The Warrior Writer weekend I just had was the best kick-ass writer's workshop I've ever attended. Ever. And I've been to a lot of them.

If you're a writer stuck, on anything at all, pick up the book Who Dares Wins by Bob Mayer (Writer's Digest). Work through it, slowly, so as not to scare yourself. Because it works on the writer, not the writing. (The exciting thing, though, is you can use it for your characters, too.)

The first day was an intimate group. We'd sent in our cover letter, 1 page synopsis, and the first ten pages earlier. And yes, he did critique them, but that isn't what made the day so wonderful. He then took us, person by person, book by book, through each step. What's our original idea? What's the conflict lock? Who's the protag, antag? What's the escalating tension? What's the crisis? What's the climax? What's the resolution?

For me, he cut to the heart of things by saying, what if...the heroine is your protagonist, the nexus of everything that happens? From there, we were off and running. Each step we went through, we did one at a time, so no one person was overwhelmed and exhausted all at once. No, it took all day for that to happen, and happen it did. The four writers there bonded - I've made friends I will never lose.

Bob was the most generous of teachers. Never being mean or rude, just cutting to the chase - you need an antagonist, and yeah, it has to be a person - that kind of thing. Being born a New Yorker and spent time in the South, he's got both the New York edge and the Southern slide in his speech, which makes him fun to listen to. Having a background in Special Forces makes him fascinating to listen to.

Warrior Writer:

After 8 years of thinking with a certain amount of arrogance that yeah, I can write, duh, it's in my blood - I finally realized that I needed to change how I approached writing. My writing didn't need to change. I needed to change.

Who Dares Wins brought that home for me. And that brings me to the Warrior Writer day, on Sunday.

Four more people joined us, my eldest son being the only guy besides Bob there. Plus, he was the youngest by at least 30 years.

Bob took us through the Who Dares Wins book, but geared to the author. The first challenge was, In one sentence, write down your goal for - well, it was this workshop. But for you, it should be - In one sentence, write down your goal for your writing.

The second challenge was, Write down the one thing you fear the most as a writer.

And the rest went deeper. It was an amazing day, with more friends found. If you're having challenges as a writer, I encourage you to pick up the book, Who Dares Wins. And then, you know, actually work through it.

If you work through it honestly, you'll be different at the end of it. And then, of course, it's time to dance the circle all over again.

Thanks, Bob. You're the best, and I mean that from the depths of my heart.