Last Wednesday (the 18th)

Hi Jason,

As I understood the assignments (someone correct me if I got it wrong), we should have turned in a response paper for 'Big Me' already, and a response paper on 'Gryphon' is due on Monday.
Professor Crowder is now allowing us to kill off our characters. He hinted that he would love to see an old west / cowboy / wild west story, and if we want to get on his bad side, we should immerse him in a world of elves in our short stories. He wants us to write literary fiction, as opposed to popular fiction (don't ask me, I'm still trying to figure it out).

Thanks to all of the feedback in class, especially from those that contribute a lot. I am still a beginner at writing and don't have a strong background in english, so if I'm mostly quiet in class, it's not because I don't care or don't want to give good ideas, I just think that the more experienced writers can give better advice than I can.

Professor Crowder asked us to be more critical during the workshops, and I understand his reasoning on this. I do fear, however, that if we don't find at least one or two positive things to accompany the criticisms, that some of us might get discouraged from writing. Maybe that's not a professional way to look at it, but that's my two cents. He did say we could have a 'love fest' here, to counterbalance the criticism, but it doesn't look like we have many folks posting here.

I may have to drop the course. Between a full-time job and a chronically sick wife, whose health has taken a turn for the worse lately, I am having trouble keeping up on the assignments. Still, I am enjoying everyone's stories, and it amazes me that we 'amateur' writers are able to produce such entertaining stories, even though many might not be totally polished.

Thanks to All