[MARY Johnson]

Go through your story outline or script and brainstorm the following:
5 Question Challenges to an Old Way.5 Counterexamples to an Old Way.

The old way: Christine saying it’s too late for her to follow through on her promise to write the story. This could be challenged by having her find the saying “It’s never too late for a Happily Ever After” – could possibly even be given to her as a gift on a mug or T-shirt or plaque even. A reference to Anna Moses “Grandma Moses” or Lorna Page even would also question her old way of it’s too late now. Christine is estranged from her own daughter and is part of the “it’s too late” old way thinking …. there could be a reference to Minka Disbrow and her daughter getting together over 70 years after the daughter was given up for adoption.

If she was watching an interview of writers (such as Jack and Jasinda Wilder) on the news or on the computer – it would make a good counterexample to her writing her own way out of financial hardship.

This lesson has given me a lot to think about. I’ve been focused on just my lead so far and will need to go back to apply much of this to my other characters too – and I’ve barely touched the secondary story – the one she ends up writing.

[MARY Johnson]

<div>What I learned is I still have a lot of plotting to do. I know in my mind how the story goes and turns but choosing the scene to write to make it end up where I want it to end and saying what I want it to say still needs work.</div>

What is your Profound Truth and how will it be delivered powerfully in your ending? My truth is every choice we makes impacts the life of another on some level – intentional or not – big or small – We have an obligation to others to consider our actions.

How do your lead characters (Change Agent and Transformable Characters) come to an end in a way that represents the completed change? Christine, the author, finally lets go the wrongs of her past (her own and everyone else’s) and goes on to complete the story she promised she would tell so many years ago. By doing this she unlocks what has held her back all her life and she sees how the choices she made impacted her life and the lives of those around her.

What are the setup/payoffs that complete in the end of this movie, giving it deep meaning?

Answers to: Will she ever finish her story she promised to write? Will she heal the estrangement between her and her daughter? Will she end up financially comfortable? Will she manage to get back with her first ex husband?

How are you designing it to have us see an inevitable ending and then making it surprising when it happens? The prologue and final chapter will be “written by Christine’s daughter” instead of Christine – revealing that Christine never published the story (and therefore failed). The last chapter will reveal that even though “this” book was never published in her lifetime that she had broken the dam holding her creativity back and had written multiple books (going back to add in Christine’s obsession with James Patterson who is known to write multiple stories at the same time using stations at a conference table.

What is the Parting Image/Line that leaves us with the Profound Truth in our minds? The daughter spreading Christine’s ashes over the property that Christine bought with her book sales. “Momma’s own blue ridge.”

Answer the question “What I learned doing this assignment is…?” (place at top of your work).

[MARY Johnson]

Mary Godwin’s Connection with the audience.

What I learned doing this assignment – I need to find more ways to make my character likable.

Christine, the writer, will be the character I will intentionally connect with the audience.

1. Relatability: Christine just wants to do her job and go home. No drama. She’s made many sacrifices in life to remain drama free yet life seems to plop drama directly on her head. She has a tenuous relationship with her mother (common these days) as well as is estranged from her daughter (also common these days).

2. Some of Christine’s intrigue is going to be wondering how she ended up the way she is. What broke her. Another part is how’s she going to overcome all this?

3. Empathy: She loses her job (still haven’t decided is she leaves before she is fired or not). She’s toward the end of her career and life has dealt her so many financial blows she really doesn’t have a retirement fund left.

4. Likability: This is the hardest one because she does nice things but always does them anonymously. She’s a loner in life so I still need to come up with ways to make a longer likable.

Answer the question “What I learned doing this assignment is…?” (place at top of your work).

[MARY Johnson]

Tell us your Transformational Logline.Tell us who the main character will be:

To avoid financial destitution a woman who’s never kept a promise must (reluctantly) hold accountable those who have broken promises to her – until she discovers the real answer lies in first keeping her promise to herself.

My transformable character is Christine – a Microbiologist and Novelist

My change agents: Christine’s supervisor. Her coworkers. Her mother. The woman who asked her to write her story. The woman’s son. Her ex-husbands (2). (Each acting to varying degrees at varying times).

Status Quo and call to adventure:

We start with Christine who is returning to work after 5 days off to go visit her terminal mother. She discovers her boss is trying to fire her for job abandonment even though she was approved for FMLA. She’s a fly under the radar never stand up for herself person – this is the straw that broke the camel’s back. When she stands up she’s either fired or walks out (can’t decide which yet – both have their merits) Either way the lack of an income is her call to adventure.

