Breakfast with a Nobel Laureate on the Balcony of a Billionaire's Guest House

When you think of the Hamptons, when you picture those wide-angle arial shots of gargantuan beach-front estates, you're thinking of Meadow Lane. It's the road that runs parallel to the beach in Southampton, and it is the road I drive along to get to the guest house. As an author's assistant at the Southampton Writers Conference, I am responsible for picking up Derek Walcott every other morning and driving him to his workshop. He's staying at the estate of a local billionaire, and as I drive up the winding path to the guest house, I can see the ocean.

I park my car and tentatively knock on the front door. I've never been to the guest house before, only to the pool house, once. Never the main house. There is no answer, so I let myself in. I climb the wooden steps to the living room, and across the room I see the sliding glass doors that lead to the balcony. Everyone is outside at the table, eating breakfast. I slide open a door and stick my head out. "Good morning," I say.

"Sally Jane!" Billy Collins says. "Come, sit. Do you want something to eat?"

"Sure." Apparently it's his turn to cook this morning. I sit down at the table and Billy brings me a plate of eggs and bacon and a glass of orange juice. Derek is listening to Frank McCourt talk about his Irish childhood, and Matthew Klam is laughing and drinking his coffee.

I look around me and am astonished that this is actually happening. I'm having breakfast with a Nobel Laureate, a Pulitzer Prize winner, a 2-time U.S. Poet Laureate, and a Guggenheim Fellow. But it is real. It is really happening.

Getting my MFA made this possible. If I hadn't gone to grad school, I never would have had the opportunity to surround myself with such accomplished and generous artists. I would never have found myself in such amazing circumstances. I wouldn't be the person I am today. So as you're slogging through the admissions process, or staring your thesis deadline in the face, fear not: it is worth it. Good things will happen. Maybe even great ones. Maybe even breakfast with Nobel Laureates.

An Open Letter to Anis Shivani

So I’ve read “Creative Writing Programs: Is the MFA System Corrupt and Undemocratic?” and there are parts I agree with and parts I disagree with. But mostly, it makes me worry.

I worry about the impression articles like this give to the general public about creative writers and creative writing in higher education. You see, Mr. Shivani, your narrative, while compelling, is awfully simplistic, repeating, with a new, excruciatingly extended metaphor, myths and arguments that have been made ad infinitum over the years. Polemics like yours are polarizing, sending organizations like the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) directly back into their corners to craft their own polemic responses. And who can blame them? Polemics in their very nature are cynical; you yourself see no possibility for change at the end of your essay, in itself a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I worry that the general audience that reads the Huffington Post doesn’t realize that a great deal of nuanced work has already been done on the positive and negative effects of the rise of MFA programs in America—Mark McGurl’s recent The Program Era: Postwar Fiction and the Rise of Creative Writing and Paul Dawson’s Creative Writing and the New Humanities, for example are particularly detailed in chronicling the history and origin of this rise, revealing contexts far more complicated than the feudal system you describe—because you don’t even mention them. Sure, you weren’t writing a scholarly article, but at the same time, your essay seems to exist in a vacuum, willfully unaware of the vast amount of energy that has been spent in the past ten years trying to understand creative writing in higher education, to critique it constructively and move it forward as a discipline. Work done by writers like Anna Leahy, Cathy Day, Kelly Ritter, Tim Mayers, Patrick Bizarro, Dianne Donnelly, Wendy Bishop, Tom Kealey, Seth Abramson and Graeme Harper, to name just a few.

That said, perhaps the area in which we are in the most agreement is the section of your essay which seems to be the most current—the reference to the “brouhaha recently about a journeyman’s attempt to rank MFA programs in Poets & Writers magazine according to input from potential apprentices as opposed to evaluations by journeymen and masters themselves: obviously such prospective evalution couldn’t be allowed.” I too find this brouhaha, and the resulting AWP Annual Ranking of MFA Programs, deeply troubling as it signals a real reluctance on the part of our field’s signature organization to recognize the urgent need for more information and transparency about these programs.

