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| “We
Are Women Who Write!” Statement of Purpose: >
To rekindle our Creative Fire WomanWords—the History: The
WomanWords Collective began as WomanWords, a small writing group meeting
in Colonie, NY (a suburb of Albany) at the Mandala Center for Creative
Wellness in April 1997. |
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And WomanWords was a direct result of founder/facilitator Marilyn Zembo Day’s desire to duplicate the magical inspiration she’d experienced at two summer conferences of the International Women’s Writing Guild (IWWG) on the Skidmore College campus in Saratoga, NY. Leaving the Skidmore conference in 1995, Marilyn felt empowered, enthusiastic, inspired to write and create. By November or December of the same year, she wondered what had happened to all that spirit. Returning to the conference in 1996, she realized what she required to keep the energy flowing: a continuing network of supportive women such as she’d discovered at the IWWG event. As she departed Skidmore, she vowed to either find a writers’ group that met her needs or, if she wasn’t successful in her search, to create one. During
the winter of 1996-97, Marilyn contacted IWWG Director Hannelore Hahn
to request a “zip code” list of IWWG members in the area
for use as a one-time mailing list, and she also brought flyers around
to local libraries and bookstores to solicit membership. A dozen women
showed up for the first session, and WomanWords has been going strong
ever since. Over the years, meeting schedules changed to accommodate
the ebb and flow of both the numbers and schedules of participants,
as well as Marilyn’s schedule. And, when Mandala Center closed
in 2002, the meeting place also had to change. But always it was clear
that the alchemy of a web of supportive, creative women was critical. |
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It wasn’t until WomanWords was asked to read as a “collective” at a local open mic in Albany in late Spring 2003 that Marilyn realized this was truly what WomanWords had become (thank you, Don Levy, for helping to better describe the entity into which WomanWords has grown!). No longer simply a small writing group, WomanWords has expanded to include a myriad of other activities, with close to 150 women having attended various events and many more receiving the e-newsletter, locally and across the country (and into other countries as well). Some past and current activities have included: |
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A Weekend for Women to Write (with workshop leaders Rochelle Brener, Becky
Holder, Lyn Lifshin, and Suzanne Risley); > several writing retreats at Still Point Interfaith Retreat Center in Stillwater, NY (including workshops by many WomanWorders such as Judy Clough, Marion Perkus, Judith Prest, and Elizabeth van Court); > booksignings (for Rochelle Brener, Judith Prest, Jan Phillips); > workshops by popular IWWG workshop leaders and others (Emily Hanlon, Joan Murray, Natalie Reid); > FreeWrites at Mandala Center, during which women wrote from either exercises available (on paper) or created something of their own choosing; then shared their words; > the WomanWords 5-Year Birthday Bash (featuring WomanWorders reading their own work, as well as a performance by folksinger Jody Kessler); > the nine-month WomanWords & Friends Open Mic Series in 2003 (at which two poets were featured monthly, at least one of which was always a woman; features were: Judith Prest & MJ King in April, Therese Broderick & Pam Mitchell in May, Jodi Ackerman & Dan Wilcox in June, Shirlee Dufort & Bob Sharkey in July, Sandra Gardner & Sally Rhoades in August, Lesley Tabor & AC Everson in September, Elizabeth van Court & Susan Jefts in October, Jan Marin Tramontano & Alan Catlin in November, and Carol Graser & Susan Riback in December); > the WomanWords Collective featured as a group reading at various venues in the Capital Region and in Hudson, NY; > a collaborative reading event with IWWG and the Hudson Valley Writers Guild (HVWG) at Barnes & Noble to celebrate Women’s History Month in 2004; > past publication of a printed WomanWords newsletter (for three years); > promoting creation of other writing groups through notices in the e-newsletter and providing information about resources for the groups; > current publication of the WomanWords E-newsletter, now distributed through www.topica.com; > publication of six chapbooks --Readings from the WomanWords Five-Year Birthday Bash, writings by WomanWorders read at the Bash; Where I Come From, poetry and other work by Marilyn Zembo Day; not really self-destructive, poetry and art by Kristen Day; GETTING YOUR WORDS OUT THERE: How to Create and Publish Your Own Chapbook, by Marilyn Zembo Day (sales benefit HVWG); Remembering the Magic: a booklet of writings about the summer conference of the International Women’s Writing Guild (sales benefit IWWG); and Four Stories: fiction by Marilyn Zembo Day; > other workshops led by Marilyn Day, including journal writing (with Judith Prest), and Writing as Sacred Space; > the ongoing WomanWords sessions, which culminated in December 2004 with our 99th writing theme-- after 7 1/2 years of workshops! Join us on June 4, 2006 for The 100th WomanWords Workshop-- a double session. See the Calendar page for details. Always, always, always—WomanWords is about Women Who Write. Women whose voices have been lost, and women whose stories must be told. Women who will no longer be silenced. It’s not that we don’t appreciate the Other Gender—we’re happy to write about them, join them at events, read their work, live with them, love them or dislike them as circumstances warrant—but there is an indefinable magic in a circle of women, an essence that perhaps speaks to the universal experience of the Feminine--and to deny that is to deny our own Truth. Women can come to WomanWords sessions not having written much in years, not having any interest in getting published or afraid to submit work anywhere, not thinking of themselves as writers at all. And that changes. They change, they evolve, as the Web of Women Writers keeps expanding. |
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| About
the WomanWords Website: You are now perusing the WomanWords Home Page, where you’re learning about who and what The WomanWords Collective is—our mission and our history. Go to Calendar to find out when the next WomanWords: the workshops series is scheduled—and about other WomanWords events as well. You’re also likely to find info about an IWWG event or two, referring you to their website. |
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| Check
out Networking to see what news Women Writers choose to share about
their achievements—or any help they might like to enlist. Also
people looking to start a writing group will be included here. If you’d
like to include something on this page, instructions about how to do
so (via e-mail) are posted. Visit "Marilyn's Words" in this site!
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