I’ve been with the same critique partners for over twenty years. Their work lifts me up and their feedback helps me be better. I’m also in a group that’s met every Monday morning (with few exceptions) for well over a decade. We talk for an hour about what we’re working on, what we hope to achieve in the week ahead, what our spirits are up to. These clusters of beautiful writer people offer insights, ideas, advice, condolence, challenge, and much to chew on,

Here are some organizations and people that have been instrumental to my growth.

DORLAND MOUNTAIN ARTS, located in an oak grove in the foothills near Temecula, California, offers residencies to visual artists, writers, musicians, and composers. I have spent time there many times over the years. I went for the first time for much-needed solitude, which is the ethos of the place. I didn’t intend to talk to any other human beings for the month I would be there, yet three of the other residents became the closest of friends. The place is magic.

HEATHER KING was one of the three I met at Dorland. Her books are deep, wise, and funny, and her workshops and editing services are lauded by artists of all persuasions. She’s a gift in my life and to the world.

I’ve been twice to the ELK RIVER WRITER’S WORKSHOP, where I was inspired and guided by Beth Piatote and Debra Magpie Earling. The workshop is beautifully conceived and run. It offers topnotch faculty (all Indigenous this year) to a coterie of committed writers in a gorgeous Montana milieu. I’m honored that an essay of mine is to be included in an anthology that Elk River is putting out this summer.

Terry Wolverton’s WRITERS AT WORK workshops bring people together who become lifelong art compadres. Terry was the first person I got to know when I moved to Los Angeles with a five-year-old daughter and no car. She is a gifted writer, performer, and facilitator teacher guide. [terrywolverton.net/index.html ]

You don’t have to be a writer of women’s fiction, or a woman, to be a member of WOMEN’S FICTION WRITERS ASSOCIATION. Once you are, you can avail yourself of tons of resources and information and fellowship with other writers.

ANCESTRAL STORYTELLING is facilitated by Cheryl Potts. She offers information and guidance toward accessing ways to write more from heart and spirit than from the mind. Being in her groups has been transformative for me. She says: “I teach storytelling by working with dreams, with Ancestral stories, with the invisibles and with participants’ life experiences.”

These are the some of the artists that have shaped me over the course of my long time on this earth. E. Nesbit, E.B. White, C.S. Lewis, Bob Dylan, J.D. Salinger, James Baldwin, Isadora Duncan, Edna O’Brien, Katherine Mansfield, Toni Morrison, Joni Mitchell, Marvin Gaye, Richard Adams, Richard Pryor, Louise Erdrich, Walter Mosley …