This semester I took a class in creative writing against my better judgment. I really shouldn’t have taken 3 classes but the teacher for the writing class is retiring and I absolutely love her so I couldn’t resist taking the class. Plus it was all about writing short forms. How hard could it be?
It isn’t easy but so far it has been my favorite class.
Though I am learning I cannot write flash fiction or write short very well (500-750 words), I am writing shorter and more focused pieces. This last unit has been all about short fiction and I had to write 4 short stories. I received compliments from my professor on all 4 pieces which has been gratifying. It has been the last two pieces I am most excited about. I wrote a story about a woman leaving her husband of 42 years (not fiction really but you use material from your real life)– my classmates liked it, my professor loved it. Best of all my professor said that with a small bit of editing and polishing it is publishable!
This past week we were given a prompt to write a story with an O.Henry twist. I hemmed and hawed all week but finally wrote a story about a ghost hunter and her boyfriend. It was read in class and the class loved it, my professor loved it. They were actually laughing their asses off. Now that was wonderful for me. My professor said, “Jackie, you have a knack for this!” Wow! I am going to polish up these stories and start sending them out to see if I can get them published. I also want to keep writing more and more. If only I could get all this tedious homework out of the way.
I also need to be able to keep up the creative writing after the class is done and I don’t have my favorite professor there to nurture me. How am I going to do that?
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