Over a year ago, I wrote a response here to one of Anis Shivani's Huffington Post blogs about creative writing MFAs. He has struck again and, along with several of my colleagues, I have responded, this time on the Huffington Post itself. I hope you'll check it out. I direct the Arkansas Writers MFA Program as well and I hope you'll take the seriousness with which we take this subject as an indication of how seriously we take our students' educations.
Sunday, February 05, 2012
Wednesday, February 01, 2012
Where Are You Applying?
Let the lists begin! Please post where you are applying, which program (fiction, poetry, CNF, etc.) and if you've heard anything back yet (acceptances, rejections, waitlists, etc.)
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Tuesday, October 04, 2011
To MFA, or Not
If you're on the fence about whether to apply to an MFA program, check out Eric Wyatt's blog post To MFA, or Not.
Eric is a Queen's cohort and gives a balanced list of the pros and cons in deciding on an MFA. There are plenty of ways to improve your writing outside of academia, and also less costly ways to do so. In summary, he writes:
Eric is a Queen's cohort and gives a balanced list of the pros and cons in deciding on an MFA. There are plenty of ways to improve your writing outside of academia, and also less costly ways to do so. In summary, he writes:
What it really comes down to is this: What do you get from an MFA program?
- Time to work on your writing. (Motivation)
- Focused learning. (Increased skill/Growth of your art)
- Deadlines and expectations. (Motivation, Experience)
- Work with other writers. (Community, Opportunity, Networking)
- Experience taking and giving constructive, helpful criticism. (Feedback)
- A degree. (Credentials, Opportunity)
There are other ways to achieve the first four (if you are dedicated and focused) but the fifth one is where an MFA program sets itself apart.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Introducing... The Masters Review
The Masters Review is a new literary journal showcasing the best in graduate-level creative writing. Each year, their editors and judges select the ten best stories submitted by writers in MA, MFA, and PhD creative writing programs. Their aim is to expose the field's top emerging writers by publishing progressive, diverse, and well-crafted fiction. The Masters Review is an annual publication with a submission deadline of December 31, 2011. Twenty-five stories will be selected for their shortlist, with the top ten stories from that pool published in the spring.Their guest judge this year is Lauren Groff, who has this to say about what she’s hoping to see in submissions: “Simply put, I’m looking for a story I’ve never read before, a story that feels as if it could only come from the person who wrote it. Surprise me, thrill me, make me fall in love with your language and sensibility. I want to feel as if your story had been somehow dangerous for you to write it. If you write about things I’ve read about fifty-thousand times, write about them in a way that adds something to a larger conversation, one well beyond the bounds of your story. Above all, I’m asking you to please move me, make me laugh or weep or feel furious. Write your heart out, always.”
Friday, September 23, 2011
Another from Solstice: The Foundation for Children's Books Partnership
SOLSTICE MFA in CREATIVE WRITING PROGRAM ANNOUNCES
NEW PARTNERSHIP WITH THE FOUNDATION FOR CHILDREN’S BOOKS
The Solstice Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing Program of Pine Manor College is proud to announce a new partnership with The Foundation for Children’s Books (FCB), a nonprofit organization that cultivates children’s curiosity, creativity, and academic achievement by igniting in them a love of good books. The FCB and Solstice MFA Program will co-host the first in a series of biannual events, “What’s New in Children’s Books” —a half-day conference featuring authors, illustrators, and library and bookstore professionals— Saturday, November 5th from 8 a.m.–noon on the Pine Manor College campus, 400 Heath Street in Chestnut Hill.
“What's New in Children's Books?” will feature illustrator Bryan Collier, winner of the Caldecott Honor Award and the 2011 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award for Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave, written by Solstice MFA faculty member Laban Carrick Hill; middle-grade and teen novel writer Mark Peter Hughes, whose book Lemonade Mouth is now a Disney Channel movie; Penny Noyce, doctor, educator, mother of five, and author of Lost in Lexicon: An Adventure in Words and Numbers; and Terry Schmitz, owner of the Children's Book Shop in Brookline, MA. The conference includes coffee and refreshments, new books from the Children's Book Shop, and book sales and signing.