Overall, however, I worry that in painting the picture of the MFA program in America in such broad and pessimistic strokes, you not only discount the significant, ongoing labors of my generation of writers to change the status quo but you also write off entirely the potential of the rising generation of current and prospective creative writing students, readers of this blog, to create conditions that might “break up” the guild system to which you refer. They are an entirely different breed, this new generation of writers, for whom “new media” is not new but reality, the reality in which information about creative writing programs, teaching, publishing, indeed, functioning in the milieu of 21st century (writing) arts is as omnipresent to them as the air that they breathe (I know, because I teach them). They don’t sit still long for the status quo, this generation. They tend to want to mix things up; the “very fine state of consolidation” of a system like the one you describe is only a challenge to them. I wouldn’t write them off just yet.

Stephanie Vanderslice

Intro to Jessica Farquhar

I'm in my second year (of three) in Purdue's MFA studying Poetry, and I'm fortunate also to hold the position of Assistant Director of the Creative Writing Program. I keep busy. I have two kids. I still manage to write a lot. I'm interested in talking about the realities of being in an MFA program and the possibilities of the post-MFA. I have an MA from the University of Louisville (hometown nod), and I really like teaching. I'm glad that I was thirty by the time I started my MFA and that I had a fantastic mentor to guide me through the application process. I don't think I would have taken full advantage of the experience if I would have done it when I was first considering it, back in...I honestly can't remember what year. I certainly wouldn't have found a program that is as perfect a fit as Purdue is for me back whenever that was, a whole lifetime ago.

Don't Tell Me What to Write: Choosing the Multi-Genre Program

I admit, I was a spoiled undergrad. I went to Sarah Lawrence College where there are no tests, no grades, and very few academic rules. I could study whatever I wanted whenever I wanted, and it didn't matter if I had never tried the subject. It was that level of freedom and exploration that allowed me to try writing for the first time - I signed up for my first fiction workshop and my first playwriting workshop as a sophomore, having never written anything creative before. It was a life changing experience.

I spent the rest of my undergraduate career studying writing, and when I decided to apply to a MFA program, I was looking for the same level of creative flexibility. It turns out that can often be difficult to find. Most graduate programs are divided into categories: fiction and poetry are in the Writing Program, playwriting is in the Theatre Program, and screenwriting is part of the Film School. Those limitations just didn't work for me. I knew I wanted to write both plays and screenplays, but I had no desire to get a theatre degree or attend film school. I just wanted to write, not direct or act or edit or design.

So I went in search of multi-genre programs. I already knew exactly what I wanted my thesis project to be (a pilot script for an one-hour dramatic television show), so I needed a program that would support that project and had the faculty to teach me how to write it. I also wanted a program that would allow me to take classes outside of playwriting/screenwriting. Plus I wanted the opportunity to pursue Independent Study if the standard courses were not enough. My criteria definitely narrowed my selection of schools, but it was important to me to find a program that would work with me to accomplish my goals.

Ultimately, the program that worked for me was the MFA at Southampton College. I took workshops in creative non-fiction and screenwriting, and I also took classes in Women's Literature, Southern Literature, and Fiction into Film. It was exactly what I needed, and my relationship with the program continues to be strong and productive.

What are you looking for in a MFA program? Would love to hear from you, so leave comments!

*Shameless Promotion* Applications are available for the new Florence Writers Conference, sponsored by the Southampton MFA program. Study fiction and creative non-fiction for 10 days in Florence, Italy! Go to www.stonybrook.edu/mfa for more details. Deadline: November 1st, 2010.

In Their Own Words

Who among us doesn't enjoy reading writers on writing? So big thanks to Dwight Garner in today's New York Times for pointing out the wealth of authorial insights now available courtesy of the Paris Review's newly redesigned website. There you can find, free and accessible at a click, the complete set of interviews from the magazine's 57-year history. Whether commenting on craft or offering a glimpse into daily routines, the conversations run the gamut from the inspiring and thought-provoking to the surprising and, at times, surprisingly comforting. You can search by name, browse by decade, or start with Chinua Achebe and read through to Marguerite Yourcenar. Some are even featured twice — Joan Didion, John Steinbeck, and William Styron, among others — giving us a rare opportunity to see how their perspective changed through the years. Of course, many take a look back at their beginnings — a welcome reminder that we all have to start somewhere.

So it's been over twenty years since I applied to MFA programs in 1989! Yeesh--well, I've never been vain about stuff like that. Anyway, the realm of MFA programs and the process of applying to them has changed dramatically since then (hello world wide web)--to the extent that my "process," which I'll write about in some future post about the "olden days" is probably almost unrecognizable to writers applying now.

