“I enjoyed the workshop a lot, thanks again, and thanks for sending the TC Boyle story! It was well worth staying indoors on a sunny weekend.
What I love about short stories is that they fit inside your head from beginning to end. You can turn them around in your mind without too much loss of detail, even when you don’t have the pages in front of you. I enjoy re-reading them and making new discoveries.
What I learned at the workshops is that the sum of experience and enthusiasm is not necessarily a conserved quantity: as the former increases, the latter need not decrease. The way [the instructor] responds to questions with clear, laser-guided technical explanations is a tribute to [her] skill and experience. That [she] still manages to deal with each question, story and student so earnestly and with such overflowing enthusiasm, gentleness, compassion and respect is a rare accomplishment.”