AN INTERVIEW WITH JILLI

by:   Scriptress   and   Jilli

There is a knock on Jilli's door. Jilli checks her watch and wonders who is calling at this hour. She opens the door to find an attractive elderly lady standing there.

"Jilli? I am a reporter from The Chat Times. May I interview you on the first anniversary of The Writer's Club?"

Jilli, smiles and asks the lady in. She offers her a seat, then taking one herself opposite the coffee table, she offers the reporter a cup of chocolate. "Marshmallows?" she asks.

With note pad and pencil at ready, the reporter asks her first question.   "What prompted you to open The Writer's Club? I mean, there are a number of other channels open to persons with that interest."

"Yes, and before opening my channel on IRC, I visited a number of them. I felt I could offer new writers, and perhaps those struggling authors a different type of channel. At least that was my wish. Also a chat room where experienced writers might come and enjoy the atmosphere and interests,   helping others to understand techniques and submissions better."

"What seems to be the difference between your channel and the ones you visited," probed the news person.

"Maybe I can best answer that by saying what I did not want the focus to be. I didn't want it to have the appearance of being a classroom. Our purpose on the wriers club is not to teach writing, though we do answer questions if a writer is having some problem.   Most writers have taken classes, or read, or practiced their writing to sharpen their skills. So that type of channel would have been redundant. Neither did I want it to be a chat room where others give critiques,   unless specifically asked to. I, personally, don't believe in critique of another's writing except by the public that reads it. Critique rooms, too, can be found through browsing on the net."

"I guess I still don't understand what your channel brings to the net that is unique. I would like for my readers to come away feeling that they would want to visit your chat room. Do you welcome all comers, even if they don't practice the art of writing?"

"Let me answer your last question first. Yes, anyone is welcomed into our room. I wish I had at hand some of the comments made by those first visiting", Jilli remarked with a smile.

Jilli looked thoughtful a moment and then looked up at the reporter and asked, "would you like to hear the story of why the writers club came to be. I don't want to bore you."

"Yes, please." the reporter responded.

THE BEGINNING