Dear ,
What counts? YOU.
There's only one thing you really need to be a writer -- besides words, that is -- and that's sheer faithfulness. As novelist and memoirist Gwendolyn
Parker said at one of the first North Carolina Writers' Network conferences I ever attended, circa 1990, "You want to be someone you can count on."
Those words made a huge impression. I wrote them down, great big, in my notebook. I still say them to myself every so often, and not just about writing. This mantra, back in the days when I was raising four children, guided me straight from dropping my toddlers off at Mother's Morning Out back home
to my word processor, and kept me there for three hours, until it was time to pick them up again. I wanted to be someone I could count on. I promise: If you
show up regularly, fingers on pen or keyboard, you will be richly rewarded over time. You will become someone you can count on.
That's what has all these wise, wonderful women in my latest Under Construction Class beaming -- acknowledging all that they accomplished in the past four months by being able to count on themselves (and each other) was quite a cause for celebration! (So much so that one of the members Skyped her way to our last class! So of course we had to include her in the group photo.) Too bad we didn't think to turn the light off, but, hey, the glow fits.
So I have a challenge for you -- be someone you can count on by faithfully showing up to write for just fifteen minutes at least five days a week (and it doesn't have to be Monday through Friday; you decide what works for you). Yes, even in hectic December. Set a timer for fifteen minutes (click here for the Online Stopwatch I use; it applauds when you're done) and write something new, or revise something you've already written, even if it's only a paragraph or two.
And if you fail, or forget, or flub up -- then begin again.
Happy counting,
Maureen
WORDPLAY GIFT CERTIFICATES AVAILABLE
Want to WordPlay in 2013? I'd be happy to create a gift certificate for you or anyone else (including someone who may want to gift YOU) for any amount. Email info@worplaynow.com for details.
Upcoming WordPlay
For information about other offerings happening soon, visit www.wordplaynow.com/current.htm
WINTER WRITING RETREAT
Renew and delight yourself. Seasonal retreats are opportunities to create new pieces of writing and/or new possibilities for our lives. Enjoy various seasonal prompts; they have not failed to elicit beautiful material that can be shaped into essays, poems, stories, or articles. After a communal lunch, you'll have private time which can be used to collage, work with a piece of writing from the morning, or play with a number of other writing prompts and methods. You'll take home new ideas, new drafts, and new possibilities. $97 includes lunch.
WHERE: South Charlotte area. Details will be provided upon registration.
When: Saturday, December 22 10 am - 5 pm
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=NMECPYT88NT6W
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Featured Quote "Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count; everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted."
~ Albert Einstein (attributed)
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 "count."
Be someone you can count on by faithfully showing up to write for just fifteen minutes at least five days a week (and it doesn't have to be Monday through Friday; you decide what works for you). Yes, even in hectic December. Set a timer for fifteen minutes (click here for the Online Stopwatch I use; it applauds when you're done) and write something new, or revise something you've already written, even if it's only a paragraph or two.
(Deja vu, right? But just in case you want more counting, try counting your blessings, just like in this song from one of my favorite Christmas movies. )
Want to be featured in a future Word-zine?
S
end 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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