GREENWICH PEN WOMEN - Arts, Letters, Music, Creativity

If you are stuck when writing, skip ahead to a scene you really WANT to write. No one is going to tell you off for not writing in chronological order - well, except for your inner critic, but we all have to work on silencing that voice when we're writing. Writing a scene you're excited about usually helps resolve writer's block. The important thing is to keep writing! Sarah Darer Littman

Dear Grandson, Thank you for calling me to tell me about your ninth birthday party. It seems you and your friends had a good time. When you told me that you placed only fourth out of ten in your contest, you seemed to suggest that you thought of yourself as less than a winner. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. It is how you live life that counts. A winner makes the best of any situation. That means that all winners put forth their best effort regardless of their placement in any competition. The real test of a person’s greatness is when he loves and cares for the non-winners. You will find in life that sometimes you will place first, fourth, eighth, and even in last place. That is O.K. as long as you put in your best effort and are a good person. Some winners think only of themselves and fail to help the needy. To me, they are selfish losers, not winners. Yet many winners are good people who do not seek self-glory or first place in