Writing Workshop
I held my first ever two hour writing workshop today and as far as I’m concerned, it was a success! Fifteen people showed up! I was amazed. It was held at a local library and we set up a table and six chairs for the group. We kept adding chairs, moving the table and spreading out until the room was filled! My students ranged from a seventeen year old to an octengarian and we actuall had two men! Most seminars/ workshops/groups I’ve been too consist mainly of women. Men don’t seem to need no stinkin’ group.
Most of the workshop participants were budding novelists, with a sprinkling of memoir writers and a couple who were interested in writng nonfiction. I’ve written lots of nonfiction and in just about every genre, other than memoirs, so I was able to answer all their questions and point them to several helpful sights on the net. I had my wonderul husband set up a special email for me and told all my new students to send me some pages for critiques. It will be interesting to see how many do. One of the men is retired law enforcement and has written about his experiences. I have my fingers crossed that he’ll send me something. Hey, I’m a mystery writer – I love to hear read stories.
When I got home from the workshop, I immediately emailed the head librarian to thank her for letting us use the facilities. She wrote back thanking me for hosting such a successful workshop! Now I can’t wait until next month to see who shows up, if we have more people and most importantly of all, if the participants learned anything from me. Time will tell. Now I have to think of something to talk about next time!