As one of the few low-residency MFA programs to offer a concentration in writing for children and young adults, the Solstice MFA Program of Pine Manor College has worked to integrate writers whose work is targeted toward a variety of audiences.“The Solstice MFA Program believes that our children and young people deserve high quality literature that reflects the diversity of America,” says Solstice MFA Director Meg Kearney. “Our new partnership with the Foundation for Children’s Books underscores our mutual goals of putting good books into the hands of young readers, and introducing writers and illustrators to the people who play a vital role in exciting children about literature: teachers and librarians.”
ABOUT SOLSTICE & PINE MANOR COLLEGE
As an undergraduate institution consistently ranked among the most diverse in the country, Pine Manor College emphasizes an inclusive, community-building approach to liberal arts education. The Solstice MFA in Creative Writing reflects the College’s overall mission by creating a supportive, welcoming environment in which writers of all backgrounds are encouraged to take creative risks. We strive to instill in our students an appreciation for the value of community-building and community service, and see engagement with the literary arts not only as a means to personal fulfillment but also as an instrument for real cultural change.
—more—
ABOUT THE FOUNDATION FOR CHILDREN’S BOOKS
Founded in 1983, the FCB has served librarians, teachers, and children’s authors and illustrators by presenting a professional development speaker series and workshops. Beginning in 2005, the Foundation expanded its mission to serve teachers and urban students in grades K-8 by bringing acclaimed children’s book authors and illustrators into under-served schools in Boston. As part of its mission to build a bridge between the inspiring and dynamic creators of children’s books and their audience of young readers, the FCB has brought 23 authors and illustrators into 18 elementary and middle schools in Boston; these visits include book donations.
Directions to Pine Manor College, complete bios of our authors, and more information about the Solstice MFA in Creative Writing Program can be found at www.pmc.edu/mfa.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Solstice/Pine Manor Fellowship Opportunities
Check out these fellowship opportunities from Pine Manor/Solstice Low Residency MFA program. The deadline is October 14, 2011.
THE SOLSTICE MFA IN CREATIVE WRITING PROGRAM OF PINE MANOR COLLEGE
OFFERS FOUR FELLOWSHIPS FOR WRITERS
[Chestnut Hill, MA, September 2011] The Solstice Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing Program of Pine Manor College is pleased to offer four $1,000 fellowships for writers: The Dennis Lehane Fellowship for Fiction; the Michael Steinberg Fellowship for Creative Nonfiction; the Jacqueline Woodson Fellowship for a Young People’s Writer of African or Caribbean Descent; and the Sharon Olds Fellowship for Poetry.
All fellowship awards are based on the quality of a writing sample.
Fellowship applications are due October 14, 2011 (not a postmark date; materials must be received in our offices before or on October 14). Fellowship applicants are strongly encouraged to apply early. Notification letters will be mailed to winners only on November 15, 2011. Awards must be applied toward the winter residency/spring semester directly following acceptance; fellowships cannot be deferred or applied toward a summer residency/fall semester start.
About our donors (underwriters of the Sharon Olds Poetry Fellowship wish to remain anonymous):
A former staff writer for HBO’s The Wire, Solstice MFA writer-in-residence Dennis Lehane is author of nine novels, including Mystic River, Shutter Island, and Gone, Baby, Gone —each of which has been made into a feature film— and the fall 2010 release, Moonlight Mile.
Solstice MFA writer-in-residence Michael Steinberg is a memoirist, essayist, and founding editor of the literary journal, Fourth Genre: Explorations in Nonfiction. His memoir Still Pitching was named the 2003 Independent Press memoir of the year.
Solstice MFA consulting writer Jacqueline Woodson is author of numerous books for children and young adults, including Feathers, a Newbery Honor Book; Miracle’s Boys, winner of the Coretta Scott King Award; and Locomotion, winner of the Horn Book Award.
ABOUT PINE MANOR COLLEGE
As an undergraduate institution consistently ranked among the most diverse in the country, Pine Manor College emphasizes an inclusive, community-building approach to liberal arts education. The Solstice MFA in Creative Writing reflects the College’s overall mission by creating a supportive, welcoming environment in which writers of all backgrounds are encouraged to take creative risks. We strive to instill in our students an appreciation for the value of community-building and community service, and see engagement with the literary arts not only as a means to personal fulfillment but also as an instrument for real cultural change.
