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Sister Writes is a creative writing and literacy program dedicated to empowering women in downtown Toronto.

Sister Writes is a creative writing and literacy program dedicated to marginalized women in downtown Toronto. Founded by writer Lauren Kirshner in 2010, with the support of Sistering, a drop-in center empowering ordinary women in extraordinary situations, Sister Writes provides women with the opportunity to work with professional women writers, develop creative potential, hone literary and leaders

hip skills, receive mentorship, and build self-esteem. Hailed by The Toronto Star as a groundbreaking program, Sister Writes is one-of-a-kind in Toronto. Now in its fifth year, Sister Writes provides an artistically empowering and collaborative creative writing program for homeless, underhoused, low income or marginalized women, and women who face extraordinary circumstances or life transitions. Through the support of our sponsors and the assistance of our guest writers, Sister Writes offers a range of hands-on programming that is free and inclusive: The Writing Workshop; The Mentorship Program; and our newly launched Outreach Program, which brings one-off creative writing workshops to women’s agencies across Toronto. Since 2010, our longest running program, The Writing Workshop, has provided over 300 free creative writing workshops in the community for budding women writers, and published seven literary magazines. Our guest workshop leaders have included acclaimed authors, poets, and journalists Jenn Cowan, Bernice Eisenstein, Lisa F**d, Catherine Graham, Ibi Kaslik, Emily M. Keeler, Jamila Allindina, Katherine Leyton, Brooke Lockyer, Hoa Nguyen, Emily Pohl-Weary, Grace O’Connell, Souvankham Thammavongsa, Andrea Thompson and Lindsay Zier-Vogel. Sister Writes is proudly supported by the Ontario Trillium Foundation, Toronto Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council, Sistering, and the Toronto Public Library.

03/18/2022

Beginnings can be hard.

Witness this years' rocky ride toward Spring.
Snow, followed by double-digit temperatures, chased by punishing winds, freezing drizzle that morphs into a single sunny day, then a bout of zero visibility fog.

Beginning a story can be equally challenging.

Diane Schoemperlen, editor of Best Canadian Stories 2021, has this to say:

"I wanted stories to which I felt an immediate connection in the first few sentences. In a short story there is no room for warming up the way there can be in a novel...every word matters."

And Schoemperlen admitted to wanting stories "in which there was some feeling of mystery or menace, a sense of tension and things being set in relentless motion."

Here are a few simple tips for writing a beginning that will capture a reader's attention:

* Make something happen that will force your protagonist to react
* This something should have consequences for your character; they can't ignore it
* Set the scene- let your readers know where they are
*Keep the story moving forward

Here's a "Beginning" I wrote this morning:

It was the blast of Ozzy Osbourne on the car radio singing, "Generals gathered in their masses...," from that 70's anthem, that saved the dog and I. In the dense fog, we heard the silver sedan just in time to jump back before it climbed the curb and stopped a few feet away.

A woman, barefooted and underdressed for March in Toronto, stumbled from the drivers side and collapsed on the sidewalk.
***

For more inspiration, I recommend the stories Diane Schoemperlen chose for Best Canadian Stories 2021.
Fifteen great beginnings.

12/31/2021

10 Best Books

It's New Years Eve and I'm thinking about the books I loved and learned from this year.
The list is a mix of fiction, poetry, memoir and the craft of writing.

If you aren't a regular poetry reader, but want to dip your toes into the genre, I recommend:
Best Canadian Poetry 2021- guest editor, Souvankham Thammavongsa. You'll find both established and new Canadian poets represented. And make sure to read Souvankham's warm and inspiring introduction.

If you want more poetry, please try:
Broken Dawn Blessings- by Torontonian, Adam Sol

Sparrow Envy: Field Guide to Birds & Lesser Beasts, by American poet, J. Drew Lanham

77 Fragments of a Familiar Ruin, by Thomas King

Then Now, by Daphne Marlatt-a loving tribute to her father

My favourite collection of short stories from the past year: Irish author, Kevin Barry's- That Old Country Music.

And the novel I read in a day: Emma Donohue's, The Pull of the Stars.

