This afternoon the members of one of my workshops will gather.  Among the members is the first to attend five years ago when I put out a newsrelease to let the public know I was launching such.  It was a major surprise when 18 people crowded into my small apartment to learn what I had in mind and share their ideas about what they wanted to write. 

Of those that came that day, a number decided it wasn't for them; about five signed up.  Meanwhile, others have joined so that in the four workshops I now lead, the total membership is 22, and  I'm about to launch another in August to accommodate the "overflow inquiries."  Five or six per workshop is a workable number even though one of my groups numbers eight.  None of those wants to drop that particular group.  They have become bonded, and I am happy for that.  However, too many attendees at any meeting results in our not having as much time as I'd like to take for each manuscript.

I do not presume to "teach." I encourage with citations from my experience and critique in ways I believe will make a piece saleable.  For each meeitng I provide handouts of information.  One today is from a teacher friend in California who has a new,  on-line writing class, "Creating Plots That Sell."  Another handout is from an anthologist seeking essays that will be published under the title: "End of Life Stories." (I will be sending one to this contest.  Top prize is $1000 with two $500 second place awards.)  Another is the submission guidelines for essys or short stories beginning with the first line the contest provides.  The first sentence of the story must  be: "My life was a sham."   Another handout will be the brief gudelines for submission to In-Flight magazines.

My hope always is that  one of these handouts will provide a foot -in-the door at a magazine for a workshop member.  Until tomorrow, Willma