An ethnographic study examined the impact of a writing workshop on non-academic writers. Subjects, 11 adult non-academic writers who wrote little, were seldom around others who did, and did not think they were good writers, participated in 10 Saturday sessions conducted in a bookstore in a rural town. They wrote narratives on self-selected topics from tapes collected during interviews with self-selected respondents. Participants formed small groups and offered constructive criticism of each other's stories. Field notes were kept, subjects responded to some of these notes, and "researcher memos" were recorded after reading the field notes. The researcher invited, received, and incorporated subjects' suggestions, recommendations and final approval of the methodology delineating data analysis and subsequent findings. Field notes and participants' remarks demonstrated that all participants but one changed their writing processes during the workshop--they became more aware of what they were doing because others would see their writing and their interactions brought to the surface a sense of pride and accomplishment in their writing. Findings suggest that those who require students to write should find collaborative workshops helpful. (Fourteen references are attached.) (RS)