Word of the Week: advantage
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(Having trouble viewing this message? See it online here: http://www.aweber.com/t/PSU9G.) Dear
,
...well, of course, there's more than one advantage to being a writer, right? (Or should I say,write?) :)
This week's "word of the week" is inspired by Richard Allen Taylor's poem "Advantages to Having a Marsh in My Back Yard" (see below). And it got me to thinking about the plethora of advantages writing provides. Here are a few things on my list: keeping our brains healthy and growing, connecting us with our deepest selves and with each other, fulfilling our need to create, preserving memories....
And, of course, because I so love to play with words that I named my business WordPlay, I couldn't keep from playing with the word "advantage," noting that it contains the word "vantage" and almost contains the word "advance." Two more advantages: writing gives us a vantage point on any circumstance we may find ourselves in, and it helps us to advance any dream we have. Why, I wonder, doesn't everyone take advantage of all these advantages???!!!
But I am preaching to the choir here, as they say, because YOU, dear , do write. Congratulations! And I hope that this little riff on the advantages of writing inspires you to write even more.
Speaking of writing even more, I was so delighted Richard was willing to share his poem, written at a Coastal Retreat, with you, and his thoughts on what these retreats offer, including the space to create new pieces of writing. I would love to have you join me for one of the two Coastal Retreats I'm offering in early November, which is right around the corner!
I do have a few openings in each, and am so excited about not only the writing that will happen there, but the support I can give to "advance" the individual writing goals of the participants. Sheer joy! Since "a picture is worth a thousand words," here's on taken at the end of a previous Coastal Retreat. Looking at these shining faces (yes, mine too!) always makes me smile.
Hope you have a week that makes you smile all over, no matter where you are. And that you take the time to tap into all the advantages writing is waiting to offer you.
Love and light,
Maureen
Upcoming WordPlay
For information about other offerings happening soon, visit www.wordplaynow.com/current.htm
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. There are only a few spaces available. The Inn will hold your reservation with a credit card.
EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT POETRY (But Were Afraid to Ask)
Do you sometimes find poetry confusing or intimidating? Or do you enjoy writing and reading it, but feel uncertain about whether you're "doing it right"? Or would you like a more thorough understanding of what makes a great poem (yours or someone else's)? Then this poetry extravaganza is for you. Expect a lively good time exploring what makes a poem a poem, the knowledge you need to confidently create and revise poetry, and the opportunity to ask any question you've ever had about poetry but were afraid to ask. $97/3 sessions. Includes handouts and a take-home poetry toolkit loaded with information and tools so that you can create your own poetry. WHERE:
South Charlotte area. Details will be provided upon registration.
WHEN: Wednesdays, 7 pm - 9 pm, November 28, December 5 & December 12
TO REGISTER: Click here to download a printable registration form to mail in.
Or register online:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=66WGQ54T9J3YJ
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WordPlay Success Story "I want to be a better writer, and I know I can count on Maureen to furnish a big part of the inspiration and guidance I need."
Meet Richard Allen Taylor
Richard is the author of two collections of poetry, Something to Read on the Plane (
Main Street Rag 2004) and Punching Through the Egg of Space (Main Street Rag 2010). The late Dr. Henry Berne, a friend and fellow poet, once described him as a poet with "a discerning eye and a great sense of humor, something like a cosmic wink, which doesn't overdo but which still insists on showing up."
No stranger to prose writing, Richard has written and edited numerous newsletters, magazine articles, professional manuals and business-related publications and is a frequent contributor of book reviews for The Main Street Rag. In 2012, his first flash fiction story was published in moonshine Review and a second is forthcoming.
Richard takes an interest in serving his fellow writers and has led various poetry workshops and critique groups, as well as leading Charlotte Writers Club as president for two terms. And, as former co-editor of Kakalak Anthology of Carolina Poets, he helped organize and sponsor poetry contests and provided publishing opportunities for established as well as emerging poets and artists in the Carolinas.
Now approaching retirement from a business career that has spanned more than forty years, he plans to seek an MFA in Creative Writing and concentrate on being a full time writer and editor.
