What are the opening hours?

Wednesday 6:30pm - 9:30pm Friday 9am - 12pm 1pm - 4pm

Whitespace Writers

Home
Canada
Calgary, AB
Whitespace Writers

'White space' is a term typically used in graphic design to literally mean the white space on a page, or the spaces between the images or words.
(1)

Whitespace Writers runs creative writing workshops designed to spark inspiration and help writers of all experiences and levels find their voice and tell their story. For our purpose as writers, however, we're stealing (like all good writers do) the term 'white space' to mean 'the place where storytelling happens beyond the words'. Yes we need words to tell a story, but they are simply our tools.

They are not the story itself. Storytelling is birthed in the white space- that magical, intimidating, mysterious part of our beings that dares to believe we have something to say, but is often overwhelmed by all the mechanics it takes to say it, aka words, sentences, paragraphs, punctuation, etc. In whitespace workshops, we put the fear and obsession surrounding the actual mechanics of storytelling on the back burner, and we focus on cultivating a rich 'white space' where ideas and characters and plots and memories can emerge, and stew, and be encouraged in a safe and respectful environment.

02/27/2020

Come fight the good fight starting THIS TUESDAY! ⚔️ Join us for Find Your Voice, Tell Your Story by heading to the link in our profile! 📝🤩

02/25/2020

Eek!! 😱😱 Only 6 more days left to sign up for our LAST 2020 workshop! Head to whitespacewriters.com/joinus to slide into our signature workshop, Find Your Voice, Tell Your Story, before it’s too late! 📝

02/24/2020

Come join us for our last 2020 workshop in Calgary next week! Find Your Voice, Tell Your Story begins next Tuesday—head to whitespacewriters.com/joinus to grab your spot! 🤩

02/20/2020

1. 24 hours of unique lessons developed by passionate industry professionals! We are full-time pro writers, and we know all about the ups, downs, ins, and outs of the writing life. 👩‍💻

2. Over 20 brand-new pieces written in the course of an 8-week class. Bam! Instant portfolio! 📝

3. A special one-on-one coaching date with your facilitator! Use this time to chat about publishing, creative habits, getting moving on your special project, and much more! 🤝

4. A new community of supporters, fans, and writing partners to keep your creative life juicy and varied! Whitespace pals are the best kinda pals. 👯‍♀️

5. Most importantly, you’ll leave class with a strengthened, clarified writing voice, the tools to continue honing your art and your craft, and the confidence to totally dominate your creative goals. 🤩

Join us at our final 2020 Find Your Voice, Tell Your Story workshop in just a few short weeks! Head to whitespacewriters.com/joinus to begin to spread those writing wings. 🦋

02/18/2020

An excellent command of grammar? The skill to craft a breathtaking turn of phrase? The inherent artfulness to create a metaphor that hits just right? Nah. The one thing all published writers have in common is that THEY DID THE THING. They finished their work. They sat down to write and they wrote. 📝

We see so many wonderful writers block themselves by not seeing an imperfect piece through to its natural conclusion, or starting a pet project over and over, or abandoning a longer narrative because they grow bored or scared or busy. This is gonna get you nowhere, pal. 🙅‍♀️

Your first step to becoming a published writer is to finish something. It ain’t romantic, but it’s the truth. As Jodi Picoult says, “You can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.” 💻

So get back to work on your abandoned manuscript! Revisit an old poem! And if you crave a weekly dose of discipline, community, and support, head to whitespacewriters.com/joinus to claim your spot at our last 2020 workshop! 🤩

02/17/2020

JOIN A WRITING GROUP! It’s the quickest, easiest, and most painless way to get comfortable with sharing your words with the world. One of the most unique things about our workshops is that we don’t offer any criticism or constructive feedback to anyone who shares their work. This rubs some folks the wrong way—after all, how are you supposed to get better if others don’t tell you what they think is “wrong” with your writing? But our goal isn’t to help you please other people. Our goal is to help you tell your truth in your own unique voice. Our goal is to help you recognize and nurture what is ALREADY amazing in your writing. Believe it or not, when your fellow classmates are limited to telling you only what they love about your work, mentioning in their feedback only the things that reached out and touched them, your work swiftly becomes more confident, more authentic, more sparkly and shiny and fresh. Grab your spot for our last in-person 2020 workshop at the link in our profile, and learn how freeing it is to trust your words with people who only give you love and encouragement in return. 🥰