Joy Harjo, Poet Laureate of the United States, published a new memoir this year- Poet Warrior. Read this for sustenance.

And when I needed some guidance, a push, inspiration, these two titles on the craft of writing came through:

Writing Alone and With Others, by Pat Schneider

Ordinary Genius: a Guide for the Poet Within, by Kim Addonizio ( not just for poets, but for all writers!)
***
May 2022 bring you many moments of joy

10/11/2021

It's Thanksgiving Day here in Canada and I am feeling grateful for the many talented women I have met through Sister Writes.
Writing within and for this community is a constant pleasure.

One of the things I love to do is share titles of books that have helped and inspired my writing.

"What If?: Writing exercises for fiction writers," 3rd edition, c.2010, by Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter is a classic text I have recently discovered.

"Ten to One," from Hester Kaplan, is an exercise in this book that requires you to narrow your story down to essentials only. The " rules" provide a framework that can produce surprising results.

Here's what to do:

Write a complete story in fifty-five words. First sentence will be 10 words, your 2nd sentence nine words, your 3rd will be eight words and so on until the final sentence= one word.

My example is below, inspired by the Boston Marathon 2021 which is being run today.

"Maggie's Marathon"

Boston Marathon morning Maggie woke at
four, her foot twitching.
At five, she was outside, nobody else in sight.
By six, she'd managed to walk one block.
Breath ragged, sweat dripping, she circled again.
She passed her neighbour, who waved.
Her heart beat its thanks.
Tears at her door.
The television on.
Race begun.
Triumph.

08/23/2021

This summer, I have been Writing Alone and With Others, with the help of Pat Schneider's classic book of the same name.

"Using Random Words," is one of the exercises I keep coming back to. As Schneider points out, "this exercise springs [you] out of [your] own literal memories and habitual patterns."

Here's how it works:

On a blank page list 10-15 nouns in a column.
In the next column, list 10-15 modifiers. Do this quickly without making any connections.
Then connect nouns and modifiers in unlikely pairs.

Write a piece using as many pairs as you can.

Here is my latest exercise:

My 10 nouns:
coffee, pepper, sponge, can, toaster, violet, cupboard, recliner, triangle, stairway.

10 modifiers: sparkling, stretchy, tough, speedy, garbled, porous, gooey, pristine, petulant, rosy.

My unlikely pairs:

Gooey coffee. Speedy pepper.
Tough sponge. Rosy can.
Petulant toaster. Sparkling violet
Porous cupboard. Stretchy recliner
Pristine triangle. Garbled stairway.

What I wrote:

Breakfast?

I couldn't get my bearings and the gooey coffee wasn't helping. The pots and pots of sparkling violets hurt my eyes.

I was in a stretchy recliner, uncomfortably positioned.

The petulant toaster was yelling, "butter or margarine?" and a clamour of voices answered unintelligibly.

I could see a garbled stairway; an escape route? But I couldn't adjust the stretchy recliner to get myself up. I felt stuck, trapped in this gooey triangle.

Just then, a porous cupboard next to the petulant toaster began leaking speedy pepper
that spilled out and over the counter and the room erupted in a chorus of sneezes.

***
This was a free write, about 10 minutes. I have made a few copy edits but otherwise this is what I wrote in my notebook.

The unlikely pairs brought to mind my Dad's time in Long Term Care. The speaker is a resident.

***

You can use this exercise, with fresh lists of nouns and modifiers, anytime, to jump start your writing.
It's also fun to do with a group. Collectively come up with the nouns and modifiers, and let each person make their own unlikely pairs.

06/20/2021

Sun shines, filtered through leafy branches on this Summer Solstice morning. Can you feel the energy as the earth tilts mostly toward the sun and here in the Northern Hemisphere, we welcome summer?

I was thinking about the summer I stepped away from our family resort business and took a job in the kitchen of a five-star French restaurant in the nearby town. I prided myself on keeping calm and cool in sweaty, pressure-packed conditions; I'd been cooking and baking at the Lodge since I was 13.

But I'd never worked under a Master Chef, who had a reputation for making the staff tremble with fear lest they make a mistake. I witnessed many meltdowns and angry histrionics.