Directions to Pine Manor College, complete bios of our authors, and more information about the Solstice MFA in Creative Writing Program can be found at www.pmc.edu/mfa.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Workshops for New York-based MFA applicants
I'm running two writing workshops, open to both fiction and nonfiction writers, starting in September. If you live in or near New York, and you want some feedback on your MFA manuscripts before turning in your applications, here's an opportunity (though please note, the workshops are not exclusively for MFA applicants - you'll be alongside other published and experienced writers).
Previous students and one-on-one clients of mine have been accepted at some of the top programs in the country, including Iowa, UT Austin, Syracuse, Purdue, UNC Greensboro, Brooklyn College, and Hunter, to name a few.
Check out my website for more info, and get in touch with me asap if you'd like to sign up. Only five spots left now!
Previous students and one-on-one clients of mine have been accepted at some of the top programs in the country, including Iowa, UT Austin, Syracuse, Purdue, UNC Greensboro, Brooklyn College, and Hunter, to name a few.
Check out my website for more info, and get in touch with me asap if you'd like to sign up. Only five spots left now!
Monday, July 11, 2011
MFA Application Do's and Don'ts
Yes, it’s summertime, and those application deadlines are still months away. But let’s face it, many of you are already doing your research and making lists of all the programs and due dates in your head. You’re starting to wonder about letters of recommendation (how important are they, really?) and personal statements (how do I describe my entire being in 2 pages or less?) and writing samples (Is my best work good enough?). So to help answer some of those nagging questions, I thought I would take a quick poll of my local admissions committee (I trust their judgment since they admitted me) about what they are, and are not, looking for in a MFA application.
1. PROOFREAD. You’re applying to a writing program, after all. Showing that you can spell and use proper grammar and recognize typos is the minimum basic requirement. Besides that, make sure the name of the school to which you are applying is the same one you mention in your personal statement or letters of rec. Writing “…and this is why I think the University of New Mexico is perfect for me” and then sending that statement to the University of Idaho is a faux pas. We all know you are applying to more than one school and that’s wonderful, but please put in the effort to change the school’s name in your application. It is also important to make sure your recommenders do the same thing in their letters.
2. First impressions count, so make your application look as professional as possible. This means formatting your work according to industry standards when applicable (i.e. playwriting and screenwriting) and not using fancy or odd fonts (especially in your poems – and don’t center them either!). Just pick one standard font and stick with it. You do not want your admissions reader to be distracted by how strange your application looks on the page.
3. Play by the rules. If an application asks for a 20-page-maximum writing sample, do not send 21 pages. Equally important, you don’t want to pad your writing sample either; if you’ve submitted your best work and it only comes to 17 pages, don’t add in an extra 3 pages of less-than-best work to fill it out. That padding just weighs your sample down.
4. Show them your Voice. The admissions committee wants to see you in your writing sample. So whether you submit one piece or a range of work, it should reflect who you are as a writer and your unique perspective on the world.
5. A tip on excerpts: Keep it simple. Try to avoid excerpts that require a lengthy explanation or synopsis in order for the reader to understand the content. Yes, you want to showcase your best work, but if the admissions reader has no idea what is happening in the excerpt, that won’t help your case.
6. While the writing sample is the most important part of an application, the personal statement (or statement of purpose) comes in a close second.
a. Take a risk and show them who you really are; don’t just try to please the admissions committee and tell them what you think they want to hear. What makes you distinctive?
b. Programs want to admit talented writers, but they also want to admit writers who are a good fit for their program. So you need to accurately describe your goals and what you are looking to gain from and hope to contribute to a particular program. Finding a good match is in the best interests of both of you.
c. The admissions committee already knows you are applying because you want to be a writer and you love writing. Beginning your statement with “I have wanted to be a writer for as long as I can remember” is not even remotely original. Find a fresh way to show them your drive and seriousness of purpose. It’s all about what makes you different from all the other applicants.
d. A good sense of humor goes a long way!
