Volume VIII, Issue 19
May 13, 2019
Dear ,
I am so delighted to feature writer and longtime friend Lisa Williams Kline this week, with an excerpt from her terrific young adult novel, One Week of You, which starts off with—you guessed it—a first. To be exact, it's the
first time a boy has ever asked fifteen-year-old Lizzy Winston for her phone number. (Maybe you remember the first time a phone number passed between you and your first crush?)
I enjoyed One Week of You so much myself! Lizzy experiences so many firsts within one week of giving her phone number to the charismatic Andy Masters—some funny, some surprisingly unexpected, and all of them endearing.
I've already purchased copies for my two sixteen-year-old step-granddaughters. I know they'll empathize with Lizzy, as well as relate to her. And Lizzy has some important insights to share about trying again when you've failed, as well as admitting that you've done wrong because your emotions got the best of you. Kudos
to Lisa for creating such an engaging heroine and such a strong story.
Here's Lisa, gorgeous in pale turquoise, at her recent book signing at Main Street Books in Davidson, one of
the places where her book is for sale. I hated I couldn't attend this reading, but I love this photo of Lisa with a number of my writer friends from the "north"—north of Charlotte, that is. If you have not yet made your first visit to Main Street Books, I urge you to do so! It's such a lovely bookshop.
And whether or not you've had your first visit to my favorite local bookstore, Park Road Books in Charlotte, you are warmly invited and encouraged
to attend Lisa's book signing there on Saturday, May 25, at 11 a.m. Lisa will be appearing that morning on a panel fellow young adult authors Kathleen Burkinshaw (The Last Cherry Blossom) and Linda Vigen Phillips (Behind These Hands, Crazy).
Her book is available at Park Road Books all the time, though, if you aren't able to come to the panel and signing. (It's also available from her publisher, Blue Crow Publishing.
Speaking of firsts, I'd forgotten when I first met Lisa. It seems like I've always known her. But she remembered! You can read all about it below. (Once she reminded me, I was able to pin down the year—2003!) Lisa made my day when she reminded me of the poem I'd written for her and her fellow students way back then, "In Gratitude to Shining You." She asked if I'd share it with you, which I'm
delighted to do.
On your way down to read more about Lisa and the opening scene of One Week of You, check out tomorrow's online "Seven Energies of Writing" class. Could this be a "first" that could help you thrive as a writer?
Love and light,
Maureen
Upcoming WordPlay
THE SEVEN ENERGIES OF WRITING
ONLINE CLASS—BEGINS TOMORROW!
(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, along with all handouts, via private online links.
TO REGISTER: To pay with a check via mail, email info@wordplaynow.com for instructions. To pay 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.
More WordPlay opportunities here.
Lisa Williams Kline was such a daydreamer as a kid that she once stopped to pet a dog while running from third
base to home. Fortunately, she ended up as a writer, where daydreaming pays off, and is the author of nine novels for young people, including Eleanor Hill (Carus), winner of the North Carolina Juvenile Literature Award, Princesses of Atlantis (Carus), Write Before Your Eyes (Delacorte), the 5-book Sisters in All Seasons series (Zondervan). With Goldenjay Books, the YA imprint of Blue Crow Publishing, she is the author One Week of You.
She has also published a collection of short stories for adults entitled Take Me (Main Street Rag). She has won the Press 53 Short Story Contest and Honorable Mention in the Glimmer Train Winter Fiction Open. A graduate of Duke University, she has a Masters in Radio, Television and Film from UNC-Chapel Hill, and an MFA from Queens University. She has served as president of the Charlotte Writers’ Club, on the board of the North Carolina Writers’ Network,
is a mentor in the SCBWI Mentor Program and critiques manuscripts for Writers’ Digest. She lives in North Carolina with her veterinarian husband, Jeff, and numerous spoiled pets. Their two daughters visit frequently with their dogs and as can be imagined they have a howling good time.
What Lisa says about Maureen
I had not been living in the Charlotte area for very long when my dear friend Louise Rockwell said, “Maureen Ryan Griffin is teaching The Artist’s Way. You have to take it.”
I was hesitant. It was a big commitment, a series of many classes. I lived over an hour away from where Maureen was teaching. But I signed up.
I will forever be glad that I did. There were about eight of us, and we were all searching. Searching for our voices, searching for encouragement, searching for validation. Maureen, with her wonderful generosity of spirit, helped us explore our creativity and made us all feel so cared for in her gentle and encouraging way.
Since that time, my friend Louise, who came to mean so much to many of us in the writing community, has passed away, making that life-changing time we spent in Maureen’s Artist’s Way class all the more precious.
At the end of the class, Maureen presented the group with a beautiful poem she had written for us. I was so touched and inspired by it. It reminds me of The Artist’s Way, of Maureen, and of Louise. Here it is:
In Gratitude to Shining You
Brave moon, courageous
moon, it may seem
like you are only
reflecting sunlight, yet look
at how you continually
begin again
in answer to
the darkness, look
how you keep
tilting your best
face forward, each
glimpse of you
more beautiful
than the last, look how
you shine, you
shine, shine on
~ Maureen Ryan Griffin
So, here’s how it happens:
I’m standing outside Lakeside High after freshman cheerleading practice waiting for my older brother Ryan. I’m always one of the last to get home because Ryan is the last person to leave yearbook staff every day.
And I’ll always remember this: Some guy standing behind me is playing “Skinny Love” on his phone and singing along at the top of his lungs. He doesn’t have a good voice at all, in fact his voice is terrible, but he has an incredible amount of out-of-tune enthusiasm, and I can’t help it. I turn around, smiling.
It’s Andy Masters. Andy Masters, the chief roving reporter for WLHS, the Lakeside freshman class video news program. Andy Masters, the Clown Prince of the ninth grade. Andy Masters, the exciting new guy who just moved to our lakeside town of Mooresville, North Carolina in January and is in my Health class but has never noticed me once.
“I’m a great singer, right?” he says with a grin.
“Very enthusiastic,” I agree, still with my ridiculous smile. Even having a short conversational exchange with him is enough to give me hives. Talking to him feels like plugging into an electromagnet. I turn back around, my face feeling hot, and my mind blanking about what to say next. Maybe nothing. Probably our exchange will be over.
But no. Andy pokes me on the shoulder. I turn back around.
“Do I know you?” he says. He’s a skinny guy, with so much energy it seems to fly from his fingertips and off the ends of his dark curls. It’s like I’m being caught in a vortex.
I feel like a searchlight has been turned on me. “Lizzy Winston. We’re in Health class together. I sit three rows behind you.” Has he not heard Ms. Robinson call my name every day during attendance since class started three months ago?
“We are?” Andy’s green eyes are wide behind his wire-rimmed glasses. He seems knocked over by disbelief.
“We are.”
“Well, then, I’m definitely going to need your number.”
“You are?”
He grabs his head as if he can’t believe how obvious this is. “Duh! In case I need to contact you about Health homework!”
“Oh!” I burst out laughing.
“Do you think we’re ever going to have Health homework?”
Why can’t I stop giggling? I give him my number. It’s the first time a boy has ever asked.
~ From One Week of You, available for purchase 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 "first."
PROMPT: There truly is a first time for everything! Set a timer for seven minutes and make a list of every "first" you can think of in your own life, or in the life of someone you're writing about, real or fictional. When the timer goes off, set it for another seven minutes, grab the most interesting-to-you "first," and create the experience in words, writing quickly so that you can capture it as completely as
possible before the timer goes off again. If you like this first draft, type it up and keep on going, adding, deleting, and changing as you go.
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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