Seven Swimming Pools
Seven sessions. Seven themes. Low stakes.
It’s almost summer and the pool is open.
This season we’re bringing back one of our most popular programs from the last two years: Seven Swimming Pools. The idea is simple — we are seven facilitators, each with our own approach to writing. We’ll curate seven writing dates, devoted to the things we care about most.
This is a space for fresh ideas, big questions, and finding new paths back to the heart of our work. We’ll lower the bar, write lots, and let ourselves see what this summer is shoring up our creative lives.
Here’s the plan:
We’ll gather on Zoom seven times on Monday evenings. We’ll use short, easy writing prompts and projects to help you create brand new work. You’ll have lots of choice with the prompts and full control over where the writing goes. You can turn the tap of emotion on full blast or keep it as a trickle.
We deeply encourage you not to perform or perfect anything here. Let’s be weird, unfocused, surprising, and new. Pajamas, bath robes, sweats, and slippers are very welcome.
Details for Summer 2025:
7 Monday evenings (weekly), 7–8:30pm ET
July 7 – August 25 (no class on August 4)
Via Zoom
Week to week:
Letters, postcards, texts, and telegrams — writing our way back into connection
July 7th with Chris
Writing can help us connect (and reconnect) to the people who matter, whether they are people we see every day, loved ones who are long passed, or strangers who touched us once upon a time.
Writing with the speakers on – finding joy and inspiration for our writing through music
July 14th with Kim
In this playful and high-energy session, we'll experiment with how music can bring new life to our writing. Writing to music, about music, from music... we'll shake things up and come out dancing.
Outside the lines – using writing and imagination to connect to our wildness
July 21nd with Mari
In this soulful session, we’ll explore where we want to bring more wildness to our creativity and our daily lives, using writing and visualization to connect to our untethered selves, and see what they want to tell us.
Tiny untrue stories – exploring the world of flash fiction and the liberation of radical brevity
July 28th with Asifa
What’s the shortest story you can write? Can a story shine even brighter when it’s less encumbered by language? In this productive session, Mari will introduce us to one of her latest obsessions — flash fiction.
How places hold and shape our work – slowing down and bringing location into all we write
August 11th with Britt
Where are you right now? And where do your stories take place? In this session, we’ll bring new sensitivity to location in our work, from nostalgic writing about places that shaped us to creating into brand new worlds.
Moving through the seasons of writing – reflecting on what’s true right now
August 18th with Sophia
Our creative lives will pass through many seasons. In this session, we’ll pay loving attention to what season our writing is in, and how to love our process no matter what conditions we find ourselves in.
Cost:
The fee for this program is on a sliding scale of $90–$175. If you’re unemployed, or earning minimum wage, we encourage you to pay the lowest amount. If you have a comfortable income, equity and savings, we suggest a higher fee. You’re in charge.
If you don’t have a credit card, or can’t currently afford the base fee, let us know, we’ll gladly find a way to make it work.
See our financial policies.
Sign up here:
This program isn’t running at this time but let us know if you’d like us to run it again. You can also sign up for our newsletter if you’d like to be the first to know when we bring this program back.
Questions?
Your answer is probably on this page.
Looking for more options?
Take a peek at our small group writing workshops, our large group writing programs, our retreats, and our coaching services.
Credit where credit is due
The photo we’re using to promote this page was taken by Raphaël Biscaldi and shared via Unsplash.