Going back to the mid 90's Bill offered a workshop to be held in Arkansas for newsletters...and I jumped at the opportunity.

One of the first things he had everyone do was to write a promotional piece (as Gordon is suggesting here) for the newsletter they were wanting to publish. At the end of the time frame given he called each person to the front of the classroom and silently read their work...then critiqued them aloud. Some were pretty brutal.

When my name was called I walked up and handed my copy to Bill...he looked me straight in the eye and then read.

With bated breath I waited not knowing what to expect. After completing the read Bill looked at me and said 5 beautiful words - "Shannon said you could write" (Shannon being Bill's wife at that time), and handed me back my copy.

The result of that workshop and Bill's words...it started my writing career.