Teachers Shouldn't Have Favourites!

Teachers should never have favourites. But when you have only two students for two weeks in a row, and they're both fine writers with great senses of humour -- well, what can I say? I have two favourites!

I was back this afternoon at Centre Greene to do Part 2 of my Quebec Writers' Federation StoryScaping workshop. We actually had a third participant named Mary, but she was only with us for an hour -- not long enough to become a favourite -- haha! Though I will say Mary was also lovely, and she has great material for a memoir project. She wasnts to write about the experience of living in China and having three children during the one-child policy. Fascinating, don't you agree?

I was pleased to meet Mary, but also delighted that last week's two participants Mary W and Renée (not her real name, and that's her only showing us a little of her face in today's pic) were back. And they'd both done some writing during the week. YAY! Renée told us she has begun doing morning pages (I do them too and believe in them a lot -- I learned about morning pages from Julia Cameron's book The Artist's Way). When I asked Renée how she liiked writing every morning this week, she cracked us up with her answer: "I don't!"

Mary W signed up for the workshop because, in her own words, "writing is very difficult for me. I don't want to be in an environment where I'm forced." Uh oh, because when it comes to writing, I tend to be a bit... well... forceful. But I can't be that bad because Mary came to today's workshop with a gorgeous piece of writing based on a memory of her life when she was 23 and living in Manhattan. The piece included the wonderful, funny line, "I painted [the walls of her 3-1/2 room apartment] with a brush, not knowing about rollers." And you can imagine how pleased I was when Mary said, "Last week's class triggered memories I hadn't remembered in a long time." YESSSSS!

Renée also brought a powerful piece of writing -- also based on an old memory. Mary W and I were both drawn in by the opening line, "When I was six, Sunday mornings arrived very early."

One writing exerciseswe did involved having one of our characters write a letter to us. Interestingly, this is where Renée really found the "voice" she'd been looking for -- the six-year-old who has a "big smile day." 

Anyway, I really can't take much credit for the work Mary W and Renée did -- since they did it all!

Another lovely thing I'd like to tell you about what happened in today's workshop is that when I was telling Mary W that she's a natural storyteller (she is), she kind of let my remark slip by -- until Renée asked, "Are you willing to receive that?" Then, later in the workshop, I got excited when Renée read us that letter. "You did it!" I said, "You found your character's voice!" Renée also seemed to let the remark slip by -- until Mary W called out, "Did you hear that?" See how they supported each other in a similar, kind way!

Here's something you may not know about me -- when I'm happy I twinkle my toes. And because I was wearing sandals and there were only three of us at the table, I shook off one sandal and demonstrated the toe twinkling that was going on. Proof that working with these two writers brought me a lot of joy.

Thanks to the QWF for their StoryScaping program coordinated by Felix Chau-Bradley; and to the team at Centre Greene, especially Shaneli Yaghoubi, for hosting us -- and for the tea.

You, dear blog reader, may not be a toe twinkler, but I wish you moments that bring joy -- and stories that you read or write or live!