ClarityWorks Inc

Newsletter for Writers - July 2014   

UpcomingEventsUpcoming Retreat

 

Registration opens
September 1, 2014



December 14, 2014
The Hidden Word:
Writing with Kuan Yin

Great Tree Zen Temple
Alexander, North Carolina
 
 More information here. 

 

  

UpcomingEventsBLOG: A Woman's Way with Words

 

Read the latest from Peggy
at her blog

A Woman's Way with Words


Writing Lake Logan

We invite you to subscribe, comment, and share with your writer friends.

 

 

  

UpcomingEvents Writing in Circles:
The Process of Soul-Making

 

A companion anthology to
Peggy Tabor Millin's
Women, Writing and
Soul-Making.

Written by Peggy's students
using Centered Writing Practice,
Writing in Circles is the
product of the process.

Writing in Circles




Coming soon in paperback!

 

 

 

  

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From the Book


We cannot write well by
staying on the surface
of our lives or
by attempting to hide
our true selves
behind our words.

The Wisdom of Not Knowing
challenges us to truth telling.

It sends us into the mines to chip away at all the layers
concealing the gold
of ourselves.

It challenges us to bring
our precious metal
to the light and return
to the depths for more.

Mining our selves, our lives,
is not a one-time thing.

We free the pen to dig deep
whenever we pick it up.

This is how writing heals
us and how it
makes us whole.

This is why writing excites
and energizes and
nourishes us.

This is also why
writing scares us.

Women, Writing and Soul-Making


Peggy Tabor Millin's
Women, Writing, and Soul-Making: Creativityand the Sacred Feminine
RemindersFromPeggyPeggy's Monthly Reminder


Practice Makes Possible

Writing Fearless
Practice. Practice. Practice.

Process before product.

Writing requires silence, solitude, space, and the courage and awareness to search our shadow side.

Write from the belly, not the brain; write from the heart, not the head.

The body with its intuition and our willingness to listen to what the body says are our greatest assets as writers.

Writing and publishing are not the same thing. If we write, we are writers. If we publish what we write, we are published writers. A published writer is not a better writer. A published writer is simply a writer who is published.


-Peggy Tabor Millin
excerpts from

Women, Writing, and Soul-Making

WWS-M Kindle Edition

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Dates for 2014
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ClarityWorks participant blogs & retreat anthologies
Cheryl Dietrich

Ginger Graziano

Karen Lauritzen

Martha McMullen

Follow this link to
read anthologies of retreat
participants on the
Clarityworks website.
 

Wordly Wise from Peggy Tabor Millin
THE RISK OF NEW FRONTIERS

What wonderful responses I received from  "Right Time, Right Path: Now." Such wisdom you sent my way. I wish you could have read one another's insights and I'm working on a way we might do that. (Suggestions accepted!) It's obvious a conversation is wanting to happen--many of you seem to be at the same juncture as I.

Here are some insights offered:

One woman writes of the unfinished manuscripts under the Peggy-Garden1 bed. "I can't seem to get back to them (the manuscripts) and feel them growing old, not unlike myself. It doesn't feel like "writers' block," but I watch myself flitting from one thing to another, and not focusing much on anything, partly in an attempt to squeeze in experience as I approach my 70th birthday."

**I began experiencing this in my late 60s and my 70th birthday was a shock in a way I didn't expect.


Another says she is in the same place and wonders if it's from recovering from breast cancer and two surgeries.


**I have had a broken leg, TIA, and back surgery between December 2010 and January 2014. Certainly physical problems remind us of our immortality and rearrange our priorities.

A mantra like "In this moment, all my needs are met" was suggested on the basis of the experience of another writer. This particular frontier, however, has not felt like depression or even discouragement, at which times I find affirming statements most helpful. I feel more like I've crossed to a new land and don't know the territory. The experience is at once exciting and daunting.

Another woman described her life as a "sea of uncertainty." As a result she began making a list with each item beginning "I am certain..." She equated the exercise with a gratitude list or Oprah's "This I know for sure." She ended her response with these words, "...you are not alone in your waiting period. Surely there is grace in waiting and not fixing."

An author of a book of reflections about modern womanhood said she recognized the experience of which I spoke. Her underlying fear was "permanently losing my way, as well as becoming -?-obsolete." She has moved forward, with little clarity, is flowing with the river, and has "quit trying to swim upstream." She too returned to reading her own book, particularly a place in which she speaks of the importance of "internal combustion."

Another wrote that she now believes that whatever road she's on is the right road, that she'll understand once she's traveled it. She sees, when she looks back, that all the pieces of her life, good and bad, come together to contribute invaluable learning and expansion in her understanding. Her suggestion? "Stay awake, say 'yes'--if not to the experience, to the understanding."

