. >> i am joined by sharon owens from the writing department. >> welcome to our meeting and thank you so much for thinking of us and coming to join us today. we are honored to have you here. >> first let's start off with what is the writers forum? >> the writers forum is an organization that had early beginning in the early 80s when we discovered that we had several people in our community who were interested in writing and who wanted to meet and network with like-minded folks. we eventually became a larger organization and more formal and when we decided we needed a mission statement, what we decided was that our mission is to promote the craft of writing as an art and as a profession and we felt that covered all the needs our community would have and we have a far-reaching community, we go beyond redding and beyond shasta county. we have people who come from as far away as even southern oregon,sacramento and to the east and west in the foothills in some of the mountain communities . >> how did you get involved in what's your role? >> were going back to so many years ago that i can't