The board of the Midwest Writers Workshop canceled its traditional three-day conference, hired a management/leadership consultant from Shafer Leadership Academy, and is working hard behind the scenes to learn the best practices for governing a small, newly-minted nonprofit organization like MWW. Our goal is to structure MWW in a way that will ensure its diversity, efficiency, stability, sustainability, and longevity. This will involve recruiting new board members, establishing term-limits for all board members, creating a strategic plan, recruiting a pool of willing volunteers, and looking for new opportunities to serve the writing community. Serving as key advisors on this journey are Jane Friedman and Ashley Ford, industry experts and good friends of MWW. As we mature as an organization, we’re committed to our mission of helping writers achieve their publishing goals. That will never change. And that is why, as we’re working on our nonprofit governance, we are also dedicated to our mission by offering a dynamic day-and-a-half program with a decidedly different structure—shorter, smaller, less expensive, with a strong emphasis on helping writers reach their writing goals.