This morning I hosted, again, the High Hopes Writer Workshop.  This group meets twice a month on the first and third Wednesday mornings.  I  want to tell you a little about the makeup of this group. Members are so diverse in what they write and their comments, that all bring not only bits of their personal lives in their writing but leave us all more inspired than when we sat down together.  Seven came this morning. 

I mention Irene first as she is a talented poet, 99 years old, with a prodigious memory.  (A write-worthy story in itself.)  Irene cannot see to read so a friend  or her daughter types a copy that she can give to me.  She recites her poems by heart.  We are working to get some of these set to paper (or the computer) that can be submitted for an editor's consideration.

Shari has volumes of words and good ideas but is terribly nervous about setting them down.  She is not shy about reading them to us but can't identify whether she her accounts should be termed fiction or nonfiction.  All take turns with suggestions. She is masterful with words, just needs encouragement to "let it all hang out"!

Joan is basically a graphic artist and sculptor and is one of my favorite examples of how workshop can stimulate writing. When she first joined us, she was asking, "how do you know what you want to write about?" At that same meeting she heard one writer read a little essay about a cat.  To the next meeting Joan brought an essay about a family cat rescue.  What was significant about this?  "I had totally forgotten about how we got that cat out of the tree.  I wouldn't have remembered it if I hadn't heard Virginia's cat rescue story last meeting." 

Chris, received one of my handouts last meeting in which Chicken Soup For the Soul Anthologies is seeking personal accounts of seemingly miraculous occurrences for which "an angel" has guided us.   Chris's account, read today ,is about how "an angel" avoided an auto accident for her.   We all helped her  with suggestions on how to put a little more emotion into her story, and she will send it in.

More about these inspirational workshop members in the near future.  Willma 

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