This book presents the stories of a group of Maine educators--teacher leaders, teaching principals, and principals--who met at the Maine Academy for School Leaders (MASL) in 1992 to share their experiences and frustrations and to help each other improve their understanding and practice of educational leadership. They share personal accounts of how they developed new skills, including dealing more constructively with angry and demanding parents and colleagues, and forging working teams out of faculty groups greatly divided by philosophies and personal histories. Following the foreword, "The Voices of Practicing School Leaders," by Roland Barth, and information about the authors and the MASL network mission, nine chapters include: (1) "Conflict With Mrs. Z: Lessons from an Unlikely Source" (Norma Richard); (2) "Surprising Outcomes or Why Do They Read Macbeth?" (Elizabeth Wiley); (3) "From I to We: A Middle School Story" (Patrick R. Phillips); (4) "Living with Ambiguity: The Promise and Perils of Teacher Leadership" (Sally Mackenzie); (5) "The Marathon" (Ann Constantine Cheney); (6) "Alone at Sea: Maneuvering Through a School's Culture" (Martha G. Corkery); (7) "From Running Rapids to Running a School" (Donald Buckingham); (8) "Our Journey: Notes from the Writers' Collaborative Log" (George F. Marnik); and (9) "Writing for Professional Growth: A Double-Edged Sword" (Gordon A. Donaldson, Jr.). A glossary of MASL terms is included. (LMI)