Well I haven't forgotten about you it is just that until today I hadn't heard anything back from SCI. However today when I arrived home from work an envelope was waiting for me. I ran inside, sat down and tore it open.



Inside was my returned assignment and notes from my instructor, Meredith. The feedback was extremely positive and in fact it was only a couple of silly errors (again, my hast the enemy!) that knocked my grade down, still 93% is a mark I am very happy about!

The assignment was to write a scene or partial scene for a story book, this was my attempt:

The pavements had a slight dusting of snow and the only illumination of the powdered scene came from street lights, although that in itself was imperfect as every other post had a light with no bulb and therefore no light.

A lone figure was walking briskly along the path. His head was downward maybe lost deep in thought, maybe just to shield his eyes from the snow left blowing around from the plow, but most likely it was a bit of both. His breath created a mist in the air every few steps as he marched on in the elements. This young man with the hat and brisk stride is Dave. He walked straight into the public phone booth. Dave removed the wallet that had been kept in his back jeans pocket, opened it up, removed a card and then placed the wallet down on the steel flap alongside the phone. He lifted up the receiver then dialed the string of numbers from the card and then the destination number, which was a direct connection to a single house on a dark country road in the middle of a foreign state in a foreign country he had never been. 

Now other than some grammatical and punctuation errors the notes from my Instructor were very good indeed. She said that the elements were there and that I dramatized the story well from moment to moment. She noted how I quickly created suspense and enticed the reader in.

Then came one of the best lines of criticism I have ever received for any coursework for any subject. Now I swear these next few lines I am telling you because I have a big head. More like that I was so pleased to get this that it encouraged me, probably for the first time outside of family and friends, that I could do this.

"I suspect that you know what you are doing. I see my role as not just as that of telling you what is wrong but also of telling you what is right about your writing."


I am encouraged now and cannot wait for my next assignment. Oh and by the way 93%.