Lucky for me, the chef's much younger wife, who was a talented chef in her own right, made it her mission to teach me and shield me from her husband's wrath.

I can't say it was a fun job, but I liked the challenge and I learned to prepare dishes I'd never tried. And there were some life lessons.

The chef and his wife- whom I came to admire and like- seemed an unlikely pair, but they were in love and devoted and she had made a clear-eyed decision to be with him. She confided in me, and that felt good.

On this 2021 Summer Solstice, think about how you can step into a new challenge in your writing practice.
You might start with a free write about a summer job or other summer experience that had an impact on you.
Has the passage of time changed your thinking about that event?

Try writing a 2nd piece from the point of view of someone who helped you navigate the ups and downs.

05/21/2021

I feel guilty admitting that I don't look forward to long weekends, especially Victoria Day, the unofficial start of summer. And when the weather cooperates, like it seems to be doing this year my anxiety increases.

Memories of Sparrow Lake live with me and at this time in May, they begin to speak. Of the water still cold against the skin as we tiptoed towards our first swim of the season. The rush of putting your head under, shivering and smiling at the same time, knowing there were so many swims to come.

Cruisers up from the city and slower moving, six horse-powered fishing boats, plying the waters beyond our bay, sights and sounds heralding this beginning.

The last minute rush to prepare the Lodge for the first guests of the tourist season. Crisp pressed sheets on every bed, winter's dust whisked away.

That rolling front lawn, newly-mown and the tang of still wet paint on the red Muskoka chairs.

From the kitchen, scents of apple and cinnamon in flaky pastry, buttery chocolate chip cookies and date squares, filling the air with sweetness.

The Lodge has been gone a long time, but on this May long weekend it all feels within reach, close enough to grab onto.

Work has been my escape for years.

I met a man whose father owned a business tied to the tourist calendar, and the two of us worked every long weekend. Then our own business was open, seven days a week, holidays included.

My stint in retail followed, and I logged 11 years in the mall on Victoria Day.

When I finally began to write seriously, it helped me see the patterns; how my choices were attempts to recapture what was lost.

***
Does this weekend stir up special memories for you?
Can you see the patterns of your choices and how they've shaped your life?
Free write for 10 minutes (or more).

05/14/2021

I couldn't stop reading,
Kevin Barry's latest collection of stories, "That Old Country Music."

During this pandemic, my desk has been home to stacks of fiction that have gone unread, but Barry's captivating narratives, told in language that sings from the page, was hard to resist. The characters, sketched with fine lyrical strokes, inhabit an assortment of deftly drawn West of Ireland locales.

From, "Deer Season:"
"He was tall and thin and did not have a pronouncedly masculine walk--he could not be taken for a farmer. His step was carefully picked out and it had a hesitancy to it. He brought to her mind the heron."

And these images of place, from the same story:
"The morning was bright, with a breeze that moves the light's sharp points on the lanes, and the hedges were opulent with berries and the high grasses raced in the late-summer fields."

"...the excellence of your ear..." is how writer, John Jeremiah Sullivan put it to Kevin Barry, in an interview in The Paris Review, September 19, 2019. He asked Barry if he had to work at the effect he created with his writing, or if he just heard the world this way."

Barry replied with a tip we can all take to heart:
" I read the work aloud, a lot, with editing pen in hand...the ear knows!"

"That Old Country Music," was published just prior to the pandemic, but these comments from Barry about writing fiction sound like wise advice for the state we are in:
"As a writer of fiction, you're vividly aware that life is always hovering toward a condition of shapelessness, and you're trying to put a shape on it, you're trying to tell stories around it. Writing fiction is, I think, a survival mechanism."

04/01/2021

April begins with a writing quote and seven writing prompts to inspire you:

Writer, Dorianne Lux says:
"Good writing works from a simple premise: your experience is not yours alone, but in some sense a metaphor for everyone's."

Use the prompts below, to help you tap into your experiences. Each prompt can be the basis of a free write. Set your phone timer for 10 minutes and write without stopping.

Put each free write aside for at least a day, then go back and read it aloud. Are you surprised by anything you hear?
Take those paragraphs, or sentences, or words and keep going.

Give yourself permission to see where the story goes.

