I wish all of you could have been there. But I know that so many shewrites members live across the country and around the world. Suffice it to say your presence was felt Wednesday evening at a PEN Writers Roundtable in Manhattan.There was a sense of international community.

This, too, is obvious to all of us but probably could survive some repetition: Writers write everywhere and shewrites has engaged so many of the women who do. 12,000 at last count. (Good thing you didn't all show up!) Hooray! I would love to be friends with so many more of you.

I want especially to thank Kamy for explaining the history and goals of shewrites in such a compelling manner. Our audience, which included two women who teach journalism at NYU, spoke about global concerns regarding the publishing business as well. We know the old model doesn't work, except for a very few women writers. The new model is evolving and in the best of worlds will put readers and writers together and in some cases match their interests. It will also connect -- and support in variety of ways -- professional writers, those who hope to be and those who write not as a profession but often quite well. This is a real over-simplification. Fortunately, the details of this evolution are on shewrites every day.