Reflecting on the Grist… the inspiration and the process

This is a story about two people who crossed paths decades before for a short period of time–a fall semester in which he was an English teacher and she his student.  It was a difficult time for both of them for different reasons.  He holds onto the year book, even though he only taught for that one semester, and she holds onto the memory of that semester and the experiences from that class.  They cross paths at the point where they have both made life-altering choices for reasons the reader doesn’t know.  The reader might guess by her actions that something has happened to her marriage or to her husband–something too difficult to survive.  And even though there are no clues as to why Mr. Sorenson has made his choice, he has prepared for it.

The story is told in third person, beginning from his perspective and then at the point where her apology has been delivered and he falls to sleep, the perspective shifts to hers.  It is told in present tense, so the reader can feel the immediacy of their actions.  

It was workshopped in class and in my writing group, both under the mentorship of Ian MacMillan, and included in my MA thesis, The Grace of Dark Times. 

It’s been many years since this was workshopped, but I remember clearly that Ian’s feedback inspired the detail of the blade catching the medial tendon and the flaw in the wall paper.