Locked into conflict:

She finds herself in an impossible position. She contacts an attorney who is going to be expensive – too expensive. Her mother is getting worse so she has to go back home anyway and can’t work on a legal case at the moment. She’s having second thoughts about walking out (if I chose quitting over fired).

Old ways: she feels unworthy to “have things” – material things as well as emotional “things”.

Challenge: she’s forced to stand up for herself as well as find a new source of income.

Weakness; No support system at this point. Depression. No faith in the legal system even if she did pursue the case against her employer.

Tries to solve the problem but fails:

She finds out her mother reversed mortgaged her house so there’s nothing for her to inherit. A prized possession of the mother is missing – Christine had the intention of selling it.

Change agent: The son/daughter of her favorite teacher who happens to be a writer that turned their life around writing.

Her vision is that her employer didn’t keep their promise to her and left her out in the cold after all those years working for them.

Old ways: She’s doing a run and tell – asking the attorney to help her. Untrusting of him anyway. Self sabotage – spends money she doesn’t need to be spending. Can only find part time work at the hospital local to her mother’s house.

New ways: Challenged to make a living.

Weakness: Feelings of unworthiness and inadequacy.

Forms a new plan:

Change agent (son/daughter of her favorite teacher) convinces her to give the writing a try – but she has to trust herself and let go of all distractions.

Vision: To try the way of focus on nothing but writing.

New way: Isolates herself for a positive reason this time. Won’t listen to the “you can’t do it” from anyone – but mostly from herself. She puts off the son of the artist she’s writing about to isolate herself (they’ve been having an affair.)

Midpoint: Disastrous encounter with the artist’s son makes her question her motives. Is it really just about the money – or is there more to it?

Change agent: Her shifting priorities.

Old ways: Procrastinations still – but far less. she still has the self sabotage tendency.

New way: Not about money – it’s about keeping the promise to the artist but mostly to herself.

Challenge: Forcing herself to do something with no guarantee pay off

Weakness: Fear of the unknown. Fear of being vulnerable.

Antagonist Prevails:

During the affair with the son of the artist (I really need to name these people) she tells him about how she lost everything in the divorce – including custody of her daughter. She also told him she attempted to write his mother’s story while she was still married to her ex. The son has read what she’s written and he doesn’t like it. His mother told the story – warts and all. And man are there warts in the story. He concocts a plan and notifies (amorously) her ex husband (a man who would love another opportunity to go at her). There’s no statute of limitation on something created during the marriage making it big later – it would still be marital property subject to distribution.

Change agent: Ex husband, son of artist.

Old ways: Insecurity. Depression sets in. Hopelessness.

New ways: Decides to Stand up to ex husband at the hearing.

Challenge: Trusting – anything (herself more than anything)

Weakness: Fear of looming homelessness.

The bigger better plan:

She pushes through and finishes the book about the artist. The husband takes her to court. At the hearing Christine admits to the judge how she would tell the story to her husband as they lay in bed at night. So the judge challenges the ex husband to recite the story. He can’t. It’s more emotional and twisting than that but it’s the bottom line.

<font face=”inherit”>The story resolution is after </font>Christine’s<font face=”inherit”> death. Her formerly estranged daughter (which is a subplot) writes a prolog and final chapter to the book – explaining how writing this book freed her mother’s creativity and she went on to write others and found success doing so. She never published “this” book and left it for “me” (her daughter) to decide if it gets published or not. The book was intended to be a message to the son of the artist but ended up being a message to her own daughter too.</font>

[MARY Johnson]

Mary Godwin’s Three Gradients

What I learned from this lesson:

1 That I still have a long way to go to make all the elements of my story coherent – I only covered on aspect in this assignment.

2 That if I use the definition of gradient = incline then the procession of behavior become with each change how “inclined” is the character to do the behavior that will be necessary to get to the outcome of the story?

To avoid financial destitution a woman who’s never kept a promise must (reluctantly) hold accountable those who have broken promises to her until she discovers the real answer lies in first keeping her promise to herself.

Forced Gradient seems to be more in line with my story idea:

Denial – She denies that her financial crisis is as bad as it really is. The action gradient would be her preparation to inherit from her mother enough to solve her crisis. The challenge would be finding out there’s nothing to inherit. Her “old ways” of just working for a living is challenged when she’s wrongfully fired from her job.

