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Dear Jeanetta,
I am
so glad to have "bumped" into you at the conference
last Saturday. Happy to get an opportunity to express my appreciation
in person for the class "Personality Keys In Writing,"
you taught last spring.
Looking
forward to putting down in writing a personal evaluation and
some of the experiences I have encountered since taking your
workshop, I am equally excited to know you want me to share
them.
Before
I recap some of what I shared with you at the OCW conference,
I must relay the fact that I have been attending these one-day
conferences since 1986, as well as attending a summer conference,
and feel qualified to say that, to date, yours has been one
of the most encouraging writers' classes I have taken.
Being
fairly new to this craft, and frankly one I have never thought
I would enter into, learning this profession has been comparable
to being dropped into a foreign and scary world. One that
I would of certainly removed myself long ago, if it weren't
for God's grace and the assurance, lacing the road with encouragment
when I think I might of taken a wrong turn. Your class was
one of them.
(Although,
I should of had a clue from the start. I was reminded of such,
when I went looking for the literature you handed out, when
I also came across the papers from your morning presentation.
Re-reading some of what you wrote as well as some of my many
notes and comments that filled the margins, I remember gleaning
inspiration with your quotes like, "Write your plans
in pencil and give God the eraser," and bonding with
the truth that "God teaches us through our writing."
I was buoyed with hope even before I walked into your classroom!
Uplifted by your evident passion for Jesus, our Lord.)
Still,
the class took me unawares. I hadn't detected from the short
course synopsis that you were basing your insights from a
Keirsey/Meyer's Temperments. A class I was required to take
at work more than a decade ago. ... Another bonus was [my
class] also included a placement "test," and book
"Please Understand Me." Taken
with learning about different personalities, I read that book
cover to cover after the class, and enjoyed learning about
myself and others. But, over time I forgot completely about
the advantages unitl your class brought it close to home.
From the
start, even though your overview was general, what you presented
went beyond Keirsey or Meyers, mainly by putting those patterns
in the reach of our present reality of what it is like to
live the writer's life. Especially when you used the white
board and divided into segments aspects, what each individual
personality would process: rejection, or success, or research,
or due dates, or critiquing, and even conferences, and the
benefits were immediate.
Having
the advantage of viewing others from the back row, I don't
know if you noticed, but you had everyone's participation--even
the quiet ones. I believe it was because you were able to
personally identify with and related to each person in the
room by what you were stating. Even after the class was dismissed
people lingered to talk about what they learned. In fact,
the person next to me announced his discovery by exclaiming,
"No wonder my wife does that!"
And it
didn't stop there. For the rest of the day, I heard snipets
of conversations of the class they "missed", to
little quizzes of those who took it to those who didn't, and
plenty of positive feedback from those who took the workshop
as well.
Giving even me more to wonder upon the truth of both commonality
and differences of all God creatures, great and small.
Excited
to share this new found information, I then made copies of
your class hand-outs, plus excerpts of the morning sessions,
and shared with my then critique group. Along with a short,
verbal summary, helping them with quick assessments of suspected
identities, they soon saw the benefits to such information
for not only their writing life, but an aid to bring life
to their fictional characters as well.
Though
currently far from being establishing, I find rest knowing
I am exactly where I need to be, and am hopeful that in writing
this evaluation, I can recycle some of that encouragment back
to you. I have no doubt it would be benefical to others if
it were offered, or even the longer version, again. [I] was
paying attention!
Love and
blessings,
Nina Noble
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