Hi All,

I wanted to share some information with other NWU members. I think that although the Written Word Workshop Project began with a vision of Seth Eisenberg and other leaders of the At-Large Chapter, it doesn't have to be considered as Chapter specific. Rather the Written Word Workshop Project can be embraced by all Chapters. Please consider how you and your Chapter may become involved. If you have a shared news site within your individual Chapters, you might consider disseminating this message.

The weekly Sunday night one hour telephone conferences at 8 PM EST began in March 2006. The planning and outreach began in 2005 in order to get it all underway over a period of months.

I have spoken to well over a hundred individuals and organizations. The Sunday night conferences are designed for aspiring writers with disabilities.

Many people have stories and don't realize it. Or they realize it and are not self empowered enough to do anything about it. Likewise there is a maze out there that prevents one's work from being in the public domain. Agents and publishers can be quite elusive for authors.

Our conferences help motivate us to take pen in hand and place fingers on the keyboard. Successful authors have visited with us to divulge a little more about themselves and their work.

Likewise we have given support to each other, and also have spoken to publishers.

I am particularly interested in an offer made by a representative of I Universe. Our participants are submitting samples of their writings to create an anthology. The name of the book that I picked is Behind Their Eyes or Behind Our Eyes. It will feature stories submitted by our membership. The outcome will serve to create better understanding between the public at large and the members of the Written Word Workshop group.

There is no particular theme that our authors have to write about. The members have varied interests. Writing about what is dear to each individual helps to show people that people are still people regardless of disabilities.

Advocacy for bettering society can be submitted for the book. Fiction, biography, poetry, and other forms of prose can all be submitted. I have reviewed some very interesting submissions thus far. I am also proud of the way various individuals in the group have taken on responsibilities in order to help make this all happen.

Sometimes we just share amongst ourselves. While other times we orally describe our writing samples for critiquing. All in all, it has been memorable for everyone associated with it thus far.

NWU members can help make the teleconferences a better experience by offering to spend an hour with us some time. If you can share any words of wisdom about writing or publishing, it will add to the mix. Also your experiences with the NWU can be helpful for purposes of helping to learn more about the NWU. This is an opportunity in which to show the strengths of the NWU by action.

We have a dial in phone number for our participants. We also have a list site for members to post messages. If you have any ideas please consider talking with me. Or if you happen to be a person with a disability, you might consider submitting a writing sample for our anthology too.

Sanford Rosenthal

954 537 7557