools and techniques to retrieve and record your adventures, loves, losses, successes, mistakes, and more with ease and, yes, grace, no matter where you
are in the process.
WHERE: Chautauqua Institution. 1 Ames Ave, Chautauqua, NY 14722. Hultquist 201B
WHEN: Monday, August 5th – Thursday, August 8th, 2019. 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.
COST: TBA
TO REGISTER: Register directly through the Chautauqua Institution website
here
DELICIOUS MEMORIES
(Week 9)
Food not only nurtures and sustains us, it’s also a rich source for writing. We’ll explore our culinary connections as we write of when, where, what, with whom, how — and even why — we ate. We’ll also learn from the work of accomplished writers. You can use the tools you’ll learn to create a family cookbook, individual essays, stories, or poems, scenes in fiction or memoir, a food blog—or just for your own
pleasure.
WHERE: Chautauqua Institution. 1 Ames Ave, Chautauqua, NY 14722. Hultquist 201A
WHEN: Monday, August 19th – Thursday, August 22nd, 2019. 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.
COST: TBA
TO REGISTER: Register directly through the Chautauqua Institution website here
More WordPlay opportunities here.
I am in Costa's Chocolate Shop in Owatonna, Minnesota. My friend is opposite me. We've just finished Greek salads and are writing in our notebooks for a
half hour among glasses of water, a half-sipped Coke, and a cup of coffee with milk. The booths are orange, and near the front counter are lines of cream candies dipped in chocolate. Across the street is the Owatonna Bank, designed by Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright's teacher. Inside the bank is a large cow mural and beautiful stained-glass windows.
Our lives are at once ordinary and mythical. We live and die, age beautifully or full of wrinkles. We wake in the morning, buy yellow cheese, and hope we have enough money to pay for it. At the same instant we have these magnificent hearts that pump through all sorrow and all winters we are alive on the earth. We are important and our lives are important,
magnificent really, and their details are worthy to be recorded. This is how writers must think, this is how we must sit down with pen in hand. We were here; we are human beings; this is how we lived. Let it be known, the earth passed before us. Our details are important. Otherwise, they are not, we can drop a bomb and it doesn't matter.
Yad Vashem, a memorial for the Holocaust, is in Jerusalem. It has a whole library that catalogues the names of the six million martyrs. Not only did the library have their names, it also had where they lived, were born, anything that could be found out about them. These people existed and they mattered. Yad Vashem, as a matter of fact, actually means
"memorial to the name." It was not nameless masses that were slaughtered; they were human beings.
Likewise, in Washington, D.C., there is the Vietnam memorial. There are fifty thousand names listed—middle names, too—of American soldiers killed in Vietnam. Real human beings with names were killed and their breaths moved out of this world. There was the name of Donald Miller, my second-grade friend who drew tanks, soldiers, and ships in the margins of all
his math papers. Seeing names makes us remember. A name is what we carry all our life, and we respond to its call in a classroom, to its pronunciation at a graduation, or to our name whispered in the night.
It is important to say the names of who we are, the names of the places we have lived, and to write the details of our lives. . . .
Click here to read the rest of "The Power of Detail."
from Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones
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 "earth."
PROMPT: What comes to mind when you think of the word earth? Today, try what I call a "Sprawl," often referred to as a mind map. Here's how:
- Put the word, subject, or idea you want to write about (in this case, earth) in the center of a blank sheet of
paper.
- Moving out from that center, free associate words and phrases for ten minutes, letting one lead to another. When
one strand of your Sprawl runs out, come on back to the center and go out in a different direction. You may want to circle your center word, or all your words. You may want to connect your words and phrases with lines. Experiment.
- Look over your Sprawl. Pick the most evocative idea, or combination of ideas that could work together in a scene, essay, poem, or story.
- Craft your idea(s) into a piece of writing.
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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