You've heard marathons, half marathons and decathlons, but have you heard of a writing marathon?

Local writing teachers Ron Lightbourne and Toby Butterfield will be holding such a thing this Saturday at Windreach Recreational Village.

"There is no competition in any sense," said Mr. Lightbourne. "It just refers to the length of the exercise."

The marathon part refers to the length of the writing workshop. Registration is at 9 a.m. and the class will probably wind up around 5 p.m. There will be an hour for lunch.

"The writing will be interrupted only for direction and to hear what people are doing," said Mr. Lightbourne.

"I moderate and encourage people to be truthful and kind.

"During the afternoon people are so opened up by the process and the writing is flowing out of them.

"Sometimes at the end of the day, people are upset that they have to stop."

Both Mr. Lightbourne and Ms Butterfield have taught many writer's workshops. Ms Butterfield runs a regular workshop.

"I will give guided exercises," said Mr. Lightbourne. "We can read each other's work in a safe environment. We encourage positive feedback. If you can't say anything nice, then be quiet. The whole idea is to build people's confidence so they can take more risk in what they write. So they can go into deeper into themselves when they write."

Mr. Lightbourne said the workshop will be good for writers of all skill levels.

"It will be good for all kinds of writers, blocked writers, start up writers, people who want to write," he said. "We are going to be doing fiction and non-fiction, but people can tailor it to any genre they want to."

Mr. Lightbourne has been a member of the Bermuda Writers Collective, and has had poetry, articles and opinion pieces published in North American and Caribbean magazines.

The cost of the day is $60. It is bring your own lunch. For more information e-mail ronaldlightbourne@hotmail.com or telephone 292-4121 or 333-4121.