WRITESPACE STUDIO 13th September 2023

Please introduce yourself by telling us where you live (country, city/state/region) and what kind of writing you do.

Rena: I’m in Ottawa, Canada and doing scholarly writing about communication studies.

Amy: I'm Amy from London, I am currently doing creative writing and personal projects!

Libby: I’m in Richmond, VA, and I’m writing a creative nonfiction piece about my grandmother (though I usually write academic articles)

Emily: Hello! Emily from Seattle exploring creative non-fiction.

Ann: Ann in Boston MA US Designer experimenting with some project writing

Pam: Hi, I’m in central Victoria, Australia, on Djaara country. I’m enjoying poetry and writing a policy analysis (erk).

Sarah: Hello! I’m in the Hudson Valley of New York, USA, and I’m finishing an article about opposition to Rural Free Delivery & Parcel post that is really opposition to Mail order houses & department stores. And the deadline is now behind me and I’m overwhelmed.

Bring our voices into the room: What are you thankful for today?

Dogs, dance classes, face yoga, beautiful days, the ability to write, this community, friendly strangers, and many more!

Creative warm-up: 5 mins of poetic freewriting/description, or write a poem about something you really love. But it has to be: a person, a place, an animal, or a food.
Need some inspiration? Check out Kevin Young’s book ‘The Hungry Ear’ and his performance of ‘Ode to Gumbo.’

Maggie: Rocky
He walks in beauty like the night
My little pup with his flowy tail
His floppy ears and black marble eyes
Hungry for my voice or gaze
Once caught
He twirls with glee
Pounces on the glazed tile at some imaginary
Thing. Excitement not contained.
Energy welled-up.
We walk
He trots
He sniffs
He spots
He walks in beauty like the night
My little pup with his flowy tail

Emily: An ode to kelp: slick and smooth you brighten the moon

Rena: Fancy the fox, a fox I sometimes meet in various places in the world. A fox that makes time stand still

Ann: the interstitial swampy leftover land nearby

Trisha: i wrote about how one of my best friends deserves a poem 🙂

Pam: I wrote about being in the remote bush, far from everyone.

Libby: I wrote about bread, the memory of early morning toast

Sarah: I wrote about my dog, Ella, too and the grace I have learned from her!

Pre-pomodoro: What do you plan to work on?

Rena: working on my argument for a journal article

Maggie: Revising a portion of my book narrative section

Amy: I plan to work on editing a poem

Trisha: I’m going to open up my current chapter and reoutline.

Libby: I am working on revising a brief talk I’m giving next week about my project on my grandmother.

Sarah: I want to work on a section of this article.

Ann: a bit about the woman I saw walking this morning and connect to previous writing.

Pam: I’ll be working on an intro to my future book.

Trisha: Apologies, everyone! I must leave early today to hop on another meeting at 2. Thank you for facilitating, Amy!

Post-pomodoro: What is one thing that you achieved?

Pam: I scoped out my intro, which helped my thinking about the book’s overall structure.

Amy: I wrote a few sentences of a new poem!

Libby: I wrote a new paragraph and moved a lot of things around. Also made some cuts

Maggie: Instead of revising what I had, I ended up generating a new paragraph.

Rena: a way forward with my argument - a solid, specific to do step! (Going back through my evidence with specific questions in mind)

Emily: reworked a paragraph.

Ann: realized that what I set out to do is connected to previous fragments and it is more complicated than I thought.

Sarah: I wrote nearly a page, 472 words, and am thrilled, I just cut to the chase, it was fantastic!

Rena: unfortunately, I have to leave early today too like Trisha, but I appreciate your facilitating, Amy. This was great but will miss the window session!

Maggie: So lovely to be here! I have to run off. But looking forward to next time I can join. Thank you all for your inspiration and enthusiasm. Thank you, Amy, for facilitating!

One-word poem:

Thank you: Tofu Catalog Breakthrough, Blue-pebbled Typeface