The Story Circle Network is a national not-for-profit organization made up of women who want to explore their lives and their souls through life-writing--writing that focuses on our personal experience, through memoirs and autobiographies, in diaries and journals, in personal essays, in poetry.

In 1999 we formed a local Austin chapter.

Our Internet Chapter opened in February, 2000.

One of our OWL facilitator's manual/workbook purchasers asked the following:

You recommend $50.00 per person. By law in Canada I have to pay the government 7% of any fees I charge for the Goods and Services Tax. Also, with the U.S./Canadian exchange rate, $50 US (minus the GST) works out to $29 Canadian.

To cover the GST and make an equivalent of $48 per person as the facilitator, I would have to charge $80 Canadian per person. Is it permissible to vary the rate to allow for taxes and exchange rate or am I expected to charge $50?

You should decide on what to charge based on your community, that is what you think the 'traffic would bear'. We suggest $50 u.s. because that works for those in the U.S., but we don't have to pay any taxes or fees from that. Please feel free to establish a fee based on your good judgment of the audience and your country's requirements, that still leaves you with enough "pay" to make it worth your while.

You can email us: owlcircle at storycircle.org or call: 512-454-9833 or write to: Story Circle Network, PO Box 500127, Austin TX 78750-0127