Dear Writer's Digest

In yesterday's mail the Writer's Digest Big Ten issue arrived.  I immediately sat down to read it.  And I am still on cloud nine!

I'm feeling so connected as a writer.  Not because I've just returned from the amazing Willamette Writers Conference in Portland, Oregon but because I'm reading a magazine and I 'know' people in it.

Let's first look at the panel of Ten Writing  Experts.  Steve Almond's Candyfreak is sitting on my shelf.  I bought if as research for a book I'm writing set in a candy factory.  Earlier this summer I had a wonderful experience at the Florida Institute of Technology's Creative Writing Seminar.  John Dufresne was my teacher.  I crossed paths with N.M.Kelby at the Miami Book Fair in 2007.  My friend, Georgia has an autographed copy of Whale Season when they both discovered a connection to Boston University.  And Donald Maass gave a wonderful talk at the first meeting of the women's fiction chapter of Romance Writers of America at their recent conference.  I was lucky enough to be a part of it.

I intently soaked up all their comments.  Turning the page I see Chuck Palahniuk.  I saw him in Portland.   Then appears I topic I really need help with, productivity.  It's written by Sage Cohen.  Reinforcement is powerful.  I took Sage's class while I was in Portland too.

Now I haven't met Mary Higgins Clark or Sherman Alexie yet but I'm positive my writing circles are growing at a fast pace.  I'm on my way.  I'm connected.  I'm a writer.