My Writing Friends

       My Writing Friends
      
      Table legs screech their bimontly complaint. Chairs placed around them receive warm bodies pulsing with anticipation. The TWA, Tampa Writers Critique Group, holds its session. Tonight I'm one of the four that will occupy the hot seat. Another chapter of my memoir, Beyond The Veil, is on the list to be critiqued.

       I glance around at the familiar faces, my writing friends. Entrance into their world provided me with binoculars. I see writing now as works of art...operas. And, the techniques these writers have taught me not only improve my writing, but also help me to look closer at the beauty of the art work.
      
       I hold my writing friends dear. I call them My Inkies. We're linked by ink. Each a substance with different texture and diversity. They add richness to my writer's life.
 
       These Inkies sometime give me Ouchies! That's when I hear the words of my grandmother, the old Spanish saying, "El que te quiere te hace llorar," he who loves you will make you cry. Yes, correction hurts but it helps to mold me into a better writier.

        And then...sometimes My Inkies touch me in a most memorable way. I kneel before them and bow my head to receive their invisible pen, their writing sword upon my shoulder. Those are the times when they find a zest in my writing. Those are the times when My Inkies..."knight me."