There are six people who are now meeting once a month in Danville, Indiana, to talk about and get better at the craft of writing. The Westside Writer’s Workshop is Andrea, Roger, Jim, Rita, and Teresa. And I’m delighted to be facilitating these meetings.

There are some things you should know about these people. They are not rookies – at life or at producing a variety of creative work. They are not easily distracted. They’ve learned how to take risks. They also don’t have time to write. There are dozens of other things they could be doing. And likely a half-dozen other things that they should be doing. But they know that writing is a powerful way to process what is happening inside them – and in the worlds they inhabit.

Let me tell you how I know this.

At our first meeting I spread a stack of random portrait photos in front of them, photos I’d pulled down off Google images. I asked them to each choose one – whichever seemed to pull at them. They each leaned forward and chose one. I then asked them to write for five minutes about the person in the picture.
Within 15 seconds they had all started writing. Seven minutes later they were still writing.

The Westside Writer’s Workshop is a group of people who have things that they are driven to get down on paper. This has been obvious from the start.
And I intend to do all I can to help them get that done.