When Elaine and Moon asked us to list our hopes and fears, most of us focused on concerns about conflicts, our ability to resolve them, and on the need to have a concrete, workable plan by the end of our short meeting. So we spent some time getting to know each other, our programs and students, in the hopes that such knowledge would reduce conflict, and we worked on a plan that would give us confidence and direction.

For two and a half days, we worked intensively. It was the end of the elk-calving season in Banff. Elk were everywhere, on the lawns and the sidewalks allover the campus, and hundreds of signs warned us that sudden and irrational behavior could be expected from mother elk protecting their calves. The elk, however, seemed calm compared to us in the intensity of our relationships with each other, and the ferocity with which we threw ourselves into our work.

We planned a book that would look remarkably like the one you are reading; we planned the topics of each chapter and decided who would write each one; we decided that we would choose an editor or editorial team to write the introductory material, and "to edit for grammar and layout and consistency, while retaining the original voice of each author." We decided that each chapter would reflect the experience, teaching situation, and teaching style of the woman who wrote it, and the learners she works with, on the principle that these different voices would enhance the finished project, making it more broadly useful.

Before we went home, we formed buddy groups with four or five women in each group. Our assignment was to write our chapter, get feedback from the women in our buddy group, test it with some learners, and revise it in the light of this feedback, all in the next ten months or so.

A long winter passes
Many of us felt isolated during the time that passed before the next meeting. We often felt we were writing in a vacuum. Although the plan was to get in touch with members of our buddy group once a month, even if it was only to say hello or send chocolate, in fact, for most groups contact was much less frequent. Women who did send a chapter or part of a chapter to their buddy group did not always get the kind of immediate or helpful feedback they expected; women who did not have work to send out felt under pressure to do so, and sometimes felt guilty when they couldn't get things done. In short, just what you might expect of a group of women with lives to live, and various kinds of hang-ups about writing, who were asked to do a piece of work based on two days of planning with a group of strangers.

During this time, the CCLOW Board asked for a report on the project. A small temporary committee was struck, representing the four buddy groups. That group responded to Literacy Committee questions and sent out a "Where are we now?" letter. They refocused the upcoming meeting based on what had been happening with individual women, and assisted Aisla with some administrative decisions.

Some of us field tested our chapters with our own students, or found a colleague who would work with our material. A couple of women from the previous research project were interested in doing some field testing for us. Some of us found it easier to find testers than others, and some of the arrangements we made fell through. As a result, some of the chapters have been more thoroughly tested than others. Comments from learners and other instructors can be found in the chapters themselves.