But that doesn't mean I'm out of touch. I graduated from George Mason University with my MFA in fiction in 1992 (another groan) but since then I've made it practically my life's work to turn a magnifying glass on creative writing in higher education, including and especially MFA programs, looking for ways to make it better and improve the prospects for all MFA graduates in the 21st Century. I've studied both BA and MFA programs, here and in the UK, intensively in writing my upcoming book, Rethinking Creative Writing in Higher Education: Programs and Practices that Work (Professional and Higher, UK).

My graduate experiences were, in a word, uneven. Once I gathered the courage to step out of my "good girl" academic persona, I began to write about these experiences and to examine them critically. In the past twenty years, I've published a lot of essays and a couple of books about the pedagogy of the creative writing classroom (especially the workshop). Along the way, I've also picked up a Ph.D. with a creative writing dissertation at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette ('97) and a dream job teaching creative writing at the University of Central Arkansas, home of the Exquisite Corpse, the Oxford American, and, if the Board of Trustees smiles down upon us, a brand-spanking new MFA program in the next couple of years.

My other life's work besides studying creative writing programs and teaching creative writing? I write fiction (I'm currently heavy into revising my 2009 NaNoWriMo novel), have published short fiction in places like The American Literary Review and So to Speak, and have discovered a real love of reading and writing nonfiction over the past ten years. I've published several personal essays and most of my "scholarly" essays are really narrative essays in disguise. I also share the joys of raising two boys in Conway, Arkansas (one of the ten geekiest cities in the country) with my writer-husband (we met at George Mason) John Vanderslice.

I have admired Tom Kealey's work--indeed it has deeply informed my own and is a driving force of change in the creative writing world--for a long time. I'm very happy to be joining the chorus at the MFA Blog!

Chasing Carrots

My name is Alexis, and I’m excited to join the ranks of the posting set—thank you to Nancy Rawlinson for inviting me. Biography seems the preferred way to begin, so I’ll tell you that I’m in the home stretch of the M.F.A. experience. I finished coursework for Columbia University’s nonfiction program in the spring and am working on my thesis. While there, I also served as editor-in-chief for the literary magazine Columbia: A Journal of Literature and Art. Further back I spent more than five years as a reporter and editor with the Vineyard Gazette, a newspaper on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.

To jump right in, I’ve been considering Jess’s procrastination question and—having experimented with quite a few strategies—I think a good thing to do is find a fellow writer, or group of writers, with whom you can exchange work on a regular basis. It helps to meet deadlines when you’re accountable to someone outside yourself, plus there’s the benefit of feedback. Also, a warning for the coffee shop sitters out there: free wi-fi is not necessarily your friend. I thought I’d found the answer to the distractions of my apartment when Starbucks announced all-access this past summer. But my 15-minute email breaks quickly turned into hour-long surfing expeditions. Now I make a point of disabling the internet on my computer whenever I want to be creative.

A final thought on beating procrastination: incentive. Everyone’s got to have a carrot they can chase. It could even be something small—say, a trip to the movies after finishing a draft or stamping an application. Writing contests are also excellent for this. Winners often receive cash prizes, or publication, or both. In fact, the Columbia journal just started accepting entries for theirs—fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Check it out. Who wouldn’t welcome an extra $500 in their pocket? ... I’ll watch for other contests to highlight, and I look forward to keeping up with the conversation.

Why I Will Never Have a Real Job, or, Life After the MFA

November 7, 2007: Two weeks before my 30th birthday. It had been a struggle, but I finally had what I thought I always needed - a real job. I was Deputy Director of Cassidy's Place, a non-profit integrated pre-school program for disadvantaged and special needs children. I had actual responsibilities. I was making grown-up money. I had just moved into a one-bedroom apartment by myself. I was leaving my twenties behind and walking full-force into an adulthood that included novelties like a savings account and furniture I didn't inherit from roommates past. A la Mary Tyler Moore, I was going to make it after all.

And then I got laid off. Six months into my first real job, I was called into my executive director's office and told that, unfortunately, they couldn't afford to maintain my position. (Did I mention this was two weeks before my 30th birthday?) I could feel my future (and my self-esteem) circling the drain. The void in front of me was so large and unforgiving that I could not imagine how I was going to move through it. I cried for days.

Depressed and in need of a drink (or twelve), I went to my friend Christian's early Christmas party. As I walked in the door, he said, "How are you?"

"Unemployed," I said.

