Dear ,
Here's to success! Can you feel the joy in this "cupcake toast" at the book party held in my writing studio this week for my student Judy Huitt? (Judy is just to the left of the window in the polka dot blazer, and you can check out her new book, Our Beloved, Our Friend, here. And the cupcakes are courtesy of Jennifer Happensack. ) This is one of the best parts of my business, hands down -- what bliss to celebrate
the fulfillment of all the love and effort that goes into bringing a book into being, and to witness the fellowship among the writers I support through WordPlay! Thanks to Mary Struble Deery for this photo -- you'll meet her below. 
Mary's writing of the week features a rescue, a perfect word of the week. For we know good writing of any and every genre needs conflict and resolution. And what better embodies both then a good rescue?
In this week's writing prompt, you'll be concocting your own story of rescue. And if you'd like to be rescued from your writing fears, blocks, doubts, doldrums, and anything else that's in the way of your writing success, have I got something for you!
I am so excited to be offering THE FIRST EVER WordPlay "RAINBOW HABITS" COACHING PROGRAM, an opportunity for you to get the highest level of group writing support I've ever offered. It begins on Monday, October 22nd. You can find out more about it here.
If you're wondering what the heck I mean by "rainbow habits," stay posted -- I'll be sending another message about this out soon. And meanwhile, you can check out the "Everything You Need to Know to Banish Writer's Block Forever" teleseminar replay. If you're unfamiliar with a teleseminar, it's simply an online presentation. This one has slides and an audio of me giving you information on how to banish your writer's block. If you're interested, just click this link:
http://forms.aweber.com/form/22/1640010822.htm
(or paste it into a web browser), and follow the simple instructions.
Here's to your writing success,
Maureen
Upcoming WordPlay
DIALOGUE CRAFTSHOP
Memoir writers, fiction and nonfiction writers, and poets alike: Nothing can make or break your writing like dialogue! Not only does it have to be believable, it also affects pacing and plot. Do you know how to avoid "wooden" dialogue? And all 9 ways to alter and punctuate, to show off your characters' words to their best, most polished effect? If not, come find out! $88 includes two instructional sessions, an e-book of supplemental materials, an audio of class, and supplies.
WHEN: Wednesdays. October 17 & 24, 10 am to noon
WHERE: South Charlotte area. Details will be provided upon registration
TO REGISTER:
Click here to download a printable registration form to mail in. (Or paste this link into your web browser: http://wordplaynow.com/WordPlayRegistrationForm.pdf
Or register online via PayPal or with a credit card by clicking this link (or pasting it into a browser):
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=A4KLV2R2K573Y
THE FIRST EVER WordPlay "RAINBOW HABITS" COACHING PROGRAM
Here's just some of what you'll get to support you in moving past your critical internal critic (did you ever notice the "critic" in "critical" :)?) and bringing your writing dreams to life:
* Six training/coaching teleclasses you can participate in via phone, web, and/or replay. These are
as participatory as you would like them to be, with writing exercises, opportunities to get your
questions answered, and much more!
* Six weeks of "week-daily" coaching/writing lessons (presented in audio and written form)
* Weekly accountability check-ins
EARLY BIRD BONUS!
The first six people who register will receive the opportunity to get feedback from me on a 750-word (or shorter) piece of writing (any genre)! Each week, one of these writings will be shared with your fellow participants to illustrate the revision process.
The cost for this program is $197. WHERE: The comfort of your own home.
WHEN: October 22nd - December 3 (The teleclasses are on Monday evenings from 7 to 9)
TO REGISTER:
Register online via PayPal or with a credit card by clicking this link:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=676KAX8MULV4Y
(Or paste it into a browser.)
Or, if you'd like to use the time-honored method of mailing in a check, email
info@wordplaynow.com for instructions.
COASTAL WRITING RETREAT
Renew yourself, whether you are a practicing writer, closet writer, or as-yet-to-pick-up-the-pen writer! The techniques and prompts we'll use will spur your imagination, and can be used to create nonfiction, fiction, and/or poetry-the choice is yours. There'll be ample free time to savor your beautifully appointed private room with king-sized bed, private bath and balcony, the large porches with rocking chairs and swings, and the coastal setting.
WHERE: The Sunset Inn, 9 North Shore Dr., Sunset Beach, NC 28468
WHEN:
Friday, November 2 - Sunday, November 4, 2012
OR
Friday, November 9 - Sunday, November 11, 2012
(Two separate retreats; choose the dates that work for you)
TO REGISTER:
Contact the Sunset Inn at 888.575.1001 or 910.575.1000 (if you would like to handpick your room, view your choices here first, then call). Because the Inn is holding rooms for you, our participants, they are blocked off as unavailable online.
$419 includes retreat sessions, two nights' lodging, two breakfasts and Saturday lunch (hotel tax and Saturday dinner at a local restaurant not included).
Register soon - this is a popular event and there are only 8 spaces available each weekend. The Inn will hold your reservation with a credit card.
