Volume VIII, Issue 45
November 20, 2019
Dear ,
What a wonderful weekend I spent with these delightful writers at the WordPlay Coastal Writing Retreat at the Sunset Inn in Sunset Beach, North Carolina this past weekend! The word of the weekend looks to have been "windswept"—but we were "lost" too, in the best definition of this word. Lost in in our love of language and the
delight of focused time to write and commune with fellow writers. And lost in what stretches, scares, and delights us. (Our time delving into our fears was well-spent.)
We were all "off our beaten paths," in and out of our writing. A writer I absolutely love, Barbara Brown Taylor, talks about the value of this in today's featured writing, an excerpt from her book Learning to Walk in the
Dark.
I'm so excited that she is coming to Charlotte to lead a writing conference this March!
Upcoming WordPlay
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!
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!
Featured Writer
Barbara Brown Taylor Barbara Brown Taylor and I at Chautauqua Institution in western New York, July 2016
Barbara Brown Taylor is a New York Times best-selling author, professor, and Episcopal priest. Her first memoir, Leaving Church, won a 2006 Author of the Year award from the Georgia Writers Association. Her last book, Learning to Walk in the Dark, was featured in TIME magazine. She has served on the faculty of Piedmont College since 1998 as the Butman Professor of
Religion & Philosophy and has been a guest lecturer at Emory, Duke, Princeton, and Yale. Taylor and her husband Ed live on a farm in the foothills of the Appalachians, sharing space with wild turkeys, red foxes, white-tailed deer and far too many chickens.
Featured Writing
an excerpt from
"The Practice of Getting Lost"
chapter of
An Altar in This World
by
Barbara Brown Taylor
When I first moved to the land where I live, I shared it with a herd of cows. The first thing I noticed about them was that they were pure white. The second thing I noticed was how predictable they were. With a hundred acres at their disposal, they had worn narrow paths across those acres to their favorite watering holes, shady spots, and clover patches. When they wanted to get from one of those places to another, they lined up
single file and followed the tracks they had made across vast expanses of pasture. Some of these tracks were no more than eight inches wide, which is about one-fourth the width of a cow. Yet the cows knew exactly where to put their feet, even without looking.
Since I soon found myself following those same tracks when I walked the land, I think I understand something about why the cows use them. In most cases, the tracks mark the shortest route from point A to point B. Where they do not, that is because the cows have found ways to get where they are going without expending too many calories. In these cases, the tracks avoid both steep climbs and dicey descents, choosing long
stretches under leafy tree lines wherever possible.
For my purposes, the most valuable thing about the tracks is that I can see where I am putting my feet. This is important when you share land with timber rattlers and groundhogs as well as white cows. The last thing you want when you are half a mile from home is to surprise a sunbathing rattlesnake or step into a groundhog burrow, which can swallow your leg up to the kneecap before you even see it. Did I mention the yellow
jackets? They too make homes in the deep grass, and they value their privacy.
So I understand the use of narrow paths through wide swaths of unpredictable territory. I do the same thing when I drive to work, taking the shortest route with the lightest traffic, even when that means I see the same subdevelopments and strip malls every day. I take this track so unconsciously that on the days when I mean to deviate from it—to run an errand or to keep an appointment in another direction—I sometimes find
myself a mile past my unusual turn before I come to my senses.
I am convinced that this is normal human behavior, which means that something extra is needed to override it. Why override it? Because once you leave the cow path, the unpredictable territory is full of life. True, you cannot always see where you are putting your feet. This means you can no longer afford to stay unconscious. You can no longer count on the beat-down red dirt path making all of your choices for you. Leaving it,
you agree to make your own choices for a spell. You agree to become aware of each step you take, tuning all of your senses to exactly where you are and exactly what you are doing....
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 "lost."
PROMPT:
Write about getting lost—in mind, heart, body, and/or spirit.
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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