You never know where one little email will take you.
The front of the barn close up, with bright sun from above, the words The Auld Barn in big white lettering.
Hi Lovely! Mari here.
In January I sat down and wrote a vulnerable little note to my team member Britt. The subject line was: “Will you be my coach?”
I’d been dabbling with mixed media poems made out of my son’s childhood scribbles. I had a vague idea that these poems could be a collection, but I needed help… a lot of help. And I was nervous.
Would Britt want to wade into this strange little project with me?
Would it feel weird to go from co-workers to coach and coachee?
Mostly, where would these conversations lead me? What would happen if I invited someone else into this process?
Reader, she said yes. And it was better than I could have ever imagined.
I love supporting writers work through their creative questions, but having a space where I got to be helped in that was so nourishing. Britt told me what stood out in my work, what my poems made her think and feel. She helped me find themes in ones I’d written and start new ones. I felt so seen.
At one of our final sessions Britt asked me:
If there were no limits or barriers, what would your creative heart ask for?
I immediately told her, with many hand gestures, that I wanted to find a huge warehouse that could be all mine. It would have folding tables and pottery wheels and a very loud Bluetooth speaker and giant canvases and paints. I’d go to my warehouse and create, produce, and revel in mess and chaos.
I didn’t like picking up bits of cut up words from the carpet under the dining room table, or opening the door to my office to find crumpled up wads of paper, glue sticks, scissors, and collage detritus. I was annoyed that my creativity felt constrained and messy.
Of course I knew the warehouse wasn’t possible.
But then Britt asked me to think of small, doable ways to feed that desire.
I decided I could at least look. Was there a nearby unfinished basement or attic that someone was renting? Maybe a closet in a small business that no one would miss? I asked in my town’s Facebook group. Lots of people had ideas that were way, way outside my budget.
But then, just like that, I found the one. There is a local couple who owns a barn where they do woodworking and laser engravings. I got in my car and went. It was as rustic and perfect as I imagined — a large work table in the middle, cabinets of projects on the go, art for sale… I could feel it.
They happily agreed to rent me a corner on a week-by-week basis.
The next time I went, I set up my folding table and brought over all my creative paraphernalia and got to work. It wasn’t the giant warehouse in my mind, but it was a lot closer than my home office.
Best of all, I got to say, on a regular basis, “I’m heading to my studio.” I hope we all get to say this at some point in our lives!
The collection is now wrapping up with 30 poems I’m proud of. I’m giving myself some space before I come back to see what shape the collection needs. Thanks to coaching, I have a deep sense of what is possible for this project.
Reader, what’s your version of that barn? Here are three questions.
If there were no constraints or blocks, what would be the most delicious, life-giving gift you could give your creativity?
What dream is so big you’re maybe nervous to admit it to yourself?
Whose help would you love along the way?
And then… What’s the smallest step you could take towards that this week?
I’m learning that just sitting with our questions and desires can be powerful. It’s a way to remember that vast bigness lives inside us all. And, it can be the canvas on which we find our small, doable next steps.
I’m stepping back into my coach role here to say — I’d love to work with you on questions like this!
So would Britt, or the other brilliant coaches here at Firefly. Each of us has our own style.
And if you’re looking for some structure and community on your creative path, we’ve got you covered with our workshop line-up this summer. Read on.
These workshops will help you reflect and explore.
Letters to Courage in Uncertain Times is a new class that will blend meditation, reflection and writing to explore how to hold space for questions in challenging times.
Permission Slip is a big, sweet invitation to step into the summer you’re longing for.
Writing Our Way Back to Each Other is a creative exploration of community, creativity, and human connection. (This one is in person.)
These workshops will help you access flow and progress.
Rising Tides is designed to help writers move a project forward, whatever it may be. A rising tide raises all boats!
Focus and Flow uses the science of flow state to help writers get lost in words.
The Fiction Workshop is for fiction writers (short stories, novellas, anything) who want to get those scenes written.
These workshops will help you get your life stories on the page.
Is your life full of writing material? So much of what we write starts with our experiences.
Brief Bursts will help you write tiny little flash stories based on memories.
The Life Stories Workshop will let you sink into a wider, deeper flow, writing one story per week.
These workshops will help you connect or reconnect to your voice.
Begin Here is a bit like a sandbox of words, designed for people who don’t consider themselves (yet.)
Keep Your Pen Moving is also ideal for beginners or people longing for a kick-start. We have online and in person sessions this summer.
Flight Paths is an experimental class where we’ll play with poetic forms and find our voices in all new ways.
This one is for the teenagers.
We keep going back and forth about teens: They’re hard to recruit and we don’t know where to find them. But we LOVE our teen programming, and get dizzy with joy, seeing young adults blossom in Firefly spaces.
We’re giving it one more try this summer, with an in-person week-long summer camp, with an open mic at the end.
And a poem, read by me.
This is the poem is a dream telling you its time by Marwa Helal.
Author and motivational coach Hiral Nagda wrote:
“The expansiveness and infinite essence of the real you is enough to embrace the entire cosmos.”
I think we could all use a little more cosmos in our lives, right? And small steps to claim it. Let’s be together in all that.
In it with you,
P.S. Here’s the barn!