I like to think that my writing workshops, like a journal, provide exactly the kind of safe environment needed by a new writer. However, I also believe that a safe place is not created overnight. It does not happen immediately. No, it takes a few weeks for the students to begin to trust each other in a class setting and for the journaller to be authentic and to trust that being honest is OK. And it is only once that trust is built that new writers dare to bare their souls and speak their truth. To tell their real [...]