Another comment: "Lately, I've wondered if instead of making a big splash with a book or inspiring article, perhaps it is more about being a living example. My life is all that I have and perhaps I need to be satisfied with a small drop of sharing that gives hope and inspiration to those who cross my path. Thus, I try to live more in touch with my opening heart and watch the people, events, and opportunities for connection that cross my path."

I do find that when I'm facing a transition or a quandary that answers and opportunities show up synchronistically. One of these was finding, in exchange for signing up for the author's blog, the free fifty-page e-book River Diary: My Summer of Grace, Solitude and 35 Geese on carolorsborn.com. Download this book!  I savored every word, as did my husband. Included in Carol's reveries  are the last two stanzas of "A Morning Offering" by John O'Donohue, from his To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings.

May my mind come alive today
To the invisible geography
That invites me to new frontiers,
To break the dead shell of yesterdays,
To risk being disturbed and changed.

May I have the courage today
To live the life that I would love,
To postpone my dream no longer
But do at last what I came here for
And waste my heart on fear no more.

A common thread runs through my experience, your comments, the River Diary, and O'Donohue's poem: aging triggers a change, physically, mentally, spiritually that invites us to a fork in the road where we must choose between living out our past by hanging onto old images of ourselves and "risk being disturbed and changed" by shedding these images and moving into a new vision of ourselves, truly "growing" old. Although these words are mine, they are the result of sitting at the bottom of my garden, ala Carol Orsborn by her river, and reading another now favorite book, Old Age: Journey into Simplicity by Jungian psychologist, Helen Luke. (My favorite chapters are the first about Odysseus and one on T.S. Elliot's "Little Gidding".

To learn more about this part of my journey, please see my blog--and respond too!

Keep writing!

Peggy
 Books to Explore
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss

Review from Amazon by --Gisele Toueg  

Nicole Krauss's The History of Love is a hauntingly beautiful novel about two characters whose lives are woven together in such complex ways that even after the last page is turned, the reader is left to wonder what really happened. In the hands of a less gifted writer, unraveling this tangled web could easily give way to complete chaos. However, under Krauss's watchful eye, these twists and turns only strengthen the impact of this enchanting book.

The History of Love spans of period of over 60 years and takes readers from Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe to present day Brighton Beach. At the center of each main character's psyche is the issue of loneliness, and the need to fill a void left empty by lost love. Leo Gursky is a retired locksmith who immigrates to New York after escaping SS officers in his native Poland, only to spend the last stage of his life terrified that no one will notice when he dies. ("I try to make a point of being seen. Sometimes when I'm out, I'll buy a juice even though I'm not thirsty.") Fourteen-year-old Alma Singer vacillates between wanting to memorialize her dead father and finding a way to lift her mother's veil of depression. At the same time, she's trying to save her brother Bird, who is convinced he may be the Messiah, from becoming a 10-year-old social pariah. As the connection between Leo and Alma is slowly unmasked, the desperation, along with the potential for salvation, of this unique pair is also revealed.

The poetry of her prose, along with an uncanny ability to embody two completely original characters, is what makes Krauss an expert at her craft. But in the end, it's the absolute belief in the uninteruption of love that makes this novel a pleasure, and a wonder to behold.

Peggy's Note: A book to treasure and remember. Writers will read for pleasure and also for instruction. A study guide is available.



NCnewsCalls for Submision

Calls for Submission
A Room of Her Own. The $1,000 To the Lighthouse & Clarissa Dalloway Book Prizes are  awarded annually to one woman's  unpublished poetry collection and one woman's "everything but poetry" manuscript (respectively). Winners of both prizes receive $1000 and publication by Red Hen Press as well as  promotional efforts and coverage of some related travel expenses. Rules and online submission here. Submission deadline July 31, 2014.

Arcadia Fiction Chapbook Contest and Ruby Irene Poetry Chapbook Contest. Arcadia Magazine is currently accepting submissions for two contests. Prizes include $1000 and publication in Arcadia Magazine. Learn more at their website.

A Woman's Write "Good Read" Fiction Book Competition is open for submissions. AWW is a resource for creative women. We want to encourage work by, for and about women, but stories about men will not be overlooked. Just be sure that your viewpoint rings true and the experiences you portray are authentic to the character and setting. Be natural. Entry fee is $40.00 for all submissions and includes a thorough, thoughtful critique with up to ten pages of line editing comments and corrections. One award of $500.00 will be awarded to the fiction book judged best by our judges. Winner will also receive a certificate and notification on the AWW website. Visit www.awomanswrite.com/rules.html for submission guidelines.
NCnewsNC News for Writers

Pen-Journal
Malaprop's Bookstore Bookclubs. One of the many ways in which Malaprop's serves the Asheville community is through their bookclubs. From Women In Lively Discussion (WILD) to a mystery book club, explore the offerings at www.malaprops.com/book-clubs

The Writers' Workshop of Asheville Folly Beach Writers' Retreat. October 2--5, 2014 near Charleston, South Carolina. Sessions led by Writers' Workshop instructors. Visit the Writers' Workshop website for more information and registration.
 