02/14/2020

Happy day of love, writers! Take this as your official permission to get a bit wild with your heart today—it’s gonna make for a great story tomorrow. 😉

02/11/2020

We’ve only got one class left this year, and it starts in a few short weeks! Join for our signature Find Your Voice, Tell Your Story workshop and revel in 8 weeks of writing prompts, writer’s-block-busting strategies, language exercises, group feedback on your work, and so much more. Head to whitespacewriters.com/joinus to claim your spot before we take a break ‘til 2021! ✨

02/03/2020

Do you have pages and pages of notes fleshing out your novel idea, but you haven’t written a word of it yet? Do you voraciously read books and blog posts on the craft of writing instead of actually doing it? Do you sit down to write with a cup of tea and your fave fuzzy slippers and then end up scrolling on Reddit instead? There’s a reason for that—writing, the ACTUAL act of writing, can be hella scary. That’s where we come in! Our workshops are all about learning how to bypass that mental block and just freaking write. We’ve only got two workshops left this year—Plot Your Novel with Alexa starting this Wednesday, and Find Your Voice with Paige starting early March—so if you’ve been hemming and hawing about giving yourself permission to invest in your writing, this is your chance!! Head to whitespacewriters.com/joinus, and watch the words begin to flow. 🌊

01/24/2020

Where does the time go?! Don’t miss your chance to grab a spot at one of our LAST TWO workshops of 2020!! Plot Your Novel in 6 Weeks is filling up fast, and runs from February 5th-March 11th, and our signature workshop, Find Your Voice, Tell Your Story, runs from March 3rd to April 21st.

Head to whitespacewriters.com/joinus while you still can! 🤩

01/15/2020

Want to learn how to write a brilliant film with incredible plot structure like the one in Greta Gerwig's new film adaptation (which we are OBSESSED with)?? Come join our Whitespace Writers Film & Screenwriting workshop running 4 weeks starting next Tuesday! It's a jam-packed, in-depth workshop on how to write a screenplay, focused on creating plot, structure, and characters out of thin air. You don't need ANY experience to join, and you can join with or without a story idea. Check out the link in the comments to register!

01/10/2020

One of the most common fears that crops up in our signature Find Your Voice workshop is the fear that you don’t have anything original to say—that your life and thoughts are not interesting enough to warrant writing about. Well guess what, pal: you’ve got nothing to worry about. As the great Flannery O’Connor puts it, “Anybody who has survived his childhood has enough information about life to last him the rest of his days.”

What you might think of as boring—a suburban childhood, the universally humiliating experience of puberty, falling in love for the first time, breaking a bone, trying to keep seedlings alive in your first garden, adopting a rescue dog—all of these are rich with story. If you write with vulnerability, authenticity, and candour, even the most seemingly mundane of subjects transforms into something magical.

Come learn how to uncork that bottomless bottle of your life story and pour it out onto the page at the ONLY Find Your Voice, Tell Your Story workshop running in 2020! Class is in session starting March 3rd—sign up at whitespacewriters.com/joinus!

01/07/2020

Grammar is a TOOL! Nothing more! The whole purpose of correct grammar is to help you organize your words and thoughts into something that can reach your reader. Perfect grammar certainly isn’t required for expressive writing, first drafts, or dialogue. So why do so many of us get hung up on it? We tend to agree with Tom Robbins—having a good time with your writing, at least at the beginning of it, is so much more important than obsessing over the structure of it. Let your words grow where they will, like wild vines, and only take the clippers to them AFTER they’ve crept over the whole house. You can’t edit something that isn’t there! Don’t let the fear of incorrect grammar keep you from giving your stories life. 🌱

