I am a graduate of your "Build a Better Novel" workshop and want you to know how helpful what you taught me has been! Your lectures and handouts (and the many hours of one-on-one instruction that you so generously gave me for free) are the reason I had the courage to submit my work to publishers of fiction and non-fiction books.

I have enclosed copies of acceptance letters I have received from editors at S&S and Bantam. The glowing remarks of both are due in no small part to the hard work you put in with me prior to submission.

I hope you will not mind that I have included you in the dedication pages of both books. I also hope you will be willing to write a brief "back jacket blurb" for each (the editors' email address are attached; please send your comments directly to them), for I will be proud to have your name associated with my work.

I cannot thank you enough, Loree, for going far, far beyond the call of a teacher's duty. You not only taught me to write, you also taught me how to submit a polished and professional proposal to editors at two major publishing houses...proposals that earned me multi-book contracts.

Last, let me say that your biggest accomplishment of all was giving me confidence in my talents and abilities as a writer. Without that, the rest would not have been possible. Yes, it's true you were "just" my teacher when we met, but I am now proud to call you "friend". Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Martha Gardner, Trenton, NJ

("Campfire Cooking", 2006; "Two Beating Hearts", 2007)