Let’s make a mess! (And, Spring Registration Opens Today) — A Note from Kim
A table strewn with colourful writing supplies and a mug of tea.
Hello Fireflies! Kim here.
Did you hear that? The door just swung open. All our spring workshops are open for registration today! You can check them all out here:
We have some of our chestnuts like Keep Your Pen Moving and Begin Here. We have a special edition of The Life Stories Workshop just for folks who identify as BIPOC. Our colleague and friend Ailsa is back to run a session of Deeper Waters.
And, we have a brand new class called Making Messes, which I’d love to tell you more about…
My mother taught me to hide my messes.
She felt that being messy was not something I should want to be. She wanted my bed to be made and my desk to be tidy.
But, the not-very-well-kept secret is that – I am messy.
Come to my house any day of the week and you’ll find dishes in the sink (and on various other surfaces), clothes next to my bed and piles of paper everywhere.
Now… if I know you’re coming to my house, that’s different. Then you’ll find a spotless, clutter-free home. Because that’s how my mother raised me, and it’s how her mother raised her, and without meaning to, it’s how I’m raising my children.
I’m not saying that tidying for guests is bad. Having people over is a great excuse to do some cleaning. But it’s also performative. And when we don’t see other people’s messes, we think they don’t have any, and we can start to think that we’re doing something wrong when we look around and see our mess.
This is what happens with writing, too.
When I’m reading a book and I’m enjoying every sentence, it makes me think, “I’m never going to write like that. Why even bother?”
But, just like a tidy ready-for-guests home, I haven’t seen what it looked like at the start.
When I first heard someone say “a messy first draft,” I didn’t know what that meant. I couldn’t even imagine it. Then, years ago, I heard an author at Word on the Street say that her first drafts were only dialogue and action.
My brain could hardly compute it. Just dialogue and action can be a draft? Then… what else can be a draft? I started dreaming: Can a first draft just be bullet points? How about sticky notes? Images? Emojis? Can we make our first draft with cartoons, intuition cards, or songs?
I brought it to the team at Firefly and we had a blast exploring first draft options and then trying them out. Now I’m ready to bring it to you.
This spring I’m launching a new one-day class called Making Messes.
It’s all about opening our minds to what a first draft can be, and then getting very messy as we create one. We’ll try out new things, draft in new and unexpected ways, and as always, learn more about ourselves as writers.
We’ll ask – what am I drawn to? What level of mess helps me tell the stories I want to tell? What would help my ideas come alive?
Of course, mess is different for everyone.
When I visit my best friend and she says, “excuse the mess,” and all I see is a laundry basket in the middle of the floor, I know that her idea of messy is waaaay different than mine. Everyone gets to have their own version of mess, in their homes and their drafts.
Who’s ready to get messy with me?
All our small group workshops are open for registration today!
We have a bountiful line-up of workshops for beginner and seasoned writers. Want to try your hand at writing romance, speculative fiction, or tiny little memoirs? Or are you looking for some Focus and Flow?
BIPOC Fireflies unite!
If you’re a racialized writer, looking to write with other racialized writers, we have 3 programs for you.
Asifa is running a 1-day online “retreat” on March 29th (2 spots left) and a 6-session Life Stories Workshop starting mid-April.
And, we are always welcoming new racialized writers into our drop-in BIPOC Writing Space, which just celebrated 5 beautiful years.
Ailsa is back!
Ailsa Bristow was a beloved Firefly facilitator for many years. She left in 2025 to be a full-time parent, but she will be back this spring to run one of our favourite classes, Deeper Waters. This is a 12-week deep dive for anyone who is ready to commit deeply to their work.
Save the date, Toronto Folks
On Sunday April 19th, we’re doing an in-person fundraiser poetry reading with Indigenous Youth Roots called “Perform that poem!” Audience members will be invited to read poems on stage, hosted by the amazing Farah Talaat. Location, time, and details to come.
And a poem for you.
From one of my favourite poets Rita Dove, here’s “Prose in a Small Space” — you can read it here or listen to me read it to you.
I love how Shannon Hale explains this:
“I’m writing a first draft and reminding myself that I’m simply shoveling sand into a box, so that later, I can build castles.”
There are so many stages and phases and parts to writing and one thing I know for sure — no matter what part it is, I’m going to enjoy it more if I’m not doing it on my own.
Happy to be in the mess with you!