Readers Write: Grace Ellis
"Catwalk"
  
   The catwalk ran all the way around the school's black box theater, six feet below the ceiling.  It had a railing, and for some of the productions, audience members could be seated there and peer down at the action below.  It could also be used as part of the set.  In that pirate play last year, for example, the actors had shinnied up a pole to the catwalk, where they brandished the skull and crossbones, growled out threats, and engaged in sword fights.  Plans to use the catwalk for the walk-the-plank scene had been scrapped, though, when the tech crew couldn't work out a concealed safe landing, even with the use of pulleys.
    This afternoon Josh was squatting on the catwalk, adjusting the angle of the lights, replacing bulbs, and covering the center light with a design stenciled in plastic, for the final special effect.  Except for the emergency exits, the house lights below were unlit.  Only the light fixtures attached to the catwalk were illuminated.  Josh worked in near darkness and in silence-just the way he liked it. Consulting his notes with his hand-held torch, he counted his steps to the next fixture, which he would tilt another fifteen degrees.  As he was inspecting the task at hand, he saw a sudden square of light below and glimpsed what looked like a bulky figure.  A slamming sound followed, and the figure vanished from sight.  A door had been opened, and someone had entered.
    "Hey!" called Josh, without thinking.  There was no response.  Josh wondered if his call had sounded friendly?  Hostile?  Although he could not see clearly, Josh heard someone mounting the ladder he'd propped against the catwalk on the opposite wall.  The steps rang out, "Clang.  Clang.  Clang."
    "Hey!" Josh called again.  The figure froze for an uncomfortable number of seconds.  Josh's vision was adjusting, and at this height, he was beginning to see the outline of things.  The intruder began to laugh.  It was an odd laugh, with no humor in it whatsoever, almost a bark. The intruder (it must be a male, Josh thought) began to move again, more slowly.  He was facing the side wall now, but if he turned the corner, walked down the next length of catwalk, and turned the next corner, he would reach Josh's position.  The guy kept walking.
    As the stranger made the turn, Josh reacted, again without thinking.  He wrenched the fixture in his hands so that it shone directly into the stranger's face.
    It wasn't a stranger, after all.  It was Michael-that weird geeky guy who tried out for every show.  Michael never got a part, so it should be no surprise that he hadn't made the cut for the current show either, even though it had a huge cast.  Michael had a bad stutter and could barely get the words out at all-much less give them any kind of emotional content.  His voice still wavered between boy and man in pitch.  The other kids laughed-how could they help it?  Michael was supposed to be some kind of super genius in math-probably would end up making a fortune in Silicon Valley, but, for now, he just didn't fit in.
    Michael froze again when the light hit his face.  "Hey, Dude," said Josh.  "Michael, what's up?"
    Suddenly Michael began running full tilt, straight toward Josh.  "Hold up, man," Josh called.  "Watch out.  What are you. . . "
    But at this point, Michael, who was only a few feet away, grabbed the top rail, pivoted surprisingly gracefully (maybe he should have tried out as a dancer, Josh found himself thinking) and swung his body out over the railing.  He pushed off and sailed out over the auditorium-in the swan dive position.  It looked for a moment as if the flight would be entirely horizontal, but it wasn't, of course.  And the surface below was not the parting water of a swimming pool.  Michael arced down, toward the wooden seats below.  
Josh would never forget the sickening sound of the crash.
___________________   
Grace Ellis has written textbooks, poems, and articles, but she most enjoys writing for the stage.  She has seen about twenty-five of her plays performed in churches and schools and the Greensboro Cultural Arts Center.  Her play Rhonda's Rites of Passage, which contains a scene that was read at one of Peggy Millin's workshops, received a staged reading in Carrboro, NC, on April 27, 2014. Grace attended the Lake Logan retreats in 2011 and 2012, and she and her friend Janet Fox attended a later weekend retreat in Montreat.  Grace and Janet continue to meet to write from the prompts.  One such meet-up produced this piece, "Catwalk," which won first prize for flash fiction in the Winston-Salem Writers anthology contest.

Send it in!

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And the Kudos Go To... 

...Alice Owens Johnson, whose poem "Metronome" is featured in the upcoming edition of The Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume VII: North Carolina. The volume will be published at the end of the year by Texas Review Press. Her poem "Thomas Hardy's Heart" will be published in the forthcoming Kakalak 2014. Congratulations Alice!

Alice Owens Johnson Alice lives in Black Mountain, North Carolina, and has participated in ClarityWorks classes and retreats.




ClarityWorks enjoys celebrating the accomplishments of writers who have attended our classes, retreats and workshops. We want to share your writing success with our ClarityWorks' community! Send Peggy a "kudos" note at [email protected].


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