Dear Friends:

I'm writing to share my excitement with you over a story that was started in one of these Hollyhock workshops--some of you will remember it--in Vancouver.

Jayne Doxtater's story of her journey as the wife of a man in transition to becoming a woman started in a workshop but Jayne kept working on it.

She came to a second workshop at Hollyhock and worked on it more. I worked on it with her as she posted some of it on the Vancouver Observer, poring over each line to make it stronger and clearer. She has worked really hard on this story and at one point she said something to me about thinking it would be great for Oprah. Knowing the disappointments available to writers in the publishing world, I'm not sure what I said to this, but something along the lines of, well, that would be great, but don't count on it.

So imagine my surprise when I got a call last week from...the Oprah Show. A producer in Chicago wanted to know how to get in touch with Jayne. They were interested in featuring her on a story this week, but that didn't work out. They're interviewing her soon to pitch the story to the higher ups (I'm assuming that means God herself, Oprah), for another segment.

The moral of the story in my mind is this: if you think you have a story to tell, you probably do. Don't judge it, don't think about the outcome, but get it down. Write, seek help to make the writing better, and keep at it.

We never know what's going to come of it. So, whatever happens to Jayne, if we get to see her on Oprah (I hope we do) or not (in the world of television, you can't count on anything), this is a huge acknowledgement and achievement for her. What it says is that her story has popular appeal and that she must keep at it. It could be you, or it could be me. Keep at it!

And let's all keep our fingers crossed for Jayne.

Hope to see some of you this weekend (10/16-17) at the Writing From the Edge of Social Change workshop in Vancouver. Social Change can encompass a lot of subjects, so if you have a story that's burning to get out, join me. It's probably a story that the world is waiting for.

Warmly,
Linda