"Congratulations!" he said. "You've just received a six month government grant to stay home and write."

I haven't been depressed since. Those six months were some of the best of my life. I finished a screenplay. I took trips to Vegas and the Bahamas (probably not what the State of New York had in mind when they asked me if I was "actively seeking work," but whatever). And I got my head screwed on straight. I'm a writer. It's the only thing I'm even remotely confident about. Well, that and my ability to live on the cheap. I know what I want to do with my life, and how I manage to make money in the meantime is only a minor detail.

I've pieced together several part-time jobs since the unemployment checks ran out. I went back to the same non-profit, but for a different job with less pay. I spend my summers working for the Southampton Writers Conference. I occasionally ghost write for my mother or hire myself out as a production manager. I moved from my one-bedroom apartment to a two-bedroom with a roommate. What matters is that I'm writing more now than I have in years, and I'm happier than ever. The part-time gigs are not perfect or permanent solutions, but they work for now. You know, until I become a famous writer.

Allison Leigh Peters Joins the MFA Blog

Thanks to Tom for allowing me to be part of this blog and its intelligent conversations. I look forward to posting, reading everyone's posts and tuning in to your comments as we take on the creative world.

This April I'll be finishing my BA in English Language & Literature and Honors Creative Writing at the University of Michigan. As a 21-year-old, I'm currently applying to a number of MFA programs, including the University of Michigan's highly-acclaimed program, as well as Brown's, and the generously-funded Wallace Stegner Fellowship at Stanford University (which, incidentally, does not actually offer an MFA, although it is a fully-paid with stipend two-year writing residency).

I'm all for the idea that you shouldn't have to pay to perfect your art. So with my blog posts I'd like to concentrate on information and tips for applying to schools that offer exceptional financing, whether it be in terms of fellowships, grants, paid teaching assistantships, scholarships, publishing gigs, or whatever else may come up. As someone who is not yet admitted to an MFA program, I'm also interested in creative alternatives—including various national and international writing fellowships and residencies, as well as publishing opportunities and creative writing contests—which I hope to discuss as options to either precede the MFA to better prepare a student for intense creative study or to supplement the MFA.

I look forward to sharing and exchanging knowledge and information with you. Here's to it!

Allison Leigh Peters won an Academy of American Poets Prize in 2010. Her most recent work has been published in The Michigan Quarterly Review, Connotation Press, Oberon Poetry Magazine, Fortnight Literary Press and Third Wednesday, among others. She studies English Language & Literature, Creative Writing and Global Media Studies at the University of Michigan, where she works as a Digital Publishing Assistant for MPublishing and as an Editorial Assistant for UM's Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning. She is a contributing writer and editor for Portico, Associate Editor for the UM Undergraduate Research Journal and the Co-Editor-in-Chief for Xylem Literary Magazine. She volunteers at 826Michigan and lives in Ann Arbor.

Check out Allison's own poetry blog, Knuckle Twenty-Nine.

Adam Nunez Joins the MFA Blog

Hello there from Albuquerque!

First of all, thank you so much to Tom for giving me the chance to contribute to the discussion. I look forward to the cool conversations this blog offers, and like my fellow bloggers, I'm happy to help with anything!

I was on MFA Blog last year looking for advice and a community when I applied to 14 programs. It was an expensive and exhausting process, but in the end, totally life-changing. Currently, I'm in the MFA program at the University of New Mexico, and I'm loving every second! Teaching undergraduate English and writing lots and lots of poetry keeps me busy, but Abq offers a lot to do. Much of my time I spend seeing the sights.

In August, my longtime girlfriend Emily moved with me from Boise, Idaho to the Land of Enchantment. We miss the Northwest, but Abq reminds us so much of Boise--the mountains to the east, the high desert, the ease of fitting in, and the warmth of the community.

Though I look forward to giving any advice I can, I might relate most to younger MFA applicants. I graduated in June from a small liberal arts college outside of Boise, and spent fall of my senior year applying to programs while still handling a full-time course load. I say if you want to do it now, do it now. I knew I wanted to go straight into an MFA program. I couldn't see myself doing anything else, and at this point, I'm completely happy.

Lastly, my poems have appeared in LUMINA, Scribendi, and last year a poem of mine placed second in The Atlantic magazine's Student Writing Contest. I'm an editor at Blue Mesa Review and we're always looking for new submissions in all genres.

