Writers ...I am grateful to all the published writers/authors in the many different genres who have crossed my path and taught me how to be a professional writer. Over the years I have stored how-to knowledge in my mind until some days I think I will burst. My burst of energies swell up causing all the characters from untold stories to run through my mind yelling, "I want out. I want out, NOW." Oh, how I look forward to allowing many of the characters to escape in the upcoming days as I squeeze in more writing time.

Myrna Tempe taught me how to stretch a short story into a novel, Ridley Pearson taught me if you want to be a writer I must step out, go for it and never give up, poet Vi Gale said, " You will never be a writer, but your enthusiasm for writing will probably get you there." Then, she turned around called the book review editor at the Oregon Journal, and I had my first writing assignment as a book reviewer, Karen Taha showed me how to persevere, and Dusty Richards pushed me, a stranger in his state out into the crowd (I was hugging a wall for comfort.) at a writers conference in Eureka Springs. The list goes on - Darcy Pattison, Lori Casey Caldwell, Veda Boyd Jones, Joan Banks, Ellen Gray Massey and Max McCoy; this could continue for pages. You will find more in my blog in days ahead about the ones noted and the ones not noted. So many wonderful hard working writers and I am so pleased to have met and known.