Greetings from Iowa City

The small towns of the strange middle of our lives
remain small
Sweet wintry
even in summer. . .
Robert Dana "Summer in a Very Small Town"

Well here I am workshopping away. We had a wonderful class meeting today. Although the topic is writing, our conversation involved film editing, specifically centering on the editing of Apocalypse Now. The amazing thing is, using film editing as an entree into editing of one's own novel works in the hands of the workshop leader.
Tonight I have two manuscript excerpts to read and critique. One is structured like an old fashioned adventure thriller (think Indiana Jones or King Solomon's Mines) and the other is a sci-fi novel. The folks at the workshop are interesting people from a particular varied lot of backgrounds. I think the next few days should be fun.
My own manuscript will be critiqued on Thursday. I'm naturally terrified but I'm handling it well. Somehow if I tell everyone I'm scared it helps me cope. The analogy that popped into my head yesterday is that I would be less anxious if I was expected to dance naked in front of these people than I am presenting my writing for their review. For those who'd rather see me dance naked--Nyah, Nyah.
I got a fabulous review from one woman who set the world record for manuscript reading today. She truly loved my work! The way she worded her opinion made me respect that it was sincere and also an opinion worth valuing. We'll have to see how the rest of the week goes. I'm still anxious but less so. Even if nothing comes of my story, I'll save her comments forever.