Great Expectations

I registered for this course after literally counting my pennies. Since this is a course offered by U.W. even in the form of Mini Course, without having to be accepted into the school to be registered, I thought they did have higher standards.The problem isn't the class. The dilemma is my expectations of the course and how the instructor understood fiction and the teaching of it. Our values and expectations and what we're willing to give in and get out of it are what differs.

What was I expecting? I was expecting a formal class that would require a handbook, guidebook, text book, or would even hand out some sort of papers to reference in which we would have considerable work outside of class to complete and also a detailed information, insight and practice for the craft of writing fiction in particular.

What I got was a critique group I paid to be a part of for several weeks. I wasn't expecting to be writing in class, reading it out loud and get half baked critique from people who can't even read the work itself and therefore could not even give proper feedback in return. You can't critique a written story without having the material in front of you whether it is in print or digital form. This was not what we were doing. The class is great that it is getting me to express my feelings safely, from a remote perspective in the narrative form in which I believe I could try end up publishing after some work and edits. But, I wanted to learn to hone my craft, not be in a critique group.

Great Expectations...