Here are the prompts:
1. Describe how the light falls in through your window in 3 different paragraphs. (from the "Writers Write" website)

2. Include these 3 words in your free write: foist, ungainly,
meticulous.

3. Convince a stranger that ghosts exist, and that there is one right behind them. (from the "Writers Write" website)

4. What gives you butterflies in your stomach? Do you like the feeling? (from, "500 Writing Prompts")

5. What instrument would you love to learn how to play?
(from, "500 Writing Prompts")

6. What do you need a dozen of right now?
(from, "500 Writing Prompts")

7. Write a story based on this premise: One day all the trees in my neighbourhood pulled themselves up by the roots and walked away. (Kim Addonizio in "Ordinary Genius")

02/25/2021

Do you struggle with creating distance from your own life story?
It can be helpful to think about creating a "persona," a Latin word meaning mask.
This idea of a mask, resonates with me.

"Using a persona is a way to explore the world through a different lens," says writer Kim Addonizio.

"This strategy can be a way to enter other lives...and a way to map your inner territory."

This is just one of the tips Addonizio, author of poetry collections, novels, and stories, offers up in her 2009 book, "Ordinary Genius: A Guide for the Poet Within."

Not into writing poetry? Don't worry, this is a book for all writers, full of inspiration.
She had me at the Introduction:
"This is a book about creativity. Poetry happens to be its main subject because poetry is my main vehicle...It is a book meant to inspire you, whoever you are, no matter your level of skill or ability, your age, or what circumstances brought you to these pages. It contains ideas about life and art, self-destruction and self-expression, difficulty and pain and failure, joy and ease and perfect moments."

01/06/2021

Kickstart the New Year by reading:

Meander, Spiral, Explode: Design
and Pattern in Narrative
by Jane Alison, c.2019

I read Australian author, Jane Alison's, Meander, Spiral, Explode, in an afternoon- it's that good.

Alison writes with exuberant delight about narrative form.
Throw out all your preconceived notions about the traditional dramatic arc, usually shown as a pyramid of- introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, denouement. Alison presents a convincing case for a different vision:

"Rather than expecting the "soul" or animating shape of fiction to be a plotted arc, why not imagine other shapes?"

Why not indeed! She takes us on a visual word journey through alternate narrative patterns: waves, wavelets, meanders, spirals, radials and explosions, networks and cells, fractals and tsunami.

Alison includes excerpts from an eclectic mix of short stories and novels by such authors as: Raymond Carver, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Marguerite Duras, W.G. Sebald, Joyce Carol Oates.

Using language plump with images, and backed up by illustrations by Ethan J. Feuer, Alison ignites our creative soul. Here she is on Meander:

"If a narrative naturally wants to flow toward its end but doesn't want to get there yet- the pleasure's in the journey- it might hold back by strewing conflicts, boulders, along the way...But it might be bored by classic conflict, so instead lingers by flowing along an extravagant arabesque of detours: This is what meandering narratives do."

There is a tactile quality to this book that sparks all five senses.

Before delving into Patterns, Alison discusses Primary Elements - point, line texture, movement & flow, colour- including this take on the role of complex sentences:
"You lose a lot if you run from complex sentences with their depths, the way they pull one time zone or idea into the light and let another sink."

In her epilogue, Alison says she hopes that her book,
"...might let us step away from the arc sometimes, slip under or through that powerful wave, glorious as it can be. I hope that other patterns might help us imagine new ways to make our narratives vital and true..."

I can't think of a better way to write in 2021- in new creative ways that showcase our truth.

12/15/2020

Best 8 Books I Read in 2020:

The Scotiabank Giller Prize-Winning Short Story Collection:
How To Pronounce Knife, by Souvankham Thammavongsa, c.2020
We proudly read and discussed the title story, " How to Pronounce Knife," in a recent Sister Writes Zoom Workshop. Thammavongsa, an accomplished poet, is also a masterful short story writer.

