I can hardly believe the good things pouring into my life sometimes. I think if you allow it, good things will find you, and fill you up in a blink. I have wanted for years to assemble a gifted, supportive, creative group of writers to work with me to put together some terrific stories, possibly a book or some plays and to see the creative spark in worthy people ignite. I think this dream came true last night at Hubbard Hall.

We got a lot of applicants for the workshop and screened them very carefully, and we chose very well. I wanted the class to be small so that we would all get a chance to talk and know one another.

The class has a doctor, a milk truck driver, a professional photographer, a housewife, among other things. They are all open and eager to help each other. In just a few minutes, we were kicking some wonderful ideas around, talking about the value of blogs, the structure of stories,  figuring out how to support and communicate with each other. You could almost touch the excitement and energy in the room. For our first meeting we met in Hubbard Hall’s Main Theater – for dramatic affect. We will meet again next Thursday in a smaller room and begin to hone our ideas. We talked about trying visuals, texts, video voices, narrative links, photography, collage and words, all focusing on different elements of rural life – health care, community, animals. Lenore provided moral support.

It’s an impressive group and we were just warming up after a few hours. The Hubbard Hall Writers are Jen Baker-Porazinski, Rachel Barlow, Diane Fiore, Kim Gifford, Christine Glade, John Greenwood and Becki Trudell (couldn’t make it this week but will be there next Thursday.) I am lucky to be a part of this group, a dream come true for me.