01/06/2020

If you’ve ever imagined yourself starring in a music video as you listen to your fave album on the bus and stare wistfully out the window, this four-week course is for you! Bring your daydreams to life with award-winning screenwriter and producer Alexa over four fearless weeks. Class starts January 21st, so sn**ch up your spot at whitespacewriters.com ASAP! 🎥

01/03/2020

Winter blues got you feeling a little... stale? We’ve got just the thing to warm up that tender heart of yours.🌹 Learn all of the delicious, salacious secrets of successful romance writers from an industry insider and conquer your blush to craft everything from the gentlest whisper of a kiss to a tortured torrent of forbidden passion. All you need is a pen, a notebook, and a love for all things love. ❤️ Romance Writing with Paige begins January 22nd! Head to whitespacewriters.com to claim your spot—we can’t promise that you’ll find yourself in 18th century Scotland, but you never know where your heart will lead you...

01/01/2020

If your New Year’s resolutions include radical authenticity, unapologetic creativity, finding time to play, and making your writing dreams a reality, then we’ve got a spot saved just for you at our Winter/Spring 2020 workshops. Squeeze life into your screenplay or plot your novel with Alexa, find your unique voice or get that romantic sizzle on with Paige, and find your creative purpose with life coach Mae K! It’s your last chance to join us for a while—check out the very exciting reason why we’re taking a lil break a few posts back! 👶🏼👶🏼 We can’t wait to write with you this year!! 🤩

12/16/2019

There may come a day when we stop posting Mary Oliver, but today, dear friends, is not that day. ❄️ (Psst—just one more week to snag 10% off of ANY of our workshops! Give yourself or a loved one the gift of story this year by entering the code “XMASGIFT” at checkout on whitespacewriters.com🎅)

12/13/2019

THAT’S RIGHT! We’re bringin’ this amazing workshop back for a fabulous four weeks in January and February. Find your purpose, harvest some motivation, and become so much more intentional with how you focus your creativity. Head to whitespacewriters.com to grab your spot! ❄️

12/12/2019

What could possibly be a better gift than a chance to taste life twice? Give the gift of story, creative confidence, and a nourishing, supportive community this year: and don’t forget to take 10% off of ANY of our upcoming workshops until December 24th (cause if you’re anything like us, you’re a last-minute shopper)! Just plug in the code “XMASGIFT” at checkout at whitespacewriters.com 🎅

12/02/2019

Does the well feel a bit dry? Come get your feet wet at our 2020 writing workshops! We’ve got romance, we’ve got screenwriting, we’ve got a magic formula for plotting your novel! We’ve got our signature workshop, designed to help you rediscover your authentic and unforgettable voice! We’ve got community and creativity and COFFEE! ☕️

Oh, and here’s a sweet treat: we’ve got a Christmas gift for you too! Take 10% off of ANY of the above workshops with the code XMASGIFT at checkout! ❄️ Start 2020 off write 😉

11/27/2019

When you’ve got that person on your Christmas list that just seems to have everything they could ever want... surprise them with a gift that gives back for the rest of their lives! We’re giving gifters 10% from December 1st to 24th with the code XMASGIFT at checkout—but we won’t put you on the naughty list if you wanna use it for yourself, too 😉. Head to whitespacewriters.com to check out the awesome lineup of courses running in January and February!

11/22/2019

Give yourself (or your favourite creative person) the gift of story this Christmas! From December 1st-December 24th at midnight, take 10% off of Romance Writing, Film & Screenplay, Plot Your Novel, and Find Your Voice with the code XMASGIFT at checkout!! And hey, when you grab that spot for yourself or a loved one, you’re technically shopping local, too 😉

