11/11/09–Today's Village Writers workshop brought outstanding assistance–to me.  As I have mentioned before, I do not regularly read my own  material because within the time allotment we would run over two hours and that is about as much time as most people can tolerate in a session.  However, the group today–though normally comprised of eight people was limited today to four besides me. That allowed time for me to read a chapter of my "Iron Grip" novel.  I have gone over that chapter many, many times, and believed I had caught all the errors in grammar and syntax.  Our astute "grammar guru," however, caught me up on a couple of ambiguities–plus the use of "I" too often at the beginning of a sentence. The heroine is my point of view character, but that does not mean I have to identify her constantly as "I" at the beginning of sentences.  Many sentences can begin with other words.  Instead of saying "I finally found the quickest way to the ward," I could write, "Finally finding the quickest way, I. . ." The more eyes and ears, the better. 

Here's more gratitude: The one member who comes from a great distance, will not be able to come again until summer.  She brought me what she calls an "appreciation" gift–the 2010 issue of Writer's Market.  –Willma