Thanks for having me. I'll be posting!

Sally Jane Joins the MFA Blog

For starters, a big thanks to Tom and my fellow bloggers for allowing me to join their ranks. A little about me: I'm originally from Texas (Go Rangers!) and I received my MFA from Southampton College (formerly Long Island University, now SUNY Stony Brook). I'm a playwright/screenwriter, and since getting my MFA in 2004 I've taught English 101 at two community colleges, worked in various capacites for a non-profit childrens organization in East Harlem, produced/production-managed several Off and Off-Off-Off Broadway shows, been the theatre coordinator for the Southampton Writers Conference, had a couple of my short plays produced, and one published. Occasionally I get paid for these things, occasionally not.

So if you have any questions about life post-MFA or attending writers conferences or getting a play produced or about finding your way in a multi-genre program, I'm your girl. I can't wait to hear from you!

What Will You Do With Your MFA?

It's a question that's asked often. I hear it from others. I ask it of myself.  Seth touches on it in one of the September ranking-debate posts below. The MFA does not guarantee a job. Unless you are really lucky or really good.

This scares the crap out of me. I come from a very practical family of public school teachers. I ended up getting my teaching degree in social studies. I like history and, for the most part, it was a guaranteed a job. I forgot to ask myself if I would enjoy facing 130 15 year-old every day beginning at 7:20 am. (Side note to anyone considering high school school teaching: you have to like kids. And 7:20 am. Combined.)

Somewhere in the midst of teacher burn out, I started to write. And I was hooked. A series of events (you know, life) led me to consider MFA programs. I weighed the pros and cons for a long time. I already have a Master's, my old student loans are paid off, and - let's be realistic - there is a very good chance that I will be back teaching high school students at 7:20 am. Except English this time, instead of history.

And sometimes, there is a little voice that says...you never know.  And there is a louder voice that says...who cares? If you want to write, then do it. If you want your writing to improve and you found a program that works for you, then go for it. I've discovered that my goal is not a job...my goal is to write, and write well. What's yours?

Amanda Abel Joins the MFA Writing Masses

As many people have said before (and below) me, I am elated to be invited by Tom to join this blog. I was here during the last season, though without an interesting screen name like Wandering Tree. ;) I created the MFA-Limbo ning group for people to discuss application and program concerns while avoiding worries of the watchful eyes of MFA faculty and selection committees.

I'm originally from Texas, and if I'm forced to be honest, I'll admit to being from Dubya's home town. But when I think of home, it's Austin that I claim, as I spent about a decade there from college on. I'm a poet and a documentary photographer, but am most passionate about teaching. I got an MA in documentary photography and discovered my love of teaching during six grueling but rewarding quarters of TA'ing in Santa Cruz. My ultimate goal is to teach creative writing and photography in underprivileged communities, and I expect there'll probably be some adjuncting thrown in there to sustain myself.

I'm now in the program at Vanderbilt and loving every minute of it. Being here still feels like winning the lottery, especially because I was a waitlister. But the truth is that out of the six of us, half were originally waitlisted, and I think all of us only applied because Vandy waived their online application fee. None of us thought we had a shot in hell.

I went all in last year and applied to 17 programs to ensure I'd get in *somewhere* fully funded and would never have to go through the application process again. This blog was a great resource for both support and mania, and I'm still friends with many of the people I met on here (koru, franny, and others). I'm looking forward to sharing my program experiences and answering any questions that people have. Until next time!

Chamber Four Looking for Submissions

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: C4 MAGAZINE ISSUE #1

ChamberFour.com seeks submissions for the inaugural issue of its online/ebook magazine, C4.

For Issue #1, we’re looking for:

--> fiction (short stories, flash fiction)
--> non-fiction (personal essays, memoir excerpts, travel writing)
--> poetry (traditional, experimental)
--> digital visual art

Accepted writing will be published on ChamberFour.com, and collected in an ebook, probably by January. (We can’t pay you, but we’ll mail you an awesome can koozie, which is better than money.)

Find full guidelines at ChamberFour.com/submit, and check out the anthology we recently published to get an idea of our publishing process---it’s at ChamberFour.com/anthology.

Send submissions to submissions@chamberfour.com or find us on Submishmash at chamberfour.submishmash.com/submit. We accept submissions on a rolling basis, but priority for the first issue will be given to those received by December 1, 2010

Procrastination

The New Yorker had a great piece on the psychology of procrastination last week. You can see the full text here.

