From the Introduction:
   “In the story ‘Rumpelstiltskin,’ the beautiful girl had straw with instructions to spin it into gold.”
   Carolyn Noell wrote these words in one of my classes as she explored the gold writing offers. “What do I have?” she pondered. “Only words . . .”
   Only wonderful words. The stuff we spin into writing that entertains, educates, inspires.
    What would my life be like without the joy and fulfillment of spinning words? Without the beautiful, useful words of others, from the fairy tales and songs I loved as a little girl to the poems and stories I love today? Even as I write on this particular morning in April, words of Robert Frost’s come, unbidden, to keep me company: “Nature’s first green is gold.”
   I’m grateful to Frost, and to all the writers who have contributed so richly to me through their words. This book is my way of passing their gifts along to you. It is a guide to the craft and practice of writing, but, even more, it is a guide to reaping the rewards writing provides.

An Invitation

      After you’ve spun your words into gold, you’re invited to share them for possible publication in a future project. Two companions to this book are under discussion. The first is Spinning Words: Daily Gold. Designed to establish a daily writing habit, it will contain a month’s worth of jumpstart exercises. Each exercise will include a piece of writing to serve as initial inspiration and accompanying responses. The second is Spun Gold, a compilation of writings created from the exercises in Spinning Words into Gold. If you’d like your work considered, send it to me as a Word attachment at maureen@maureenryangriffin.com, with the subject line “Spinning Words into Gold entry.”
     I would love to hear from you, whether it’s to share your writing, your ideas, or to tell me what worked, or perhaps didn’t work, about this book. I wish you joy, fulfillment, and success—in your writing, and in your life.