7. Finally, don’t agonize over it. While you want to be thoughtful about your application, you don’t need to drive yourself to drink. Trust that you’ve put together the best application you can, and the right program will come to you.
1. PROOFREAD. You’re applying to a writing program, after all. Showing that you can spell and use proper grammar and recognize typos is the minimum basic requirement. Besides that, make sure the name of the school to which you are applying is the same one you mention in your personal statement or letters of rec. Writing “…and this is why I think the University of New Mexico is perfect for me” and then sending that statement to the University of Idaho is a faux pas. We all know you are applying to more than one school and that’s wonderful, but please put in the effort to change the school’s name in your application. It is also important to make sure your recommenders do the same thing in their letters.
2. First impressions count, so make your application look as professional as possible. This means formatting your work according to industry standards when applicable (i.e. playwriting and screenwriting) and not using fancy or odd fonts (especially in your poems – and don’t center them either!). Just pick one standard font and stick with it. You do not want your admissions reader to be distracted by how strange your application looks on the page.
3. Play by the rules. If an application asks for a 20-page-maximum writing sample, do not send 21 pages. Equally important, you don’t want to pad your writing sample either; if you’ve submitted your best work and it only comes to 17 pages, don’t add in an extra 3 pages of less-than-best work to fill it out. That padding just weighs your sample down.
4. Show them your Voice. The admissions committee wants to see you in your writing sample. So whether you submit one piece or a range of work, it should reflect who you are as a writer and your unique perspective on the world.
5. A tip on excerpts: Keep it simple. Try to avoid excerpts that require a lengthy explanation or synopsis in order for the reader to understand the content. Yes, you want to showcase your best work, but if the admissions reader has no idea what is happening in the excerpt, that won’t help your case.
6. While the writing sample is the most important part of an application, the personal statement (or statement of purpose) comes in a close second.
a. Take a risk and show them who you really are; don’t just try to please the admissions committee and tell them what you think they want to hear. What makes you distinctive?
b. Programs want to admit talented writers, but they also want to admit writers who are a good fit for their program. So you need to accurately describe your goals and what you are looking to gain from and hope to contribute to a particular program. Finding a good match is in the best interests of both of you.
c. The admissions committee already knows you are applying because you want to be a writer and you love writing. Beginning your statement with “I have wanted to be a writer for as long as I can remember” is not even remotely original. Find a fresh way to show them your drive and seriousness of purpose. It’s all about what makes you different from all the other applicants.
d. A good sense of humor goes a long way!
7. Finally, don’t agonize over it. While you want to be thoughtful about your application, you don’t need to drive yourself to drink. Trust that you’ve put together the best application you can, and the right program will come to you.
Thursday, July 07, 2011
A New Community for 2012 MFA Applicants
I hope--and do expect--this board will continue to be a vibrant presence in the online MFA applicant community, but since so many applicants are now spending time in and amongst more than one community of applicants, I thought I'd mention that the largest Facebook group for MFA applicants can be found here. It's a "closed" group, so conversations of a slightly more private nature can happen there than would or could happen in a more public forum. That said, the pace of the dialogue there is quite a bit faster than the pace here, so that won't necessarily work for everyone. Still, it's a great opportunity for this year's cohort of MFA applicants to be part of more than one community of like-minded, passionate individuals.
Also, I hope anyone who hops over there to join the discussion--amongst the group's 234 members and counting--will consider adding to the Where Are You Planning to Apply? document in the right-hand sidebar, as that information is useful for a variety of reasons and is one way to sort of "introduce yourself" into the community. Hope to see you there!
Also, I hope anyone who hops over there to join the discussion--amongst the group's 234 members and counting--will consider adding to the Where Are You Planning to Apply? document in the right-hand sidebar, as that information is useful for a variety of reasons and is one way to sort of "introduce yourself" into the community. Hope to see you there!
Saturday, June 18, 2011
It's Summer. Now What?
Summer, for me, is supposed to mean a break. It even says so on the Queens syllabus. I don't have to turn anything in until mid-August at the start of fall semester. But really, it's not a break. I don't think writers have them. There's no such thing.