As someone who procrastinated on her MFA applications in the past (among other things), it got me thinking. Sure I still have at least three months until my first application is due (January 15), but I am still putting off revising my Statement of Purpose, contacting recommenders who might be valuable to me, and generally telling myself you have time. Last year I did the exact same thing and ended up accepted to a program, rejected from three, and ultimately not finding a good fit.

So my question for all you MFA-ers out there is: how do you deal with procrastination? Our profession is so self-driven, what motivates you on a day-to-day basis? Any tips and tricks for a highly passionate but very procrastinating fellow writer?

KC Trommer Joins the MFA Blog

Thanks to Tom and my fellow bloggers for the opportunity to join the discussion about all things MFA. You can find my bio below, but I'm most interested in hearing from you.

KC Trommer’s poems have appeared in AGNI, The Antioch Review, Coconut, MARGIE, Octopus, Poetry East, The Sycamore Review, and other journals. A graduate of the MFA program at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, KC has been the recipient of an Academy of American Poets prize, as well as fellowships from the Maine Summer Arts Program, the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, the Vermont Studio Center, and the Prague Summer Program. Her sound and video work can be accessed via www.kctrommer.com. She lives in New York with her husband, the writer Justin Courter.

Adam Atkinson: Another New MFA Blog Contributor!

Greetings all!

First, thanks to the bigwigs at MFA Blog for inviting me and the other new contributors to participate. I really look forward to exchanging info and opinions, MFA-related or more broadly literary, with as many of you as possible!

I used this blog from summer 2009 to spring 2010 for a multitude of reasons that I'm sure a lot of you know well: researching programs, navigating outdated websites, searching for funding, nailing down the details of application requirements, and sharing news (and hearsay) of notifications. Perhaps the best thing about MFA Blog was the community. Yes, there were Negative Nelsons here and there, but there was also phillywriter, who cheered me on (and I her) as we awaited the verdict of our wait list status at LSU. Now, she's my friend and colleague at the program here in Baton Rouge, and we both still reminisce about the online friends we made here at the blog. And of course, there remain a multitude of positive, helpful, humorous voices like phillywriter--I hope I can be one of them for you!

Before I left Pittsburgh for LSU, I spent five years between school keeping myself very busy: teaching writing and theory at a high school for the arts, starting a regional literary & arts non-profit with a small press component, and founding Pittsburgh's small press festival, which just completed its second annual installment! I somehow managed to write a few poems in that time, and there's one online if you're interested. The transition away from all of this Pittsburgh activity has been difficult, but I'm still keeping myself busy with the rigorous program at LSU, a new small press venture and, of course, blogging here!

I won't post any specific topic this time, but instead I'll tell you a few things I think I can speak to fairly well: getting a literary initiative going in your local community; applying for residencies and grants; applying to schools when you have a bad undergraduate GPA; the prospect of going long-distance with your relationship; being openly gay at a large southern university; and facing down the dreaded strikeout, which nearly happened to me and which I'd already come to accept by the time LSU suddenly yanked me off the waiting list.

Ask away!

Sequoia Nagamatsu (aka Wandering Tree), MFA Blog Contributor

First off, thank you to Tom for inviting me to contribute to the blog. My name is Sequoia Nagamatsu but some of you might know me as Wandering Tree.

A few fun facts about me:

I'm originally from Hawaii and the San Francisco Bay Area and was educated at Grinnell College in Iowa where I received a degree in anthropology. After working a variety of jobs including large-scale event planning, teaching English abroad, giving historical city tours on refurbished WWII amphibious landing craft, and working at a mid-sized PR firm, I decided to apply to MFA programs. I'm currently writing to you from my office in Carbondale, Illinois where I'm pursuing an MFA (in fiction) at Southern Illinois University's three-year, fully funded program.

You can find out more about me (plus a sample statement of purpose) on my blog where I'll also be periodically posting MFA related things (SIUC and otherwise). I know a lot of folks at other programs, and I've done quite a bit of research on what's out there over the past two years (even for post-MFA avenues), so if anyone has questions, please feel free to ask. I look forward to helping out in any way I can.

SequoiaNagamatsu.com

Jess Joins the MFA Blog

Hello everyone! Thank you to Tom and everyone on the blog for inviting me to contribute. My name is Jess and I am in the middle of applying to what feels like a million MFA programs but is, in reality, about six.