11/20/2019

Writing doesn’t only happen when you pull out your pen. It happens when you’re bored on the bus, when you’re mentally arguing with a Facebook commenter in the shower, when you’re looking at a piece of art, when you’re in the waiting room at the doctor’s office, when you’re in line at the coffee shop. Writing isn’t just the act of writing—it’s all about paying attention. So even if you feel blocked, fearful, or fraudulent (and we all do at times), you can still hone your creative craft by simply NOTICING things. The Halloween costume still worn under a child’s winter coat, even though it’s mid-November. The barista’s plain-Jane blonde ponytail contrasting the puckered scars bracketing her left eyebrow, and how those scars indicate the former presence of a piercing. The way the hoar frost makes the world glitter in the light of the street-lamps. There are stories EVERYWHERE. Our challenge to you today is to put away your phone for a little while and just observe! There’s no need to write things down if you don’t want to, no pressure to craft a novel or a poem or a screenplay about your daily commute or waiting at the DMV, but you might be surprised by the things that leap out to inspire you. 👀

11/18/2019

The urge to create is something so human, so natural, and unfortunately, so often neglected. One of our goals at Whitespace is to take fear out of the act of writing and to learn how to make the process feel like second nature—because it is! So what’s stopping YOU from breaking out that empty notebook? Is it the fear that you’re not good enough yet? Is it the fear that you won’t have anything interesting to say? Are you scared of unearthing the things inside of you that you’ve worked so hard to bury? Do you feel guilt for nurturing your creativity when there’s laundry to do? In our workshops we don’t just write. We BANISH these fears. We help you discover that you ARE good enough, that you DO have a unique perspective, that your deepest, darkest secrets maybe aren’t so deep or dark after all, and that the laundry will get washed when it gets washed. Creativity is important. Writing is important. Don’t let fear steal your words!! 📝

Our winter workshops are live on the site! Check out the link in our profile to discover your next creative adventure! 🤸‍♀️

11/12/2019

That’s right, our signature workshop is back! Are you dying to write but you’re not sure where to start? Have a story to tell but unsure if it’s even any good? Maybe you’ve been writing for a while, and you’re ready to learn some tools and techniques to take it to the next level. Our Find Your Voice workshop is 8 weeks of radical community and creativity—there’s a reason so many of our students take it more than once! Head to the link in our profile to grab your spot, because we’re only running it ONCE this year!! 😱

11/08/2019

Wanna be in the movies? The next star in our genre workshop firmament is Film & Screenwriting with filmmaker and Whitespace founder Alexa! Learn the basics of screenplay, dig into story beats, and help set your story on the winding path to the big screen. Bask in your inevitable cinematic glory this January—grab your spot at whitespacewriters.com/joinus! 🎥 🍿

11/06/2019

Next up in our genre series: the wild world of romance! Romance gets a bad rap, but when it’s done right, it can be a deeply feminist genre, one that’s both socially intelligent and emotionally nourishing. Come learn how to play with tropes, subvert expectations, and fulfill fantasies while having the most fun you’ve ever had with a pen and paper! Class is in session starting this January—hop to whitespacewriters.com/joinus to make all of your sweet (and spicy) dreams come true. 🌹

11/05/2019

Our winter lineup is SO MUCH FUN. We’ve got two brand-new themed workshops—Romance Writing with and Film & Screenwriting with Alexa—along with our new-and-improved Plot Your Novel Course and our classic signature workshop, the ever-popular Find Your Voice, Tell Your Story. Head to whitespacewriters.com/joinus to grab your spot! 🤩

10/22/2019

There’s still one more day to sign up for the most soul-nourishing, life-affirming creativity course you’ll ever experience! Become more intentional with your creativity, find your purpose, and explore your potential with life and creativity coach Mae K. More info and signup deets at whitespacewriters.com/joinus! ✨

10/21/2019

Two new writing workshops launch this week and next with Whitespace Writers : check out our YOUR CREATIVE POTENTIAL workshop starting this Wednesday in the Beltline, and PLOT YOUR NOVEL IN 6 WEEKS running exclusively in Lake Chaparral starting October 30! Link in comments for more info!

Address

Calgary, AB
T3C0J5

Opening Hours

Wednesday	6:30pm - 9:30pm
Friday	9am - 12pm
	1pm - 4pm

Website

http://www.whitespacewriters.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Whitespace Writers posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.