Early Morning Coffee

Every morning this week I have been getting up at ridiculous o'clock so that I can participate in Firefly Creative Writing's Morning Coffee Sessions.

Not a Firefly

Yes, I know that Hubby and I are generally up at ridiculous o'clock on weekdays, but he's off this week. I could have slept in.  

I'm glad I didn't. 

During the Coffee Sessions over 100 writers met on Zoom.  Chris, the founder of Firefly and a writing coach, offered us a writing prompt and we all wrote for 20 minutes.  It was as beautiful as the website promised, but I didn't really know why.  My writing felt ponderous and unfocused.  I was using my phone, so I couldn't see the other participants unless I went looking for them.  Most of the time the only faces on my screen were Chris's and my own.  There was no audio other than Chris.  The "all in this together" vibe was there, but on a much smaller scale than if I had been able to easily see the other participants.  So what was the attraction? 

This...

You can stay with the prompt or go on a tangent. You can write about the state of the world or the state of your morning. You can write in any style, any topic, any mood. There is no way to do this wrong. The commitment is simply to sit together and let writing lead the way.

And this...

There won’t be any sharing, though you’re always encouraged to share what you write with a loved-one, or on social media, or however else feels right.

The attraction was the permission. Permission to set that time aside. To write for myself. To be led by the writing. To let it be ponderous and unfocused and messy. To write with no audience in mind.
It was as beautiful as advertised.
I can't wait to do it again next week.

 (**Note:  I don't get anything for the links above.  They're there for your information.  Hope you find them useful.)