Dear ,

 

How are you holding up after a full month of social distancing?

 

I am keeping my head above water every day, or doing my best to, with so much to be thankful for: good health, good friends, good family, a beautiful spring. And Zoom, so I can keep hanging out with my WordPlay class members and clients, whose words (and faces!) lift my spirits every time. 

 

But, like so many others I've been talking to, in these days filled with sad, frightening news, some days it's a struggle. The words of this week's featured writer, John Prine fit perfectly for me right now: "You're up one day, the next you're down."

Finding out that one of my song-writing heroes was struck down by Covid-19 was a hard blow. I've comforted myself with revisiting my old favorite John Prine tunes and acquiring many new favorites. (YouTube has ended up on my gratitude list every day—endless hours of John Prine to drown my sorrows in. And heal my heart, too. Because nobody understands the way sorrow and silliness, jubilation and grief mingle together in this crazy world any better than he does.

 

Do you remember how you first got acquainted with your favorite singers? I owe my love of John Prine to my big brother Mike. Here we are in the summer of 1979, in Colorado.

I was on a cross country trip from Erie, PA out to San Francisco and back (remember when we used to be able to travel, instead of being confined to our houses?) with a good friend from college, and was hoping to see my brother when we were in Colorado. Trouble is, he was working for the U.S. Forest Service, moving from campsite to campsite out in the woods somewhere. I had no address. And no one had cell phones then. Can you imagine how "up" I was to be driving one hairpin turn after another through the Rockies and spot your beloved brother sitting at a picnic table on the side of the road? It felt like a miracle.

This guy, whom I hero-worshiped (and still do) was the one who taught me how to play guitar when I was in the eighth grade, and introduced me to John Prine through "Paradise" and "Dear Abby"--and I have been a huge fan ever since.  

You may not be a fan of folk music, but I hope you'll give a listen to the video below of John Prine singing another of my favorites, "That's the Way That the World Goes 'Round," from which come the words "You're up one day, the next you're down." (If you've ever gotten the words to lyrics wrong, you'll especially like it.)

May your head stay above water, too. And may you keep your own words flowing. 

Love and light,

Maureen 

Two Writer-Related Opportunities

 

NORTH CAROLINA WRITERS' NETWORK'S

CABIN FEVER CONFERENCE 2020!

REGISTER BY 9 A.M. THURSDAY, APRIL 16TH!

 

If you haven't heard yet about the North Carolina Writers' Network's Cabin Fever Conference, it's not (quite!) too late. It's a great chance to learn and grow as a writer. And completely custom-tailored! Sign up for one class, two classes, four classes, or the whole shebang!

Details and registration here:

https://ncwriters.org/index.php/programs-and-services/conferences/11139-cf20

Some of the offerings:

Thursday, April 16

5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Dalton - Make a Scene: Emotional Building Blocks of Fiction

Plan, Build, Mess It Up and Do It Again: Fiction at NCWN 2020 Spring Conference

Friday, April 17

 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

O'Keefe - More than Meaning (poetry)

7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

O'Wain - The Art of Writing Memoir

5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

O'Keefe - More than Meaning (poetry)

7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Kent - Public Speaking for Writers

Saturday, April 18

9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.

Miura, York - What a Long Strange Trip: From Manuscript to Finished Book

11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Lacy - Writing Your Life: Turning Personal Stories into Universal Narratives

1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Mepham - Narrative Medicine: Stories of Illness & the Power of Reflective Writing

 

CHARLOTTE READERS PODCAST
CELEBRATES NATIONAL POETRY MONTH!

On Tuesday, April 21^st, on Charlotte Readers Podcast, named best podcast in Charlotte 2019 by Queen City Nerve, we meet five Queen City poets, who share their love of poetry and their poetry journeys and perform two of their poems. 

Charlotte Mecklenburg Library and Charlotte Readers Podcast partnered to bring these local poets to the podcast stage in celebration of National Poetry Month. You will hear poetry by Bluz, Jay Ward, Kathie Collins, Kia Flow and Shane Manier.

National Poetry Month each April is the largest literary celebration in the world, with tens of millions of readers, students, K-12 teachers, librarians, booksellers, literary events curators, publishers, bloggers, and, of course, poets marking poetry's important place in our culture and our lives. 

 You can connect with the show at: www.charlottereaderspodcast.com

 The line-up: 

Bluz: slam champion, spoken word artist, Emmy award winner and coach of SlamCharlotte, a competitive poetry team that won multiple National Poetry Slam championships

Jay Ward: poet and teaching artist, youth slam poetry coach and winner of National Poetry Slam and Individual World Poetry Slam championships.

Kathie Collins: published poet, student of Jungian psychology, graduate instructor and co-founder of Charlotte Center for Literary Arts.

Kia Flow: poet, author, stage performer, National Poetry Slam championship team member and recipient of Poet of Influence award by The Jax Poetry Fest

Shane Manier: creative coach, artist, live event painter, poetry mentor, National Spoken Word Poet and youngest poet to be inducted into the Poetry Council of North Carolina

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—especially in this challenging time.

And, hey, National Poetry Month is just around the corner!

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, which is right around the corner. 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 internet.
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 sign-up online for Poetry Rocks, click here.
 

WHAT PARTICIPANTS SAY ABOUT POETRY ROCKS

 

" . . . for letting me hear your voice in my head, for the gift of reading poetry every day and asking “how does she/he do this?”, for filling my tool box with a lifetime of just-the-right-tool (my husband says you can do any job if you have the right tool), and for being a writer whose work bubbles over with words that remind me of this great gift of humanness — thank you!

                                                                               ~ Linda Whitesitt

 

. . . a master class in creativity, writing and understanding poetry. It is exceptionally rewarding, educational, and enjoyable. It is a celebration of life. . . . each lesson includes a “what to do” section that directs the student to create a poem. . . . The Tools can be used again and again, long after the course has been completed, to create new poems. . . . Maureen takes a playful approach to writing and teaching that makes this course particularly enjoyable. 

                                                                                   ~ Bud Thomas