A little about me: I graduated from the George Washington University in 2006 and feel like my writing has changed drastically since then. As a student, I was constantly writing and receiving feedback. Because I studied Journalism and Creative Writing, there was always something new to write about, discover, improve upon. I did not realize that the "real world" would be devoid of that glorious writer's merry-go-round.

So last year, I saved up some money and headed out to a summer workshop on "Beginning Your Novel" at the University of Iowa. It was amazing to be back in the workshop format, surrounded by people who wanted the same things I wanted, had read all the books I'd read. As I currently live in Washington, DC, conversation usually tends toward Tea Party candidates and the ever-increasing Metro fare rather than form, foils, and great first pages.

As soon as I got back to DC, I began looking into MFA programs. I've heard that they matter, they don't matter, they help, they put you in debt, and on and on. But all I know is that I feel out of the only loop I've ever felt comfortable in, and I want to rejoin it before it gets "too late" (which my mother swears never really happens, but I do not believe her).

So, to recap this little All-About-Jess-And-Her-Potential-MFA: I'm 26, living in DC and teaching yoga. I used to work as an editorial assistant for a publishing company but left to teach yoga full time when I felt like I was fixing the printer more than reading manuscripts. Now, after a quick stint in Iowa, I'm determined to throw myself back into the writing world.

I really look forward to getting advice from those who are already in an MFA program and commiserating with those of you in the middle of the application process with me. Who knows? Maybe we'll be classmates next fall.

Improving the MFA . . .

For the past few months, I have been reaching out to poets from both inside and outside the MFA to discuss the merits and drawbacks of the current MFA system and to consider how it can be bettered.

As a holder of the degree, it would be nice to lift the English Masters Lite stigma. I am wondering what those of you who attend or teach in an MFA think might improve your program. For those looking at programs, how closely have you considered the curricular requirements of the programs to which you're applying? What criteria are you using?

I'm most interested in pedagogical questions. As a poet and visual artist who also works with sound, I wanted more interdisciplinary opportunities. I also hankered for a more demanding academic program that considered the history of poetry and asked poets to have a firm grasp on prosody.

What do you think would make for an ideal program? If your experiences were generally positive, to what do you attribute that success? If you didn't feel that the degree benefited you as a writer, what do you think could have been done differently?

Profile on Kevin R. Elder

I am incredibly excited to be joining the community here at MFA Blog. I have been trolling and enjoying the posts from afar for a while, and am looking forward to finally contributing to the discussion. I have been working professionally with a non-profit theatre company for several years (Tricklock Company), but just recently started the MFA program in Dramatic Writing at The University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. I am still adjusting to being back in academia after almost 8 long years, and feel like I still have a lot to learn from this side of the desk. A more lengthy Bio is below.

Kevin R. Elder is the Co-Artistic Director of Tricklock Company and has been a Resident Artist with the company since 2003. Elder became extremely dedicated to the creation of new work in 1999 upon completion of his first original work Tiny Caravans. Since then, Elder has been a part of creating more than a dozen highly acclaimed original works which include, The Glorious and Bloodthirsty Billy The Kid, as well as Love and Beauty, Knit, Black River Falling (Alibi’s Best Performance 2007), Catgut Strung Violin (Outstanding Original Work, Ottawa Fringe, Alibi’s Best Performance 2009) and most recently he directed/co-created a collaboration with Teatr Figur Krakow of Poland, Nasze Miasto/Our City. Elder’s original work has been seen in Albuquerque, Dayton, Chicago, New York City, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Canada, Germany, Poland, Scotland, and Serbia.

Elder has taken master classes and/or trained extensively with Sir Ben Kingsly, Master Mime Moni Yakim, Daniel Stein of Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre, Second City’s Pajama Men, Gardzienice Theatre of Poland, Kathleen Weiss of the University of Alberta, and Karen Hines, the critically acclaimed director of Canadian clown duo Mump and Smoot.

Elder has taught classes and workshops nationally and internationally. He is currently an instructor of Tricklock Company’s Ensemble Incubator class, and has in the past taught Entering the profession at The University of New Mexico for the past several years. Elder is also one of the founders of Tricklock Company’s Manoa Project: Teen playwriting and Ensemble Apprenticeship Program, where he has trained high school theatre students from all over New Mexico, for the past 8 years.