What Richard says about WordPlay
When I look at all the poetry books I have accumulated over the years, I can still see a fifteen-year gap on my book shelf. In 1986, I quit poetry cold-turkey; stopped reading it, stopped writing it. I told myself I had no talent for it. I knew there was no money in it. Besides, I was happily remarried and had no further need to pour my heart out on the page. That's what poets are supposed to do, right?
Well, I can't say I quit completely. Once in a while the poetry bug bit, the lightning struck, some compelling glimmer of inspiration wiggled its way from brain to pen to paper, and presto, a poem appeared. I finally learned that you didn't have to be unhappy or depressed to write a poem and in fact some of the stuff I wrote was funny. I didn't take any of it too seriously. I really didn't consider myself
A Poet, as if the title had to be conferred on you like knighthood or a listing on somebody's most-wanted list. I persisted stubbornly in my state of non-poethood until 2001 when a friend commented on something I said over a couple of beers. "That sounded like poetry," she said. "I used to write poetry," I said. "Maybe you should start again," she said. So I did.
Soon after, I landed in a poetry group led by Maureen Ryan Griffin. We sat in a circle. Everyone brought a poem. We read our poems. Everyone remarked on the poems, but Maureen's comments were always the most amazing, insightful and helpful, and I was astonished at how quickly she could size up a poem, point out its flaws and strong points, and make you believe you were on to something worthwhile, something important. Thus began a long and productive relationship between Maureen and me. She has been at various times, my editor, my mentor, my creativity coach, and always, my friend. Though I have, by now, attended many workshops and benefitted from the help and advice of many poets and poetry instructors, I am proud to identify myself as one her many protégés.
I return again and again to Maureen's workshops -- especially her annual retreats to Sunset Beach -- because they work for me. Maureen has a knack for drawing out the best in writers and aspiring writers. I always come away from her workshops with a few rough drafts that, with additional work and self-editing, turn into publishable poems.
I can't say that I know what "success" as a poet really means. If you measure success in terms of fame and money, poetry is bound to frustrate all but the Billy Collinses of the world. For me, success in poetry is somewhat like driving on the Interstate. If you read enough, you can always look up and see a long line of people ahead of you, and an equally long line behind you. If having a couple of poetry books and dozens of poems published is "success," I'm glad to have it, and grateful for Maureen's help in getting this far. Am I satisfied? No. I want to be a better writer, and I know I can count on Maureen to furnish a big part of the inspiration and guidance I need. If I happen to get rich and famous in the process, I'll have to rewrite this. Featured Writing
One of the many advantages of hosting retreats at the Sunset Inn is that everyone gets their own screen porch facing the marsh and intercoastal waterway. Every time I read this poem of Richard's I get to visit my porch again in my mind:
Advantages of Having a Marsh in My Back Yard
by Richard Allen Taylor
The restful wideness of it, the golden mood, saltmarsh cordgrass (spartina alterniflora), yellow-green and tall
the occasional gull that wings white against the long gray line of trees edging the mainland. No tending or trimming required
a home for countless amphibians, arachnids, arthropods butterflies, oysters, crabs a place that gives all and asks nothing in return except to be left alone.
On the spine of its causeway, the soothing shoosh of traffic queuing up to cross the drawbridge after the shrimp boat chugs past slow as an hour hand. Its only disadvantage -- the war between unseen Moon and resisting suck of muddy earth -- a quiet violence
that rocks the chair beneath me churns up the silt of daydreams and makes me late for breakfast. From
Punching Through the Egg of Space (Main Street Rag Publishing Co., 2010)
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 "advantage."
In listening to my heart, I find I'm most in need today of using writing as a tool for clarity -- a "vantage point." So as soon as I send this zine off to you, I'm going to be listing the advantages my life, just as it is, offers me. And then I'm taking a look at what advantages might appear if I made a sweeping change in one or more areas of my life.
How about you? What advantages do you have right now, right in your own "back yard"? (Who knows? There just may be a poem there!) And
what advantages are within your grasp if you let go of one or more commitments that, while good, are keeping you from taking on something better?
If this writing prompt doesn't serve you where you are today, here's another one:
Pick one aspect of your life, whether it's a place, a person, or a passion, and list all of its advantages. If you like, turn your list into a poem, essay, article, story, or chapter.
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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