Organized as a writers' workshop, this course is designed to encourage students already proficient in writing to view their own and others' essays as works of art.  Correctness in spelling, grammar, and punctuation will be assumed from the beginning.  Much emphasis will be placed on the development of each student's personal voice and on the ripening of her own particular talents.  Though the atmosphere of the meetings will no doubt be serious and intense, the instructor expects that the students will learn to have fun with words, that they will enjoy a greater sense of ease with writing as they come to realize that it is a process under their control and subject to their choices.  The texts for the course provide collections of essays that will serve as models.  An essay of about five pages in length will be due nearly every other week, and brief exercises may be assigned in intervals.  The final grade, which will take into account class participation, will be based primarily on a portfolio of several essays, revised if the student wishes, to be submitted at the end of the course.