I am in a creative writing class. Our last assignment was to take a topic and write a real story about your experience with the topic. The magazine is called the Sun, and published in North Carolina. They pick out a number of submissions and publish them. I chose "Pretending".
This is the story I wrote. The idea is to set up story, create a scene, and then summarize.
I appreciate any comments.

Here it is
Pretending

Without much notice, I lost my job as a Travel Agent in Philadelphia after working for the same agency for 11 years. The Internet had started luring away many of our clients, and the airlines started cutting commissions. My wonderful boss understood what was happening, and decided to go out of business and retire.
I got a small severance package and collected unemployment. Still, I became very depressed. I knew that I had been working in a dying industry, and had no idea what I would do in the future.
After having a little pity party---myself being the only guest---I decided to make a list of 5 things I would do if I only had the nerve. This was way before the movie “Bucket List” was released. My list consisted of:
1. Sky diving
2. Do Stand-up Comedy
3. Sell everything and hit the road
4. Learn to surf
5. Jump in front of a train
I looked at my list and decided Stand-Up Comedy was most doable, so I enrolled in a class. The instructor concentrated on the really funny people, and the babes. I was neither. As a middle-aged woman I felt invisible, so I honed my routine on that premise: The plight of the invisible middle- aged woman.
I watched classmates drop out week by week until I realized I was really going to do it. Yes, I was going to do a 5-minute stand-up comedy routine at an actual comedy club. There were a few headliners, and 4 students. I mentioned it to a few friends, not dreaming that at least 15 people showed up for me alone.

The night of the show came, and I was terrified. I had placed a Styrofoam board with notes and cues pinned to it. When my name was called my friends all cheered. It was a packed house, and I felt like an impostor.
I got up in front of the crowd and my eyes were glued to my cue board. “Hi”, I said. “My name is Sherry, but you may know me by my stage name: Lady Clairol”.
Oh, I know I got some laughs, but if someone had heckled me, I probably would have collapsed.
Yes, that night I pretended to be a Stand-Up Comic. Five minutes can seem like an eternity when you are doing stand-up comedy. Whether the laughs were real, or from my friends cheering me on, it didn’t matter. I survived and drank champagne and celebrated.

Shortly after, I found a job at another travel agency.