Anger – Her long-suppressed anger (losing everything in her divorce) merges with her newfound anger (job loss and no inheritance) and wells up inside her as a perfect storm at how unfair life has been to her. The challenge would be finding the courage to stand up to those who wronged her. Her old way would be to just let it go and take the hit. Now, she more “inclined” to do something.

Bargaining – She contacts a lawyer to file a violation of FMLA suit. Challenge would be trying to separate past wounds from current ones so as to not erupt and look appear “crazy” in court which was her weakness in family court as she was losing – she kept breaking down in court.

Depression – Lawyer says it’s an uphill battle and will take a lot of work on her part to prove the case. She even considers suicide as a possible “retirement” plan – a weakness. Challenge would be finding the energy to push forward.

Acceptance – She accepts that she doesn’t have the energy or desire or faith to fight in court and doubles down on her writing. {Change agent comes into play here?} The challenge gradient would be her inept grammar skills (yes, I’m pointing my finger at me – they don’t come natural to me) – change agent helps here too. The new writer “her” emerges.

[MARY Johnson]

Mary Godwin’s Main Characters:

What I learned doing this assignment:

1. Write it up in a word document and past it into the forum. This is the THIRD time I’ve done the assignment because it has vanished when I tried to publish it.

2. Conventions are conventions for a reason and the reason is – they work. I had not considered the convention of Change Agent – I figured my character would be smart enough to butt up against the opposing force enough times to learn the lesson.

Tell us your transformational journey logline.

To avoid financial destitution a woman who’s never kept a promise must (reluctantly) hold accountable those who have broken promises to her until she discovers the real answer lies in first keeping her promise to herself.

My Change Agent: I had never considered a change agent before in my story until now. My main character has a teacher from Jr. High School who was very supportive of her fledgling writing. This teacher (now deceased) would have a daughter/son who is a few years older than the main character so they only knew of each other without really knowing each other. They could meet at the cemetery where both their mothers are buried. In real life, there a husband wife teach that write under the name Jasinda Wilder. They were facing foreclosure on their home and wrote their way out. This daughter/son could be such a writer too and help my lead character do the same. Their vision would be down the line of the real Jack and Jasinda Wilder 1. Never give up. Stay determined and keep working through your problems. 2. Don’t listen when people say, “You can’t….” You never know what you can do until you try. 3. Don’t be afraid to be creative and inventive. New ideas, whether they are born of desperation or just a burst of creativity, may seem like pipe dreams, but they can’t pay off until you try. 4. Know that you have hidden talents. Whatever you do for work is not the only thing you can do. 5. Have a little faith in yourself.

This person would be someone who has practiced what she/he preaches and makes a living writing. They too would come from a place of desperation and written their way to prosperity.

My Transformable Character is definitely my main character, the writer. She starts the story financially broke and emotionally broken and must overcome both. She’s beaten down by life and has no faith in herself – more like she has no sense of self-worth. She fits because she ends the story very self-confident and financially secure. The story is how she goes from one to the other.

The Oppression is financial destitution looming closer and closer. There are multiple sources of her finances hemorrhaging. Another oppression is the mental programming that was ingrained into her and has repeated itself throughout her life. During her long-since-passed divorce to her ex-husband – she lost everything, including custody of her daughter though the court system and has zero faith in it now. This will matter when she is forced to return to court in the end as it reinforced her sense of no self-worth.

My Betraying Character – the woman who told the main character her life story (only with the promise that the main character writes the story) intends for it to be a message to her estranged son. When my main character begins to write the story, she meets the son. He isn’t happy she’s writing about his mother but seems to get on board with it when they have an affair. When she finishes the story and he reads it he changes his mind. It’s written just as it was told to her, warts and all. And, man, are there warts. In a last-ditch effort to stop her from selling the story he contacts her ex-husband. During their intimacy she’s told him of her ex and how she started writing the story when she was married … and how her ex had thrown it all away. There is no statute of limitations on future success of marital property. Something that was created during the marriage would be subject to distribution when it did “hit” financially. She’s admitted to the son that she began the writing while married and he’s offered to be the ex’s witness to that. His hope is her lack of faith in the legal system will cause her to just forget the notion of selling it. It resolves with her winning in court.