My goal for the month of June is to work on revisions. Trust me, there's a lot. I'm reviewing all my submissions from last semester and the May residency, going through workshop critiques, looking for similarities, repeating comments. Generally, you know those are the things that need fixing. Just as an FYI, I do review critiques throughout the semester, and make some changes along the way. But for me, I need to give the story some space. Go back to it with fresh eyes after a few weeks or months. Makes a huge difference.
July - I plan to write new things. That's the plan. I've started a few... first pages, first sentences...but I work better knowing that the other stories are as complete as they can be.
Many low-res MFA programs meet over the summer (Vermont College of Fine Arts, University of Alaska Anchorage, Bennington, anyone else? Let me know, I'll add them here) Other low-res programs use the summer for a study abroad experience (Spalding University, University of New Orleans, others?) Traditional classroom MFA folks - what are your summer plans?
Share your summer experiences!
My goal for the month of June is to work on revisions. Trust me, there's a lot. I'm reviewing all my submissions from last semester and the May residency, going through workshop critiques, looking for similarities, repeating comments. Generally, you know those are the things that need fixing. Just as an FYI, I do review critiques throughout the semester, and make some changes along the way. But for me, I need to give the story some space. Go back to it with fresh eyes after a few weeks or months. Makes a huge difference.
July - I plan to write new things. That's the plan. I've started a few... first pages, first sentences...but I work better knowing that the other stories are as complete as they can be.
Many low-res MFA programs meet over the summer (Vermont College of Fine Arts, University of Alaska Anchorage, Bennington, anyone else? Let me know, I'll add them here) Other low-res programs use the summer for a study abroad experience (Spalding University, University of New Orleans, others?) Traditional classroom MFA folks - what are your summer plans?
Share your summer experiences!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
The True Confessions of an MFA Graduate Teaching Assistant
Hmm. Interesting. Please share your thoughts in the comments!
"It didn’t take me long to realize that good teaching probably requires a certain degree of education specific to education (I had none), and that, while I could get by on a certain degree of charisma, patience, and enthusiasm, truly committing myself to my students’ needs (and they had many) would require 50 or more hours per week.At first, these notions stressed me out—I wanted to be a good teacher and was pretty won-over by the school’s apparent mission (“Admissions requirements? Who needs them! Everyone deserves a college education.”). But eventually I picked up on the dismissive attitude of those around me and learned to follow suit."
Full article here.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Northerners Available for Immediate Delivery!
Many readers of Tom's website have e-mailed me asking when my second book would be available for immediate delivery (as opposed to pre-order), so I thought I'd post the announcement here. Thanks to all for indulging me re: this personal note!
The book is also available from Small Press Distribution (Link). Below is the recent Publishers Weekly review of Northerners, as well as all of the back-cover blurbs:
Reviews:
Publishers Weekly. "This book will get a lot of well-deserved attention. A former public defender in New Hampshire and now a graduate student in Wisconsin, Abramson has picked up a very large following as a blogger and commentator, covering poetry, politics, and higher education, and generating a controversial, U.S. News-style ranking of graduate programs in writing. After all that, what's left for the poetry? Plenty: serious and ambitious, full of torqued proverbs and hard-to-follow advice, Abramson's own work shows a poet uncommonly interested in general statements, in hard questions, and harder answers, about how to live: 'Everyone knows what not to do/ in a dream,' he warns, 'and in a dream everyone has the heart/ to tell you who you are.' Waking life, he implies, turns out harsher, and stranger. Abramson's work as an attorney impinges on several memorable poems: 'the worst/ is meeting those people you know/ you can do nothing for.' American regions--the Upper Midwest, Boston, northern New England--also draw attention, and sometimes ire. Ultimately, though, Abramson's taut phrases show a personality, sometimes welcoming, and sometimes grimacing, at a tough, lovely, often inhospitable world: 'It is not too early for us// to turn out backs on the track,' he advises, before announcing 'YES--// there is no secret self--/ but still/ I follow it everywhere.'"
[Link].
