Haifa Writing Workshop

This Thursday (19th of August, 2021), we met on the roof in Masada st 38 in Haifa. We talked, got to know each other and did writing exercises that I’ve prepared earlier. We did 4 writing exercises: 1- stream of consciousness (writing for 7 minutes without stopping). 2- describing a space through smells, sounds and visuals. 3- intense physical [re]experience. 4- write a love poem to an object in your life.

The warmth and coziness of the gathering prompted me to write profusely and without stopping. It was really amazing and everyone felt comfortable and in their zone. We happened to be 8 women in the workshop, because other guys couldn’t make it. And this helped with the warmth of the ambience.

I’m attaching the reading excerpts we used to get our minds to warm up for writing:

on top of the Carmel mount a fortress is built, which overlooks the city center. Beneath the hill, stretch the religious centers. On the side, lies the Churches neighborhood (haret al kanayes), where we find the Maronite, Catholic and Orthodox church. On the east of this point, we find the big mosque with its clock tower. In addition, near by lie the three public centers: Al Jureneh square in front of the Big Mosque; the Carriages square (Al Hanateer square) and Al Khamra squre, named after a wealthy local family. On the east, parallel to the beach, the oldest public buildings stand: the mail office, the Saray, a small mosque, a slaughterhouse, and a prison built on an old crusade fortress.