Yesterday I decided to drop in on a writing course that was being offered in Puerto Vallarta. Dana Zeller-Alexis, a New York based actress, would lead the series of six classes. It sounded interesting.

Arriving early, I claimed a white plastic chair at the table. There were seats for ten participants around the table and a guarantee, when I registered, that the class would not exceed twelve people. In true Mexican style, they kept straggling in. By the time the class began, tables and chairs had been added to accommodate eighteen of us. One woman refused to move from her original seat, which was now in the centre of the grouping, until the instructor pleaded with her. Frowning, with arms folded across her chest, she finally relented. "It is the Mexican way to choose the right seat for yourself!" she stated with an American twang and a toss of her bleached hair.

We started in the usual way with introductions all around. I am never sure what this accomplishes because it is impossible to remember eighteen names. Then we did the circuit again, stating whether we were beginners or experienced writers, in the middle of drafts or published. Once again, I am never sure which category to place myself or why it would matter! The most interesting response came from one of the late arrivals who declared "I've tried everything else, so I thought that I would try writing."

There were four men in the group. One of them sat to my left and became my writing partner when the exercises began. It was simple. Write a sentence and pass the paper to your partner to write the next sentence, back and forth for three minutes. In my Salmon Arm writing group we have a gigglefest version of this exercise at the end of our meetings. Unfortunately, my partner did not see the humor in the exercise or in my first sentence "Myrtle ran from the raging bull." As a matter of fact, he seemed incapable of forming a second sentence. At the 2 1/2 minute mark, when the rest of the group had composed novels, he managed to write "She fell and broke her leg". Time was up!

Dana read several pages from a novel and a short story by Pablo Neruda to illustrate different styles of writing and forms of conflict. Our homework assignment is to create a scene with two characters in conflict, the antagonist and the protagonist, based on a personal experience from this week. As there is never conflict in my life, I am at a loss for words!