Blurbs:
Cole Swensen. "From the first line of the first poem, this book takes us into mythical territory: mankind is walking backward, and it's back into the garden, yet this is not regressive, nor is it redemptive. A little later, an apple appears...Seth Abramson's genius lies in the ability to condense the power of our culture's founding concepts into their particulars, and then to show how those particulars are every bit as alive today, and as relevant. And he shows it more through language's muscle than through its meaning, for while he says a lot in this collection, it's the torque and snap of the medium, used as a material for art rather than as a vehicle for ideas, that keeps the reader on the page, becoming a part of it."
Peter Gizzi. "To reckon the currents of muscular energy in Seth Abramson's Northerners is to recognize that poetry may be located in language's minute particulars and in the local but it penetrates every thought, every atom of one's daily life. 'Finding your form/ is not a form of discipline,' Abramson writes. It is, as this book shows us, a form of wonder."
Don Share. "Seth Abramson's intricate, absorbing, and distinctive poems wrestle not just with language--much poetry does that--but with the objects of language: the events, landscapes, and weather that surround us and determine our lives. Dream-like, yet ever-alert, this work is memorable and illuminating."
Donald Revell (on my first book, The Suburban Ecstasies). "Working in the vivid, revivifying borderlands of such American adventures as Paul Metcalf's Genoa and Ed Dorn's Gunslinger, The Suburban Ecstasies propounds a syllabic heroism, one in which even the gentlest, most lyric proposals set forth towards ecstasy. These pages glow with immediate mastery."
You can purchase The Suburban Ecstasies from Amazon here.
The book is also available from Small Press Distribution (Link). Below is the recent Publishers Weekly review of Northerners, as well as all of the back-cover blurbs:
Reviews:
Publishers Weekly. "This book will get a lot of well-deserved attention. A former public defender in New Hampshire and now a graduate student in Wisconsin, Abramson has picked up a very large following as a blogger and commentator, covering poetry, politics, and higher education, and generating a controversial, U.S. News-style ranking of graduate programs in writing. After all that, what's left for the poetry? Plenty: serious and ambitious, full of torqued proverbs and hard-to-follow advice, Abramson's own work shows a poet uncommonly interested in general statements, in hard questions, and harder answers, about how to live: 'Everyone knows what not to do/ in a dream,' he warns, 'and in a dream everyone has the heart/ to tell you who you are.' Waking life, he implies, turns out harsher, and stranger. Abramson's work as an attorney impinges on several memorable poems: 'the worst/ is meeting those people you know/ you can do nothing for.' American regions--the Upper Midwest, Boston, northern New England--also draw attention, and sometimes ire. Ultimately, though, Abramson's taut phrases show a personality, sometimes welcoming, and sometimes grimacing, at a tough, lovely, often inhospitable world: 'It is not too early for us// to turn out backs on the track,' he advises, before announcing 'YES--// there is no secret self--/ but still/ I follow it everywhere.'"
[Link].
Blurbs:
Cole Swensen. "From the first line of the first poem, this book takes us into mythical territory: mankind is walking backward, and it's back into the garden, yet this is not regressive, nor is it redemptive. A little later, an apple appears...Seth Abramson's genius lies in the ability to condense the power of our culture's founding concepts into their particulars, and then to show how those particulars are every bit as alive today, and as relevant. And he shows it more through language's muscle than through its meaning, for while he says a lot in this collection, it's the torque and snap of the medium, used as a material for art rather than as a vehicle for ideas, that keeps the reader on the page, becoming a part of it."
Peter Gizzi. "To reckon the currents of muscular energy in Seth Abramson's Northerners is to recognize that poetry may be located in language's minute particulars and in the local but it penetrates every thought, every atom of one's daily life. 'Finding your form/ is not a form of discipline,' Abramson writes. It is, as this book shows us, a form of wonder."
Don Share. "Seth Abramson's intricate, absorbing, and distinctive poems wrestle not just with language--much poetry does that--but with the objects of language: the events, landscapes, and weather that surround us and determine our lives. Dream-like, yet ever-alert, this work is memorable and illuminating."