Kevin R. Elder currently resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he is enrolled as an MFA student in Dramatic Writing at the University of New Mexico.

Sheila Lamb, MFA Blog Contributor

Hi all -



I'm looking forward to contributing to the MFA Blog! I'll be starting the Queens University of Charlotte MFA program in January. A stack of books to be read by then are staring at me right now.  I'm excited to be taking this leap to an MFA after many months of internal debate. Did I need an MFA? (maybe). Will an MFA help me get published? (not necessarily). Will it help my writing? (yes).

I hope to share my experiences as a new student in a low-residency program, as well as my perspectives from a historical fiction background, as I merge into the contemporary literature world. Even more, I look forward to hearing about all of your experiences in the MFA process!

Profile of Tom Kealey

Hi All. Here's a profile about me and my teaching in the Stanford Daily. The photograph is a rare capture of my students paying attention to me. :) -- Tom

If you walked into Meyer 220 on a Tuesday night this quarter, you would see students writing together and critiquing each other, each trying to complete a 50,000-word novel in just one month. This room is the home of two experimental creative writing classes at Stanford: “NaNoWriMo,” short for “National Novel Writing Month,” and “The Graphic Novel.” The force behind both of these classes is creative writing lecturer Tom Kealey.

Often, writing is perceived as a solitary endeavor, but Kealey encourages his students to work collaboratively, and his classes reflect this approach.

“The idea of collaborative writing is really crucial,” Kealey said. “In most classes we’re taught the ‘lone genius’ concept.”

Instead, he likes to see teamwork taught in writing as much as independence.

“It’s difficult sometimes to write in a vacuum,” Kealey added. “And for students to bounce ideas off of each other, to give suggestions, it’s an amazing thing to see.”

For November, which is National Novel Writing Month, creative writing lecturer Scott Hutchins floated the idea for a class where students write 1,667 words a day for each of the 30 days of November. The goal is 50,000 words (about the length of Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises”) by the end of the month.

Contributors to the MFA Blog

Hi All.

We're searching for some new contributors to the MFA Blog. Basically, we're looking for anyone involved in the MFA world (student, teacher, editor etc.) who would like to post new links, discussions and the like a few times a month.

Basically, just send me an email at tom.kealey at gmail.com with a few sentences about your interest and experience. If things look good, we'll set you up with access!

Thanks in advance for helping to make the MFA blog a continued happening and important space for prospective students.

-- Tom Kealey

Graphic Novel and the MFA

Here's a question from a visitor to the blog:

The MFA in comics in vermont sounds awesome and I'm glad it exists - but I think I'd be looking for more of a a classic MFA program that has an option to learn about or pursue graphic novel writing. And maybe the option to work on a thesis in that genre. My main motivation for pursuing an MFA is that I want to teach, and I'm afraid that an MFA in comics just wouldn't make me as marketable in that regard. Maybe its unfair of me to say that, but it seems like a valid concern in the academic world. They also don't offer TAships or funding, which are two really important (the most important) factors for me.

The program itself sounds like a dream for someone with my interests and skill level- I could use all those drawing classes! - but I'm worried about the practicality. If you or anyone you know has any suggestions for programs based on my criteria, let me know! Weirdly enough I've found programs in the UK that offer graphic novel courses (modules, they call it) inside of more traditional MFAs - but I haven't found any in America, besides maybe the Houston program you suggested. Brown seems so liberal and into multimedia stuff that I'm sure they would support a writer interested in this kind of work - although I don't know if they have anyone on the faculty interested or able to offer mentorship in that area. Do you know anything about their program? I think the key is just knowing faculty members in certain programs that have knowledge of this genre - but none of my graphic novel heroes seem to teach in academia :(

Maybe post this - and we'll see if anyone has suggestions/knowledge?

Workshop for NYC-based Writers!

I thought the NYC-based amongst you might want to know about a workshop I am running, which starts next Tuesday, October 12. I just had someone pull out at the last minute, so I have one spot open. The workshop is a great place to hone your MFA manuscript! There's a pretty high standard -- the group includes one MFA grad and two agented writers. Check out my website for more info, and if you are interested, shoot me an email with any questions!

Mailbag (Oct. 7)

The application season is heating up...where are you all at, with your applications? Lists finalized? Recommendations requested? GREs taken? Manuscript revised?

Give us your process updates, plus the usual back and forth, below.