Volume XI, Issue 18
May 4, 2022
Dear ,
I am diving into my memoir this month, and will also be walking a number of different physical, as well as spiritual paths, so what could be better to share with you than this Word-zine from October 17, 2016? Kim Love Stump's A Clearing in the Forest is such a
terrific book, for young adult readers (and middle grade readers with strong reading skills), and for adult readers as well. I highly recommend this great story about which Kirkus Reviews wrote: "Spellbinding and untraditional, this fantasy with a brave royal could teach Disney a few things about princess adventures." I'm so looking forward to the day my granddaughter Ellie is a bit older so I can share it with her . . .
If you've been to my website, you may have noticed Kim Love Stump's photo and words about WordPlay. I can't tell you how much I enjoy this woman, and how proud I am of having been a part of her new young adult fantasy novel, A Clearing in the Forest ~ Journeys from Ayrden. It's a delight to share Kim and her book with you this week! And it was also a delight to find this photo of a path on Pixabay (free images for all uses, yay!) that matches exactly the scene in my head when I first read the excerpt of Kim's book featured below.
Princess Adriana, the main character of A Clearing in the Forest, has trouble finding (spoiler alert: and later, choosing) her path. That can happen to all of us, both in our writing and in our life. But Princess Adriana has been given some wonderful guidance (see excerpt below), and she has courage in
abundance. So does Kim—watching her take on completing, publishing, and marketing her book has been nothing short of inspiring! If your writing path includes letting people know you have a book to sell (now or someday), and you want a role model, check out her Twitter feed: scroll back (waaaay back, Kim did the smart thing and started early). And no worries if you don't even know what Twitter is, all you have to do is
follow Kim's path backwards...
Wishing you every success and much joy on your own path!
Love and light,
Maureen
P.S. If you're ready to spend more time on your own writing path, I'm leading a free workshop at SouthPark Regional Library in Charlotte on Thursday, June 23rd from 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. Registration
required.
Upcoming WordPlay
THE HEALING POWER OF WORDS
(Writing as Renewal/Creating New Writing/
Tools for a Writing Life)
What benefits can writing provide – physically, mentally, spiritually? Are some ways of writing more healing than others? And can we create quality literary work as we heal? In this workshop that incorporates Dr. James Pennebaker’s ground-breaking ideas, we’ll discuss and implement ways to use writing as a
transformational tool. And, if you’re looking, you’ll find the genesis of new poetry, creative non-fiction, and/or fiction. Warning: Laughter likely. Inspiration guaranteed.
Read more about this program here.
COST: FREE!
WHERE: 7015 Carnegie Boulevard, Charlotte, NC 28211
non-fiction, and/or fiction. Phone: (704) 416-5400
Get Directions.
WHEN: Saturday, December 17th, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
More WordPlay opportunities here.
WordPlay Success Story
"...my dream of being an author came into full-fledged reality because of the wonderful Maureen Ryan Griffin."
Meet Kim Love Stump
Kim Love Stump has loved to read and write ever since she can remember. While fiction is her first writing love, she has written everything from
equity recommendations for a bank trust department to Bible studies. She’s also a frequent writer of memoir. Whether a snippet of real life or an intricate fantasyland, Kim loves world building through words. The real-life world she has built in Charlotte, North Carolina, she happily shares with her husband of thirty plus years.
Her debut novel, A Clearing in the Forest ~ Journeys from Ayrden, begins as Princess
Adriana leaves her beloved Kingdom of Ayrden on the Journey of her sixteenth year. Adriana will risk her life and her heart on this journey that neither she, nor any reader, will ever forget! Kim's essay, Sounds of Love and Life, will be published later this fall in the anthology Here in the Middle. She is currently working on her second book in the Journeys from Ayrden series and on a shorter, contemporary novel for younger readers.
You can read about Kim and her writing at her website:
You can also connect with Kim via:
What Kim says about
WordPlay
"As far back in my childhood as I can remember I wanted to own a horse and I wanted to be an author. A wonderful horse trainer named Claude
Shiflet helped make the first of those wishes come true in 1972. It was like magic. One moment all I had were wishes and a four leaf clover for luck, then came Squire and Truly and Matt and Bandit among others.
In much the same way—but many years later—my dream of being an author came into full-fledged reality because of the wonderful Maureen Ryan Griffin. For a long time, all I had was an idea, then it became written snippets of a story, then finally, over many months, an actual manuscript. But even at that point my dream to be a published author might have died, if it weren’t for the incredibly encouraging environment that Maureen creates week
after week in her Under Construction class. Each class taught me something that I was able to weave into the story to make it better and stronger. Every critique group brought something—better dialogue, more description, or simply the pleas of wanting more of the story. And while a year ago today that manuscript still languished in my computer, today it sits on bookstore shelves, adorns readers' bedside tables, and is “available for purchase wherever books are sold” as they say. Truly it’s like
magic. I’m not sure if Maureen is the magician or the magician’s assistant—but I do know this. It wouldn’t have happened without her!"
Featured Writing
an excerpt from
A Clearing in the Forest: Journeys from Ayrden by Kim Love Stump Not at all sure how the path was supposed to
open before her, Adriana cantered Sultan across the vast expanse of lawn. She scanned the woods for any entrance the entire time she rode towards them, but saw nothing. When she finally arrived at their edge, the castle was far in the distance behind her.
She turned Sultan parallel to the forest’s edge and rode alongside it for several minutes, wondering what to do. There was no one to ask now, and over and over
she’d merely been assured that the way would open before her.
But there was no path. Her eyes swept the towering trees and the dense underbrush at the edge of what seemed an impenetrable forest and she rode. On and
on she rode.
Finally she stopped and rode a distance away from the forest before turning Sultan to directly face it. She sat comfortably, but looked with confusion at her first apparent task of the
Journey.
How was she to get the path to open before her? What had she been taught? What lessons had she learned that might apply to this situation? She bit her lip nervously and once again surveyed the line of the
forest where it met the cleanly groomed grass of the castle lawn.
“Father said I’ll not make my best decisions if I’m worried,” she muttered under her breath. “Well, I am worried. What if my Journey never begins?”
She blew her breath out through pursed lips.
"Today’s outcome need not be the same as the days' that have gone before," Emaht had said. Surely she wasn’t to do this day after day, she thought with
frustration.
And at just that moment a fragment of her mother’s teaching came to her.
Your belief makes a way.
That might apply. But I
did believe it would be here waiting for me, she thought, and there is no path. However, she realized, that wasn’t precisely what she’d been told. The oft-repeated phrase was actually, “The way will open before you.” If I believed that, what would I do? Adriana asked herself.
The answer was suddenly obvious to her and, summoning all the courage she possessed, she urged Sultan to a full gallop straight towards the thick forest. They drew closer and closer and still there was no opening, yet she kept riding. Wasn’t that the point? My belief will make a way, my belief will make a way, she chanted to herself in time to Sultan’s hooves. And just before she absolutely had to
make a decision to stop or turn, the way opened.
They were in! Sultan’s stride lengthened and, like a boat plowing through the water, the woods simply gave way and parted in front of them. Adriana rode like this
for some distance before glancing over her shoulder to see that just behind them the woods returned to their place, erasing the path on which they were riding.
Amazing.
Could she turn back, even if she wanted to? Fear rose in her throat. How long could they go on like this? Was this what the Journey was supposed to be like? A Clearing in the Forest is available on Amazon, here.
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 "path."
PROMPT: What path would you (or one of your characters) like to forge? And/or what path are you (she/he) proud of following? Write about travel down any path toward something desired. 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 three collections of poetry, Ten Thousand Cicadas Can't Be Wrong, 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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