All said that they wanted descriptions of the characters and all said that Manny was the much more interesting of the characters. They all wanted to know more about him. The general consensus was that I should make him even more eccentric and peculiar. The women in the class appreciated the possible future romantic involvement between Mitch and Manny’s daughter and encouraged me to develop that.

All said they wanted to know more and encouraged me to develop the story. Another student offered that he felt that the people in the story were too subdued in their reaction to the dust. I thought the most helpful comment was from the instructor who suggested I split the story into two chapters, adding more background and descriptive material on the characters. He said the story felt rushed with too much jammed into it.

And that’s why I like sharing drafts of stories with other writers – for the great feedback.

Sharon: Thank you. As exciting as the 2012 phenomenon is turning out to be, when the real thing happens, it will prove to be much more exciting. I am confident that we will be grateful that we have followed the counsel of our leaders in storing sufficient food and water so that when we can’t leave the house for a few weeks, we will not starve.

Closet Doubter: No, I remain as ward clerk of the singles ward and look forward to serving with the new bishopric. I will miss working with Bishop Malan but am confident that Bishop Hoffman will be just as inspired in working with the young people of our stake. I am grateful to continue my service in the church, now in my 11th Bishopric.

Were you release from your calling in the YA ward yesterday? If so maybe you’ll have more time to finish the story!

It was enjoyable and interesting! Really!

Much better than all the worn-out 2012 stuff.

Best Regards,
Sharon in Mississippi

I agree with the previous respondents. You may have a hidden talent. Actually, I am not surprised, given how well written your blog posts generally are. Keep it up. Who knows?

Thank you Rebecca. I thought when I was writing it that it would just be a short story but I could see that does lend itseld to future chapters. Carol contributed a lot with her insistance that I include a potential future love interest. It adds a touch of humanity to the story in an otherwise cold and, dare I say it, boring focus on stuff that hardly anyone has ever thought about or wants to – cataclysmic cosmological catastrophe (say that three times fast) sometime in the future.

Anthony: Coming from you, that is a high complement. Thank you very much. I didn’t know that I was adept in writing fiction either. I have never written a piece of fiction before in my life. I was hoping to get a response from the writing class yesterday but we won’t get a chance to read it until next week. If someone says that it was enjoyable and interesting then let’s talk about future direction.