It’s almost summer and the pool is open.
The edge of a pool. The deck is yellow, the water is classic swimming-pool blue. Photo credit: Etienne Girardet.
Hi Lovely.
Are you too tired to write? Am I projecting my problems onto you? I am so tired right now. All my ideas feel floppy, and I don’t have the energy to dream beyond them.
Luckily, I get to talk to writers all day, so I know I’m not alone. So many of us are in a period of malaise and “what’s-the-point”-ism. I have a lot of theories about what got us here, but right now I’m more interested in how to gently nudge us back.
Here’s one way. Seven Swimming Pools.
Sometimes we need the sweet nectar of low-hanging fruit. An easy ladder back into the pool of possibility… back to our voices and ourselves.
Each season, in addition to our small group workshops, we offer one program that’s bigger and wider, with low stakes, and a spirit of experimentation. These are distraction-friendly and cameras-optional. They’re a good fit if you’re just starting to get to know us, or if you don’t need a lot of connection to get started — you just want to write.
This summer, we’re bringing back our most popular large format program from last year — Seven Swimming Pools. It’s partly back because it was popular, but mostly because we had so much fun last time.
Here’s how it works:
There are seven facilitators at Firefly. We all have our own passions and predilections when it comes to words. Each Monday evening through the summer, one of us will get on Zoom and lead a 90-minute writing session on a theme or topic we personally can’t put down.
Mine will be on voice — what we need to whisper, what we need to yell.
Kim’s will be on music — how to use it to unlock new energy and directions in your work.
Asifa’s will be on wildness — how to use words to unearth our untethered selves.
The idea isn’t that each of these topics will be perfectly suited to each writer… rather that they’ll be ongoing invitations to dive into a new pool and find out who we are there.
Like all our large format programs, this is sliding scale.
This means you can find a price that works for your current access to resources — we have it priced at $90-$175, but if $90 is too high, we would love to make it work for you.
And yes, we still have small group workshops with room!
These are more intimate, with more space to grow trust and connection with other writers, and to be deeply heard. Some are around a table in Toronto, some are on Zoom, but they feel like a table.
In case anyone else needs the reminder: Being tired is OK.
We can’t live our creative lives in a constant springtime, dewy-eyed at the wonder of it all. But there are great gifts to lowering the bar, and writing anyway.
The wonderful Richard Wagamese wrote: “Sometimes you write just to feel your fingers moving.”
We’ll meet you there.
