Volume VIII, Issue 42
October 23, 2019
Word of the Week: portion
Dear ,
How is your writing going this week? Well, I hope!
I am plugging faithfully away at How She Fed Us, and thought you might like seeing the corner of my studio where I'm weaving one portion after another: some small, some medium, some large.
.
I'm deliberately alternating between my best, quality-controlled editing and the creation of new writing following Natalie Goldberg's maxim: "Lose control." Sometimes this comes all too easily for
me!
This week, for fun, I'm sharing one small piece from the book that features my inadvertent thwarting of my mother's rigorous portion control. I hope you enjoy it, and that it inspires you to do some writing of your own.
Love and light,
Upcoming WordPlay
As host Landis Wade says, in this conversation "we meet author and writing coach, Maureen Ryan Griffin, who reads poetry from her collection Ten Thousand Cicadas Can’t Be Wrong and guides us through her writing book, Spinning Words into Gold: A Hands-On Guide to the
Craft of Writing.
This is a great episode to get your writing juices flowing, whether you are seasoned writer or one that wants to start dabbling, because writing can be for everyone.
Among other topics, Maureen explores the why, when and where of writing, and discusses some of the secrets to good writing.
We start the show with Maureen reading her poem: 'Why You Can Go Back to a Story You Abandoned Years Ago and Finally Finish It.' "
Find it via your favorite podcast app, or here on the Charlotte Readers Podcast website.
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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.
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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.
More WordPlay opportunities coming soon. Stay posted!
an excerpt from
the pending memoir
How She Fed Us
Reflections on the Recipes
of a Perfectly Imperfect Mother
OVEN-FRIED POTATOES, PORTION CONTROL,
AND A HUNGRY FARM GIRL
Mother, both as a dietitian and as the manager of our household, was devoted to “portion control.” Over the years, I came to understand that this was a bona fide food services term related to cost, inventory, and caloric considerations. But my first encounter with “portion control” was while eating Mother’s Oven-Fried Potatoes.
I was ten years old at the time, and I not only loved reading books, I loved to spend my hours pretending I was the main character. There I’d be, say, walking home from school as “Understood Betsy” (a book by Dorothy Canfield), and my daydream was so real to me that, as I turned the corner off Old French Road, I expected my (Betsy’s) dog Shep to
come running across the grass to greet me.
This particular day, I had just finished a book about a girl who lived on a farm. I spent several happy hours raking the backyard, imagining that I was harvesting crops. When Mother called me in for supper, I was famished.
Farm girls, I’d learned, developed big appetites working in the fields, and their mothers fed them from serving dishes heaped with food. There on my own table was a bowl filled with Mother’s crispy, perfectly salted Oven-Fried Potatoes. I helped myself to several huge spoonfuls, my fantasy intact—until the moment my mother shrieked, “What happened to all
the potatoes?”
Poof! I was myself again, listening to Mother lecture all five of us on portion control, and not eating more than your share. I didn’t confess who had eaten all those potatoes. They didn’t have portion control in that farm girl’s world, after all, and I didn’t want her to get in trouble.
Mother’s Oven-Fried Potatoes
- vegetable shortening
- 1 medium-sized potato per person
- salt, if desired
Cut the desired number of potatoes (Mother used one per person) into 1- to 2-inch chunks. Heat about 2 tablespoons of vegetable shortening in a glass pie pan at 425 degrees. Put in chunks of potato. Using a spoon, coat potatoes with melted shortening. Bake for about 45 minutes. Turn after about 25 minutes when bottoms are brown. Salt to taste.
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 "portion."
PROMPT: This week, unpack the word "portion" and how it's played out in your life, the life of someone you love, or the life of one of your characters. Consider these questions to get you started on a scene, poem, essay, story, etc.
- What in [your] life has been portioned out? (Food is one tangible resource, of course, but there are others, and oh-so-many intangible
ones!)
- When? How? By whom?
- What would [you] have liked a larger portion of? A smaller one?
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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