Donald Revell (on my first book, The Suburban Ecstasies). "Working in the vivid, revivifying borderlands of such American adventures as Paul Metcalf's Genoa and Ed Dorn's Gunslinger, The Suburban Ecstasies propounds a syllabic heroism, one in which even the gentlest, most lyric proposals set forth towards ecstasy. These pages glow with immediate mastery."
You can purchase The Suburban Ecstasies from Amazon here.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
A Day in the Life: A Low-Residency Schedule
To give you an idea of what a low-residency week might look like, here's my schedule for today.
9:00 - 10:30 Gateway Seminar - Reading as Writer/Stage and Screen
10:30 - 12:00 Craft Seminar - Fiction/Speaking the Novel
1:00 - 2:00 Graduating student craft seminars (many to choose from!)
2:00 - 5:00 Small group workshop
5:00 - 6:15 Graduating student thesis readings
8:00 - 9:30 Graduating student thesis readings (Nightly readings alternate between Faculty Readings and Grad readings)
I mentioned in a previous post the differences between craft and gateway seminars, large group and small group workshops. Also, at Queens, we participate in seminars outside of our genre. We have astounding faculty (yes, I'm biased), writers who teach at Queens residencies, and at universities throughout the country during the rest of the year. There is a lot to take in. I'm still ruminating, for example, over Tuesday's Fiction Craft seminar about character and the question of character transformation.
It's an intense week. It's a week of being exhilarated, motivated, then crashing down exhausted. It's all consuming. And I highly recommend it.
9:00 - 10:30 Gateway Seminar - Reading as Writer/Stage and Screen
10:30 - 12:00 Craft Seminar - Fiction/Speaking the Novel
1:00 - 2:00 Graduating student craft seminars (many to choose from!)
2:00 - 5:00 Small group workshop
5:00 - 6:15 Graduating student thesis readings
8:00 - 9:30 Graduating student thesis readings (Nightly readings alternate between Faculty Readings and Grad readings)
I mentioned in a previous post the differences between craft and gateway seminars, large group and small group workshops. Also, at Queens, we participate in seminars outside of our genre. We have astounding faculty (yes, I'm biased), writers who teach at Queens residencies, and at universities throughout the country during the rest of the year. There is a lot to take in. I'm still ruminating, for example, over Tuesday's Fiction Craft seminar about character and the question of character transformation.
It's an intense week. It's a week of being exhilarated, motivated, then crashing down exhausted. It's all consuming. And I highly recommend it.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
I Wish I Had Known That...
What, almost a month and no new posts? Ye gads! What is the MFA Blog coming to?!
Well, I guess this is kind of the fallow period in the MFA application cycle. Last year's applicants know where they are going, or not going, by now, and next year's applicants haven't geared up yet (or have they?)
So, I was wondering: maybe those of you who have been through this process before could do next year's newbies a favor by answering this question:
I wish I had known that...
Well, I guess this is kind of the fallow period in the MFA application cycle. Last year's applicants know where they are going, or not going, by now, and next year's applicants haven't geared up yet (or have they?)
So, I was wondering: maybe those of you who have been through this process before could do next year's newbies a favor by answering this question:
I wish I had known that...
Saturday, April 23, 2011
5 Alternatives...?
Did you all see this article 5 Alternatives To a Creative Writing MFA over at Galley Cat?
Alternative #3: "Join a low-residency creative writing program."
A couple of folks left comments about the cost of low-residency programs - all valid points. My concern is that the author seems to think you can "join" a program (no, you must apply) ... and most (not all, but most) low-residency creative writing programs are MFA programs.
Anyone else wonder how low-residency programs made the 5 Alternatives list?
Alternative #3: "Join a low-residency creative writing program."
A couple of folks left comments about the cost of low-residency programs - all valid points. My concern is that the author seems to think you can "join" a program (no, you must apply) ... and most (not all, but most) low-residency creative writing programs are MFA programs.
Anyone else wonder how low-residency programs made the 5 Alternatives list?
Monday, April 18, 2011
The Top 25 Underrated Creative Writing MFA Programs (2011-2012)
I'm hoping that MFA applicants for the 2011-2012 application cycle will find this article helpful as they research programs. If you find the list useful, I hope you'll pass the link on to others!
Sunday, April 10, 2011
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