Days 12 & 13: Life Lessons Writing for a Purpose

[Lynn Pinder]

Day 12 - We had three male participants from A Step Forward, Inc. (ASF) in today's workshop. Of the three, one was new. At least two of the male and one of the female participants dropped out of the recovery program during the ten-weeks. And there have been a few scheduling glitches that have caused other participants to miss sessions. This weekend, the women participants are unable to participate in the last two sessions as they are attending an out-of-town spiritual retreat. During this session, I took the time to share my appreciation to the two participants who stuck it out through the entire process. We discussed everyone's participation in the program. Everyone shared from their journals and I assigned each of them writing prompts. We also discussed the next phase of the project which is totally dependent on my ability to raise enough funds to pay for the costs of publishing the poems and creative essays that all of the participants have submitted to me.

Day 13 - We had four male ASF participants in our last workshop. I took the time to meet with each participant individually to share words of encouragement and to get background information to be included in the book. I also snapped head-shots of the participants who wanted to be pictured in the book. We took the time to discuss the next phase of the project and to assign accountability tasks to one another to ensure that the next phase of the project is completed. A graduate of ASF who started participating in the workshop series but who had to drop out due to his work scheduled agreed to draw a picture for the cover of the book. The participants agreed to stay on top of him to be sure that he submits his drawings before the end of December. The participants agreed to continue writing and sharing submissions before the end of October for inclusion in the book. The participants also agreed to stay on top of me to make sure I stayed focused in carrying out my fund-raising responsibilities for the project. During this last session, we were blessed to hear from a local aspiring writer - Kimberly Williams. She shared her insight on creative writing and gave the participants some useful writing tips. It was a great way to end the workshop series!