Dear ,Happy "Boxing Day
!" I wish you joy throughout whatever holiday(s) you are celebrating as we head toward the New Year. And I thank you for WordPlaying with me through this zine, which celebrates its one year anniversary this week. I'm so grateful for your companionship and the gift of your precious time and attention, whether you join me each week or every so often.
This is the last issue of the year, and on my walk today, I mulled over the various meanings of the word "last." I love words that serve as not only nouns, transitive verbs, and intransitive verbs, but also adverbs and adjectives, don't you? (If you're a true word nerd like me, you can look up all these "lasts" here, courtesy of Merriam-Webster's free online dictionary.)
Being that we are in the last week of the last month of the year, meaning 1A of the adjective form, "following all the rest," might seem most appropriate. But I'm much more interested in meaning 2A of "last" as an intransitive verb, "to remain fresh or unimpaired: endure."
This meaning made me think of poet Laura Fargas's wry, witty "Veal Isn't Always a Thing Without Feathers," a play on Emily Dickinson's famous "Hope is the thing with feathers" poem. Read on to see why, and for your last WordPlay prompt of the year ;).
May what lasts in your life throughout all the years to come
be love, joy, peace, and, yes, hope,
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
THE FIRST EVER WordPlay "STEP INTO YOUR WRITING DREAMS" COACHING PROGRAM (Fulfilling Writing Dreams & Goals; Creating New Writing; Revising & Polishing Your Writing)
I'm so excited to be able to provide you, through an exciting new venue, with the same tools, strategies, and mindsets I've used to help my private clients "birth" books and other writing projects into the world! Here's what you'll get to support you in moving past that nasty, critical internal critic and bringing your writing dreams to life:
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Six weekly training/coaching teleclasses you can participate in via phone, web, and/or replay
a weekly laser-focused writer's craft lesson (our topics are voice, character, dialogue, setting, timeline, plot) - A weekly laser-focused "banish" lesson (our accesses to banishing writer's block are belief, action, inspiration, intention, support, and habit)
- Several live critique walk-throughs to model how you can revise your own writing (and how to give useful feedback to others as well)
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The opportunity to ask questions and/or request solutions for your writing challenges (via phone and/or webmail)
- Six weeks of "week-daily" coaching/writing lessons (presented in audio and written form)
- A private online group location where you can share writing questions, wisdom, and advice with your fellow participants
WHERE:
The comfort of your own home
WHEN: January 14th through February 18th, 2013
(The six training/coaching teleclasses you can participate in via phone, web, and/or replay are 7 to 9 pm, Mondays (or at your convenience, as these will be recorded)
TO REGISTER:
Register online via PayPal or with a credit card by clicking: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=RD3WZ6PEZ9AES
(Or paste into your web browser.)
For information about more 2013 offerings, visit
www.wordplaynow.com/current.htm
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Featured Writing
An Excerpt from "Veal Isn't Always a Thing Without Feathers"
by Laura Fargas
(
View the whole poem here.)
...What lasts is the sheer simmering joy of transformations
a new vegetable in the same
old soups...
~ Laura Fargas
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 "last."
This last week of the year, set a timer for ten minutes, begin with the words "What lasts is...," and let the words and ideas flow. Shape your results into a list poem if you like.
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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