Writing + rhythm + parking lot dance parties: Push Week is back!
A vertical stack of records, with a set of old school headphones leaning against them. Photo credit — “Blocks” on Unsplash.
Coach Kim here, to talk to you about rhythm.
Sometimes I hear writing compared to exercise, especially a marathon. I’m not a fan of that analogy because I’m never going to run a marathon (don’t want to) and so it makes me feel like writing’s never going to happen either.
Now… if I could dance a marathon, that I might consider.
What I can do, reliably and often, is listen to music. I can be moved by rhythm, sway to a song, and pull out a full-on chair dance… That’s easy.
To me, writing something big is like listening to a symphony or Bohemian Rhapsody. There are all these different movements — the one that sounds like opera, the one that makes you want to bang your head around, the one that makes you want to cry.
Writing is complicated like that. Music reminds us that we can be at home in that complexity, and find the beauty, the way through.
As coaches at Firefly, we all have rhythms too — ways of working that just feel right.
One of mine, I learned early, is Push Week.
I feel like this program was made for me. There has never been a Push I didn’t run or participate in, and I love all. We keep tweaking the format, and every variation feels a little more exciting than the last. When Chris asked me a while ago if I wanted to manage this program moving forward, there was no question.
To me, Push strikes just the right rhythms. It’s intense, but it also has space for joy. It’s like when the song, Uptown Funk by Bruno Mars (I dare you not to shimmy if you click that link). Every time it comes on, I absolutely have to dance… even if I’m in a grocery store parking lot and the group of teens nearby look mortified for me. Purely hypothetical of course. This has never happened. ;)
I’m pulling together a Push Week coming up in June so if your fingers are starting to twitch, let’s dance!
We’ve added office hours, a second option for the morning check in, and an evening sanctuary session mid-week. Sophia and I will be steering, with Mari and Britt zooming in for evening workshops. I can’t wait to fill the week with writing.
When I say writing, I mean revising, thinking, planning, dreaming, submitting, editing, changing your mind, scribbling, playing… Every part of the writing process can be done during Push. You bring a writing project, we’ll take it from there.
If you’re more in the mood for another playlist, we have some spring workshops with space below and a beautiful retreat with Chris and Mari out in the woods.
We also have coaching, a community bonfire, the BIPOC writing space for people of colour, and lots of rhythms to find your groove to.
Spring Workshops with space
Join us in these small group workshops:
Or check out the full buffet table.
Community Bonfire
Come celebrate all your accomplishments, small and large, in the park with us!
We’ll also be celebrating a big one — Britt Smith has been a writing coach at Firefly for 10 years.
May 11. Free. Marshmallows for everyone.
June Retreat
Spring Thaw is a sleep-away retreat in the wilds North of Kingston with Mari and Chris this June.
The space is barrier-free, and we have solo and shared rooms available.
And a poem
Songs are another kind of poem, here’s one of my favourites.
If you’ve been to Coffee Sessions, you may know me as the one who plays a song as everyone is arriving.
This is important to me — music invites us into experiences and prepares us to be somewhere new. Writing is always “somewhere new.”
So, I’m wishing you rhythm this spring, whatever that means. Music. Momentum. Movement. Parking lot dance parties, no matter who is watching, though if it’s me, I’ll be dancing right alongside you.
In it with you,