***
When The Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry,
edited by Joy Harjo with Leanne Howe, Jennifer Elise Foerster& Contributing Editors, c. 2020
This illuminating collection belongs on every bookshelf. As Joy Harjo notes in her Introduction:
"Most readers will have no idea that there is or was a single native poet, let alone the number included in this anthology.
***

My pandemic brain struggled to finish novels this year, but these 2 works were enjoyable exceptions:

The Dutch House, by Ann Patchett, c.2019.
This is a rich, complex and believable story about a brother and sister, Danny and Maeve, who are forever shaped by their upbringing. Highly recommended.

Prudence, by David Treuer, c.2015.
Treuer, son of a retired Ojibwae tribal judge and a Jewish holocaust survivor, has written a bittersweet tale that explores issues of: racial inequality, class privilege, and homophobia. The setting is Minnesota in the 1940's and 50's, but the fear and the prejudice that reverberate throughout the novel are relevant in 2020.
***
Black Writers Matter, edited by Whitney French, c. 2019
A diverse and compelling collection. In her introduction, French says: "My intention is that this collection- far from any definitive- acts as an invitation to read, share, and tell stories of Black narratives that are close to the bone. I am reminding myself to carve space for unique tellers, overlooked tellers."
***

A Poetry Handbook: A Prose Guide to Understanding Poetry, by Mary Oliver, c. 1994.
I am late coming to this handbook by poet Mary Oliver
but am so glad to finally have a copy in my library. Oliver speaks to both writers and poetry lovers in this accessible guide. While acknowledging the mystical element in poetry, she duly notes in her introduction that, " This book is about the things that can be learned. It is about matters of craft, primarily."

***
A Writer's Guide to Active Setting: How to Enhance Your Fiction with More Descriptive, Dynamic Settings, by Mary Buckham, c.2015.

Buckham maintains that setting is one of the most underutilized and misunderstood elements of the writing craft. In this guide she sets out to remedy this issue with lots of examples from a wide range of authors whose work illustrates how the proper use of setting can dramatically improve your story.

***
How To Fly( In Ten Thousand Easy Lessons), by Barbara Kingsolver, c.2020
Kingsolver is one of my favourite authors so I was excited to see this new collection of poems. She revealed in interviews that she began by writing poetry and has never stopped, even though she has also published novels and non-fiction.
"How To Fly" includes, a series of "How To" poems, verses about travels with her mother -in-law and observations and insights on the natural world.
There is so much to savour and enjoy here.

11/09/2020

Give yourself permission,

to write what you need to write, in the form that best suits your material and without worry about how it will be received.
Wade into that river, navigate around the protruding rocks and trust that as long as you keep writing, the current will carry you to where you need to go. But be prepared for the unexpected.

I have been struggling to write a poem based on a particular prompt. I have an opening verse, and some other bits and pieces, but it's not coming together. I am trying too hard to write material I think would be appropriate for this prompt.

I need to give myself permission to write what it is in my heart and on my mind; I need to jump into that river with both feet and let the water sweep me along.

I am grateful to award-winning poet, Ruth Panofsky, our guest at a recent Sister Writes Zoom Workshop, for sharing her process and talking about giving herself permission. She was speaking about writing the poems for her recently published collection,
"Radiant Shards: Hoda's North End Poems." (you can read my review of Ruth's book here: https://whitewallreview.com/hodas-lyric-journey/

Hoda, a character created by Adele Wiseman for her novel, "Crackpot," has long been a literary companion for Ruth. An esteemed Canadian scholar and teacher, Ruth has written about Wiseman and taught "Crackpot," for many years, but in "Radiant Shards," she gave herself permission to write, in the lyric voice of Hoda.
This is Hoda come to life in a way she cannot, in the third person narration of the novel. Ruth permitted herself to take poetic liberties with Wiseman's novel and character. In Radiant Shards,
"Hoda is my voice," Ruth told us.

She also spoke about her next project- poems based on her life- and again she has had to give herself permission; this time to write from a very personal place.

I believe that giving yourself permission is connected to letting go. Letting go of what Natalie Goldberg calls, "...the constructs that you shoulder unconsciously, the stances that were bred into you, the true and the false." She advises, "Take a deep breath and fall down through it all to just being."

I'm going to try what she suggests. See if I can do something with this material that's been swimming around in my head as I've attempted to write a poem based on a prompt.

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