Tuesday, December 01, 2015
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
Next meeting: Annual Christmas Brunch
Monday, November 02, 2015
Meeting this Saturday
Our next meeting
Saturday, November 7
10 am - noon
North Haledon Church of the Nazarene
(address on our website)
Saturday's focus:
Tell me a story!
Bring your notebook (paper or electronic) along with your most colorful adjectives, strongest verbs, and greatest story lines.
If you have work for critique,
please follow guidelines on our website.
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Beautiful Words
From NJCWG member, Maude Carolan Pych
A friend came up to me at church one Sunday (She’s a woman
who studies Scripture in depth and who also enjoys my poetry.) and said, “You
are of the tribe of Napthali.” I asked what made her say that and she referred
me to Gen 49:21: “Napthali is a doe let loose. He gives beautiful words.”
This verse comes from the “Blessing of Jacob,” the longest
poem in Genesis, in which Jacob blesses each of his twelve sons with the
appropriate blessing for each of them.
A few interesting points: Napthali, being a “son” of Jacob
is described as a doe. The reason given by Rabbi David (I couldn’t make out his
first name) on the “Hebrew Nation” website is that the
female deer is swifter than the male. The rabbi also said that the Hebrew for
“beautiful words” is Imrei shefer,
which speak of musical ability and natural eloquence and that the word shefer is related to shofar, an
instrument that may be used to issue warning and alarm.
Also, while looking at this verse online, I found that other
versions translate “beautiful words” as “gives goodly words.” “John Gill’s
Exposition of the Bible” says this verse looks ahead to the New Testament and
refers to good tidings of good things (the Gospel). He says it points to the
people of Christ’s time who were swift to run after Jesus and hear him; panted
after him as the hart after the water brooks. The people who received and gave
out the goodly words of the Gospel were made free and became like a hind let
loose.
The verse caused me to think of the beautiful words/goodly
words in Scripture that we use and write about. Here are examples:
Grace, salvation, holiness, righteousness, purity, Jesus,
living water, eternity, eternal life, glory, forgiveness, resurrection, love,
mercy, truth.
I’m sure you can think of more “beautiful words.” Use them
as a springboard to write a prayer, a poem, an article, haiku, etc.
Maude
Carolan Pych
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Our Next Meeting
10 am to noon
North Haledon Church of the Nazarene(directions on website)
Think outside the box! What topics, genres, formats await your discovery?
If you bring pages for critique, be sure you followed the guidelines on our website.
Tuesday, September 01, 2015
Meeting this Saturday
September is here and we're back to our monthly meeting schedule.
Saturday, September 5
10 am to noon
North Haledon Church of the Nazarene
(directions on website)
Please be prepared to report on your summer progress and share new goals for the fall.
If you bring pages for critique, be sure you followed the guidelines on our website.
I look forward to seeing you Saturday for a time of inspiration, accountability and encouragement,
Barbara
Monday, July 06, 2015
Writing Prompts
Following is the devotional from our June meeting.
Writing prompts are all around
us. Life abounds with inspiration for that next story, essay, poem or book. We
simply need to keep our eyes open, our ears tuned and a notepad in our pocket.
As Christian writers we have an even wider field because we see life in two
dimensions, physical and spiritual.
The stories we tell, regardless
of genre or format, are public declarations of what resides deep within. In its
own way, each is a testimony - “a formal statement about something
that we saw, know, or experienced” (Macmillan Dictionary). Convictions of the heart,
things we know to be true by what we saw or experienced provide writing prompts
we may overlook or dismiss.
In Cecil Murphey’s blog post of June
16, 2015, he wrote:
My biggest
obstacle is to keep writing, even now, because I'm tempted to hit the delete
key a dozen times a day. I constantly think, This is garbage and everybody
knows it.
My late wife, Shirley, used to say to me, "Because you think about it all the time, you assume everyone knows it. But they haven't read it the way you write it." (see blog)
My late wife, Shirley, used to say to me, "Because you think about it all the time, you assume everyone knows it. But they haven't read it the way you write it." (see blog)
How true! God speaks to us and through us in unique ways. Our personal understanding of an event or truth is expressed from an individual voice that is ours alone.
God has made precious deposits in us. Let’s
not overlook writing prompts of the heart. The psalmist gives us several in
Psalm 71:15-18:
My mouth will tell of your righteousness, of your
salvation all day long...
I will … proclaim your mighty acts, O
Sovereign Lord;
I will proclaim your righteousness...
I declare your marvelous deeds.
Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O
God, till I declare
your power to the next generation,
your might to all who are to come.
What has God shown you of His righteousness, salvation,
mighty acts, marvelous deeds, power and might that you can write about?
Take away thought: I will tune my heart to the writing prompts of the Holy
Spirit.
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Our meeting is this Saturday
Just a reminder...
Our June meeting is this Saturday, June 20, 10 am -
our last meeting until September.
We will focus on periodicals, looking at format and writing ops.
Please bring two periodical/anthology writing opportunities and
your summer writing goals.
If you have work you want critiqued please follow the guidelines on our website.
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