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WordPlay Success Story Meet Mary Struble Deery 
Mary Struble Deery fancies herself to be an artist. Not a sculptor or painter, but a "Word Arranger." She'd prefer playing Scrabble with words. Individual letters, even if they're Z's and Q's worth a whopping 10 points each, don't satisfy. Mary worked in the media side of advertising, with numbers and dollars, so never had a chance to unleash her creative side. She's now making up for lost time.
She spends her summers on Bois Blanc Island, Michigan, the setting for the story below. Mary's blog mainly serves as a repository for some of her writing, travel pictures, and journals. You can find some of her other work under the creative writing tab. Visit http://somethinguphersleeve.wordpress.com/category/creative-writing/.
What Mary says about WordPlay I was hooked the day I met Maureen Ryan Griffin at a local so-you-want-to-be-a-better-writer session. And now, after years of WordPlay classes and retreats, I must confess, I'm a true addict. But it's not like being addicted to drugs or alcohol; it's more like craving carrots. A Maureen addiction is a good thing.
At every class and retreat writers are seated on piles of comfort, while Maureen serves up a cornucopia of confidence. 'Heap your plate as high as you can,' she says. The self-belief concoction she serves gets creative juices flowing.
Inventive prompts and writing recipes are some of the tools of Maureen's trade. These help her gently nudge students to recall and convey, imagine and express whatever surfaces. Finally, all are prodded to buff, buff, buff until their pieces gleam. Maureen helps writers feel proud.
Are you interested in getting addicted, too? Want to learn more about writing, have pride in the work you produce, laugh and cry in a safe, creative community? Well then, come mainline some Maureen with me.
Featured Writing Saving Francis Ford Coppola A 95% True Story by Mary Struble Deery
A splendid bottle of wine tumbled ten feet underwater. The Bablers (yes, that's really their name), the big-hearted people who lost their wine when it slipped through the bottom of a faulty box, told us about this when they hauled us from the Michigan island where we spend our summers to the mainland for a round of golf and dinner. Nestled in the seaweed near the public island dock, the bottle is visible, but out of reach. Pattie says it's one of her favorites, a Coppola, produced by a vineyard owned by the famous director.
"I'll retrieve it," I say, remembering picking up pennies from the pool bottom. The water is cold this time of year, but I have a wetsuit top. "Yea, yea, sure." No one quite believes me. How's that for a response to firm up resolve? I plan the hero's deed for the next afternoon. Driving my Odyssey along the dusty island roads, I envision how this feat will become island legend. As I dream of the adulations I'll receive, a fox darts from the woods, black squirrel in mouth. He stops and stares at me as if to say, "Look what I found!"
That will be me, I think, bottle of wine in hand saying, "Look what I found!" My resolve grows. I head to the dock. When I wear my wetsuit top, I don't wear a bathing suit, which at this point in my life is definitely a one-piece. The tugging to maneuver a wetsuit over a bathing suit is too tough. So I just wear underpants. I have a leopard print pair that could pass as a suit bottom, from a distance anyway.
The dock area, usually teeming with travelers, is empty. I have mixed feelings-no one will see me in my leopard undies, but there won't be witnesses to pass on the legend of my wine salvage. When I see the "Positively No Swimming" sign, for one beat I think maybe this isn't such a good idea. Sure, no spectators will witness my infraction. But I just passed Sheriff Whipple (yes, that's really his name) on the road. I have a flash vision of an I-wish-I-were-still-middle-aged woman in underpants, arrested for rescuing a bottle of wine. What the hell, live dangerously,
I think and start wading, then swimming to the small space between the boat and dock, looking down at the lake bottom. When I can't see the lost wine, I'm actually relieved. At least I'd tried. But then, there it is-the distinct black and gold label gleams. Coppola. **************************************
Unlike that well-fed fox, I fail the mission. Age does something funny-you know too much. You become cautious and lose your nerve. All I could think was how my body would wash up on the shore, head bashed from surfacing too fast directly under a boat. But, hey, how about an "A" for effort? And there's always the thought that counts thing. My husband has agreed to rescue the wine tomorrow. The same story will be told, only the hero will be wearing less distinctive swimwear.
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 "rescue." 1. OPTIONAL: For a bit of old-time fun and inspiration, watch
Dudley Do-Right rescue a damsel in distress. 2. Consider your own "rescue" experiences (or those of one of your characters), from 0 to 100% true. When have you been rescued? By whom? From what? Whom have you rescued?
What are your favorite tales of rescue, factual or fictional? Make a list, putting in enough detail so that if you look at this list a few years from now, you'll remember the moment you're thinking of: think where/when/who/what, in snapshot form.
3. After you've made your list, choose one rescue experience from your list and write about it, in any form you like -- a poem, an essay, a scene or chapter in a full-length work.
Want to be featured in a future Word-zine?
Send in a piece of your writing that you think could inspire other WordPlayers to write. 500-word limit, please.) You can send something inspired by this writing, or anything else of your choosing. Email your words to WordPlay here
and your piece may be chosen for a future Word-zine.
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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 two collections of poetry, 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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