One of the best things a writer can do is be open to new ideas. It doesn't mean you should be so open minded that your brains fall out. It just means you should be receptive, flexible, willing to try out something if someone finds it a good method. If you try it and don't like it then at least you know that method is not for you. I've found this is one of the best ways to bring some zap back into my writing. I might feel somewhat stale, flat and down right uninspired. A quick flip through a writing book, or even a non-writing book, and some idea leaps off the page. It's one reason writing in a workshop is so good for writers.

There's this mix of every kind of person in a workshop. Some shy, some over-confident. There's experienced and beginners. There's those with a strong sense of what works and those reluctant to share because they simply feel unsure. Once the prompt is given, the challenge is there. You have no time to pick and choose, you must write something and it must be now. You pick up your pen and let the first thought that comes to you help you begin.

I've been to an untold number of workshops in the last five years. Prior to that I'd only attended a community education writing class. The teacher was so insecure in herself she did everything she could to play down my work. I imagined it a subtle thing and decided she was jealous and shrugged it off. But several of the older women noticed and asked me how I felt about it. I was honest and said I felt complimented. To think the teacher was intimidated by me.

That atmosphere isn't what I'd call really useful to a beginner writer, such as I was in that time. What does work is the atmosphere at a writing centre where the needs of writers as individuals are taken into account. I joined such a group around five or more years ago. The workshops I attended challenged me to write beyond my comfort zone. I never wrote anything I felt crossed the line of my personal beliefs, but I did write things I would never have tried alone.

A perfect example is the time I was given three pictures and had to make a plot and story from them. One of the pictures showed a transvestite. I don't want to go into why, but I did object to writing about this character. When I spoke a gentle objection the workshop leader challenged me to think of some way to use the character. My hackles started to rise, but I swallowed and calmed myself. Okay, I would use the character. It's not the place to go into it here, but I did. I worried my use of the character might offend someone, but in fact they were delightfully entertained.

I ended up with a great story idea, which needed work and change, of course, but a useable tale that fit a specific genre. I'd never have come up with that idea if I hadn't attended that workshop. It's an idea that continues to grow and attract the stuff stories gather once they've been left to stew. Anyway, that's me done. I had to write this in-between working out some problem with a company who claim we are overdue on our account.