[MARY Johnson]

What is the change this movie is about? It’s about education being more than just mechanically taking in facts and spewing them back out intact – it’s about thinking – free thinking. Using what you take in (from a book or from the things you experience in life) as building blocks to grow and to not be scared or ashamed of that growth – owning it – even if it makes you different from others.

What is the Transformational Journey of this movie? The boys going from simple mechanical learning to find the ability for organic living.

Lead characters:

Who is the Change Agent (the one causing the change) and what makes this the right character to cause the change? Mr. Keating. He’s right for the role because he truly cares for the boys. He was then as they are now – one of them, just separated by time.

Who is the Transformable Character (the one who makes the change) and what makes them the right character to deliver this profound journey? The entire DPS is the transformable character. They are focused on making it through their classes to make it to college and their chosen careers. As Keating said professions make a living but they need to know and understand the things they are doing that living for.

What is the Oppression? The school. In particular the demand for conformity and discipline. Neil’s parents were both a global and specific oppression. Global in that they represented the parent’s expectations toward the school – and specific oppression to Neil.

How are we lured into the profound journey? What causes us to connect with this story? We were all these kids once – looking for someone to show us the way – a captain. We sympathize with being a child and having no control over your life. Also, the parents among us think of the responsibility of making the right choices for our child and questioning every single one.

Looking at the character(s) who are changed the most, what is the profound journey? Todd has the most positive transformation change of all. HIs old ways of someone who is just “being” and doubting he has anything to say are challenged the most to the point he becomes someone able to defy convention and stand on his desk with the message to Keating that he’ll never forget what Keating has taught him.

From “old ways” to “new way of being” Identify their old way. Identify their new way at the conclusion. The old way was conformity – especially external conformity. – or the illusion of conformity. Those who were already the more free thinkers did so only behind the backs of authority. The entire group of boys were changed. Each to varying degrees – as evidenced that they didn’t all stand on the desk in unison. Each stood to the degree with which they were changed – the degree they were willing to be free thinkers. Charlie had already chosen the more extreme expulsion – his way of saying “If I can’t be taught by Keating then you have nothing more to teach that I care to learn – from you.” It also showed his character arc from someone who was disobedient only behind their backs to willfully disobedient. Neil chose the most extreme means to push back against forced conformity. Unlike Charlie, his act of pushing back wasn’t done is support of Keating.

What is the gradient the change? The eagerness to participate in the DPS itself. It went from things like talk of demerits if they get caught to standing on desk tops in an outright proclamation to membership.

What steps did the Transformational Character go through as they were changing? How is the “old way” challenged? What beliefs are challenged that cause a main character to shift their perspective…and make the change? Before DPS Todd declined to so much as join study groups. Then he said he would join only if he didn’t have to read. When he didn’t do the poetry assignment Keating pressed him into a breakthrough moment with writing a poem in front of class. He would have never been the kind of person who would have sent a desk set flying off a roof in the beginning. It illustrated him letting go what was pent up inside him. Then with the death of Neil he makes a final attempt to pin his emptions inside and proclaims the beauty of the snow. Then he literally expels what he has in him (the vomit) and breaks down in anguish.

What are the most profound moments of the movie? Todd writing the poem in the middle of class. The moment Keating realizes Neil lied to him about talking to his father as Neil was taken away.

What are the most profound lines of the movie? All of Todd’s poem.

There’s a time for daring and there’s a time for caution, and a wise man understands which is called for.

“medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.”

How does the ending payoff the setups of this movie? Neil reads: “To put to rout all that was not life; and not, when I had come to die, discover that I had not lived.” His death came on the heels of the only time in his life that he had been alive.

The standing on the desk scene pays off the previous scene when Keating tells them to not go off the desk like lemmings but to stop and look around. In the end they were steadfast.

Keating tells Neil his love of teaching is why he here at this school. Todd’s “Oh Captain, My Captain” at the end paid off telling him he was successful in teaching these boys.

What is the Profound Truth of this movie? Do what you need to for your body to survive but let your heart live.

[MARY Johnson]

Mary Godwin’s Transitional Journey

What I learned doing this assignment is:

1. Whatever I write right now doesn’t have to be perfect. I understand it (the assignment) even though I’m having problems making my story fit the requested format of the logline example.

2. That the logline is the point “A” and point “B” on my map of where the story journey begins and ends. I’ll be finding the exact route as I go along in the course.

My logline:

To avoid financial destitution a woman who’s never kept a promise must (reluctantly) hold accountable those who have broken promises to her until she discovers the real answer lies in first keeping her promise to herself.

1. The issue: She’s never kept a promise to anyone in her life – especially herself. [She justifies that by saying no one ever kept a promise to her.]

2. Journey: She faces financial destitution. [She is rightfully owed much (from more than one source) but doesn’t see herself as worthy to fight for/demand it. She also considers the hypocrisy of holding someone else accountable to keep their promises when she knows she doesn’t do it herself.]

3. Transformation: By keeping her promises – beginning with the one to herself – she finds financial success as well as the love that eluded her.

Old Ways: Justifies breaking promises because all promises to her have been broken leaving her meek and insecure with little to no sense of self worth. Just wants to live Under the Radar in a career she chose out of fear.

New Ways: She’s someone who can be trusted and likes herself and what she’s become. She’s able to let go the wrongs that were done to her which frees her to do what’s she promised to do – which is to write. It also frees her to love and accept love.

** I know this assignment was supposed to be succinct but I’m having trouble with distilling it down.

• This reply was modified 2 years ago by  MARY Johnson.

[MARY Johnson]

<div>What I learned doing this lesson: That I’m woefully short on the entertainment portion of my work. </div>

What is your profound truth? We don’t live in a bubble. Every thing we choose to do impacts someone else somewhere on some level. Positive or negative and intentional or not.

<div>

What is the change your movie will cause with an audience? Consider the implications of their own actions and the effect they have on the lives of others.

What is your Entertainment Vehicle that you will tell this story through? This is where I discovered I’m very short. The story is two-fold. How the story of a young woman in 1950’s America (think Bridges of Madison County/tragic love) and a “today woman” trying to set right the wrongs and mistakes of her life (think Fried Green Tomatoes/rejected love) are intertwined in, what I believe, is a powerful node of conjunction. Both women are artist. The 1950’s woman is a painter and the “today woman” is a writer. So I need to nail down my entertainment “spine”, or lens, for the story. Is “love story” (done right) “enough” of an entertainment vehicle?

Aaaah … I was just reading other’s responses – perhaps I’m overthinking things. Mine will be, as was Bridges of Madison County, a fiction story told as if it is true – so it would read as a doesn’t-need-to-be-embellished true story. The location of the story is a real place and, of course, a few elements from real life (mine and others) are inspirations for what happens in the story. But, it’s not biographical – just that it will “feel” that way – a very personal account of this woman’s life – both women’s lives (to be more accurate). So to pull in a third inspirational work “Tony and Susan” (Nocturnal Animals) where there is an author writing a book within the book the audience will be reading. That’s my Entertainment Vehicle.

</div>

P.S. Forgive the lack of editing.

• This reply was modified 2 years ago by  MARY Johnson.

[MARY Johnson]

What I learned doing the assignment: the importance of gradient change. Epiphany moments are “easy” but not very realistic. People’s lives normally don’t switch “on” from off and I notices how the focus on Phil’s gradient change made his character more relatable.

Groundhog Day Analysis

What is the Change this movie is about? Phil’s attitude toward life itself. The journey goes from Phil being self absorbed and isolated to someone who is giving of himself and surround by people who love him. He’s a man living on the surface of life as it starts and he ends at the core.

Who is the change agent? I see three. Rita – in that Phil becomes attracted to her and wants to be worthy of her. Himself – much of his change comes from within himself. I have a saying that only boring people are ever bored because if you only have you to entertain yourself and you can’t, you’re boring. Phil was boring himself and decides to do something about that. The town – by Phil’s interactions with the town/people, he sees the value of other people’s lives to be equal to his own.

Who is the transformable character? Phil. He is self absorbed and pompous. He’s a man living a very shallow life as a “celebrity”. When he says bigger networks are interested in him – it doesn’t quite ring true – as if he’s trying to lie to himself as much as everyone else.

What makes him right to deliver this journey? You can tell from the very beginning that he just doesn’t “get it” when it comes to the world and life. He’s an empty vessel to pour a story into.

<font face=”inherit”>What is the oppression? The daily repetition. He has to overcome the grinding </font>repetition to come out on the other side.

How are we lured in? Part of us wants to see such a pretentious dick get his comeuppance. Part of us, the honest part, identifies with and understands someone who inflates who and what they are in the hopes other will look up to them. Both make him relatable.

What causes us to connect with this story? Most people have felt they are living the same day over and over and over. Life is grinding us down.

Phil’s old way is childish, shallow, and self absorbed. Abusive even with delusions of importance. In the end he becomes a man who thinks and acts on a profound level. By putting others first he is ironically elevated to the level of importance he was proclaiming at the beginning.

He starts the journey by simply getting through the grind of repeating the same day. He would entertain himself in silly superficial ways. Tricking women into sex, robbing the bank truck, etc. Then he shifted to despair which meant he was realizing what he was doing wasn’t working but he didn’t know what to do to make it better. Then he begins to shift outward in the diner telling Rita he’s a “god”. He’s spent a lot of time getting to know the people but it’s almost like he did it for lack of anything better to do. But when he described Rita to herself you can see something clicked and he proclaims to her his desire to be worth of her. Then you see him do all the things to accomplish that. His old ways of petty amusements give way to depth and he sets out to become a person of depth and worthy of Rita.

Rita challenges Phil’s shallow and self absorbed way of thinking. The monotony of living the same day over and over also challenges Phil’s way of thinking.

Most profound moments. When the old man dies anyway. You can see Phil’s understanding shift. When Phil describes Rita to herself and you can feel the ache in his heart for her – yet, to her, he was just some jerk she rode into town with yesterday – though his speech does soften her.

“It’s gonna be cold. It’s gonna be gray. And it’s gonna last you the rest of your life.”

“…regardless of what happens tomorrow, or for the rest of my life, I’m happy now …”

When Rita says “I think I’m happy too.” after Phil says “I’m happy now, because I love you.” Phil give a small nod as if accepting that that’s good enough to hear. The old Phil wouldn’t have accepted that.

The profound truth to the movie: Every day of your life is like every other day of your life unless you decide to (and then act upon) fill it with something that makes a difference in both today and your tomorrows.

• This reply was modified 2 years ago by  MARY Johnson.

[MARY Johnson]

Mary Godwin

“I agree to the terms of this release form.”

GROUP RELEASE FORM

As a member of this group, I agree to the following:

1. That I will keep the processes, strategies, teleconferences, communications, lessons, and models of the class confidential, and that I will NOT share any of this program either privately, with a group, posting online, writing articles, through video or computer programming, or in any other way that would make those processes, teleconferences, communications, lessons, and models of the class available to anyone who is not a member of this class.

2. That each writer’s work here is copyrighted and that writer is the sole owner of that work. That includes this program which is copyrighted by Hal Croasmun. I acknowledge that submission of an idea to this group constitutes a claim of and the recognition of ownership of that idea.

I will keep the other writer’s ideas and writing confidential and will not share this information with anyone without the express written permission of the writer/owner. I will not market or even discuss this information with anyone outside this group.

3. I also understand that many stories and ideas are similar and/or have common themes and from time to time, two or more people can independently and simultaneously generate the same concept or movie idea.

4. If I have an idea that is the same as or very similar to another group member’s idea, I’ll immediately contact Hal and present proof that I had this idea prior to the beginning of the class. If Hal deems them to be the same idea or close enough to cause harm to either party, he’ll request both parties to present another concept for the class.

5. If you don’t present proof to Hal that you have the same idea as another person, you agree that all ideas presented to this group are the sole ownership of the person who presented them and you will not write or market another group member’s ideas.

6. Finally, I agree not to bring suit against anyone in this group for any reason, unless they use a substantial portion of my copyrighted work in a manner that is public and/or that prevents me from marketing my script by shopping it to production companies, agents, managers, actors, networks, studios or any other entertainment industry organizations or people.

This completes the Group Release Form for the class.

[MARY Johnson]

Hi! I’m Mary Godwin. I’ve written 2 scripts – packed firmly away in a drawer. I’m currently working on a novel (Think Fried Green Tomatoes meets Bridges of Madison County) and wanted to give it some extra “profound” punch when I found this class. My novel is called “My Own Blue Ridge”.

I’m a retired Microbiologist from Mayo Clinic. I went back to work in 2019 in a free standing ER when Covid hit. From here on out, I want to spend the rest of my days writing.

[MARY Johnson]

I love the way you approached this assignment. After reading your I wish I had said more in mine! I think your idea is quite clever. Somewhat of a Ruby Sparks in reverse.

[MARY Johnson]

Thank you Susan.

I’m so glad to have found this class. I’ve been nervous about doing this and really appreciate the support.

Mary

[MARY Johnson]

Thank you for your service Bob. Keep positive on the health issues and best wishes there.