The Scrawl

When we first began the Monday prompts, we announced they would continue through the remainder of 2007. Nine weeks later, we’re pleased to say you can plan on continuing to receive a fresh Monday prompt every week in 2008.

Your Monday Prompt:

Write your own unique take on either the beginning of the world OR the end of the world. Decide which direction appeals to you most, and let tone guide where the story goes. Give this exercise fifteen minutes of your time.

Write it up and see what happens.

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Welcome to part VIII of our “Applying to a Creative Writing MFA program” series. Yesterday, we tried to find ways to make our time productive as we play the waiting game. Today, we examine how to choose the MFA program we want.

If you play your cards right, you’re going to end up being the one who gets to choose a program, instead of the other way around. Cast your net wide enough and you’re bound to catch a few fish.

And the odds are already stacked in your favor, as you control two choices in the matter while programs only have one choice. When you research programs, you’re factoring in positives and not-so-positives of each school until you whittle the list down to something that excites you. You finally apply (choose) to ten programs. Let’s say of those ten, at least four accept you’re application. Now the ball is back in your court, and you get to choose your own adventure.

A program is going to weigh your merits both in terms of how you stand alone and how you stand against other candidates. You should do the same when you get word back from programs interested in you. Decide what your most important factors are – is it cost? Location? Program content? All of the above (and then some)? For me, cost wasn’t a deciding factor because I knew I’d have to spend money to make money, but I knew which locations appealed to me and which weren’t on my radar screen, and I also found myself becoming much more interested in programs that supported screenwriting than those that didn’t.

It’s the same with getting an agent, by the way, if you’re at that stage already; many young writers are just so excited to get an agent they don’t realize they could potentially be picking from a crop of agents who want aboard the money train, if only they play their cards right (and that means research).

Today’s Action Item: Create a pro / con list!

List your top three grad school choices at the top of a sheet of paper, then draw lines so you have three separate columns. Now, separate the columns into two sections, one to list pros and one to list cons, for each grad school. Brainstorm as many pros and cons of attending those schools as you can. Think about the program concentrations, the costs, the city, if your favorite extra-curricular activity is available (I wanted an established improv community in the area), and so on. Give this exercise ten minutes of your time per school, and take a look at the results, side by side. Has anything changed your mind?

Tomorrow I write about my personal experience applying for and being accepted into a Creative Writing MFA program.

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[tags]mfa application, creative writing mfa, grad school application[/tags]

Welcome to part VII of our “Applying to a Creative Writing MFA program” series. Yesterday, we sent off our application(s). Today we make our time productive as we play the waiting game.

One reason you might have for entering an MFA program instead of writing on your own is to create formal structure around your writing. On your own, your writing schedule may or not be regiment, and your feedback may be limited. Soon, you’ll be writing under deadline and with both instructor and peer feedback coming your way. Right now is your opportunity to work out what sort of ideas you want to write in that environment.

If you haven’t been stockpiling story ideas, reading great books, and doing some honest-to-goodness writing, now is the time. Many workshops allow room for short stories and developing novels, though in my experience short stories are the more typical fare. Take the kind of fiction writing which challenges you and embrace it. If you don’t write short stories, try writing one. If you’ve only written shorter pieces, maybe it’s time to take a crack at your first novel. If you’ve only delved into the fiction world, give creative nonfiction a try. Examine the classes offered in some of the programs you applied to; see how varied your experience will be and write to those particular genres. For example, if you want to concentrate on fiction, does the program offer open-fiction classes for any content? Do they have a novel-writing class? A short-story-only class? Prepare yourself for particular classes.

The point is, you should be practicing, and right now, in the precious months leading up to your program, you can write whatever you want. You don’t have to worry if an instructor is limiting you to particular prompts, or if your classmates are sick to death of your vampires-in-space saga. You’re already moving forward in your life, so you might as well embrace it as you await the official word that some program out there has decided they’d like to see what happens when you take a new step forward in your life as a writer.

Today’s Action Item: Write, write, write!

If you’re waiting to hear where you’ll soon be studying writing, there’s no better way to spend your time than by writing. Begin a fresh project, draft an old favorite story gem gathering dust, try a writing prompt, create a new 100-word short story, just get some writing under your belt!

Tomorrow we examine how to choose the MFA program we want.

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[tags]mfa application, creative writing mfa, grad school application[/tags]

Welcome to part VI of our “Applying to a Creative Writing MFA program” series. Yesterday, we had a word on why visiting grad schools is worth your time, effort, and money. Today we send off our application(s)!

You’ve been drafting your personalized letter of intent, tweaking your resume and vita, plunking down cash for transcripts, and making the most-intricate database you’ve ever worked with, and now it’s all about to pay off. Finally sending is your moment to breathe in your accomplishment, because you have accomplished something. You’ve chosen to do something new with your life, and spending a few hundred bucks on application fees and materials makes it all the more real. Take a moment and update your database to reflect the date you sent your materials; you should always track your correspondence send/receive dates, so you know if you’re being speedy (and which programs are, too).

We’ll keep it short today, because you should spend time on your application, not reading, but I will add this:

Triple check your application before sending it!

Make sure all of the correct materials are in the correct envelopes, addressed to the correct programs. If you send the wrong materials, or your application is incomplete, what obligation do they have to help you out? Sure, it would be nice, but they’re busy and they told you what they needed. If you can’t handle an application, do you think they want you in their program? You might as well apply for a trucking job without ever driven anything bigger than a Crown Vic.

Today’s Action Item: Send off your application!

Okay, so today’s action item figures on you having all of your ducks in a row by now. If you’re not at that point yet, it’s fine, but it’s time to look at which components of the application process are holding you back and go to work on them.

Tomorrow we make our time productive as we play the waiting game.

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[tags]mfa application, creative writing mfa, grad school application[/tags]

Welcome to part V of our “Applying to a Creative Writing MFA program” series. Yesterday, we examined strategies of building our reference pool. Today we have a word on why visiting grad schools is worth your time, effort, and money.

It’s probably been a while since the college visits you took during high school, and those were just to get excused days away from the daily grind of seven-period classroom days. If you’re balking at the cost of college visits, let me say it right now:

Visiting MFA programs before you “buy” is worth your time and money.

You’re going to learn things about the program, the campus, and the city you’d never learn on a website. I spent January of 2005 jet-setting the nation. I visited seven schools, applied for four of them, and applied to two others. That meant a trip to San Francisco and Miami/Fort Lauderdale. I don’t understand folks who can buy a car on eBay without test driving it, and I need to “feel” a college if I’m going to wander it’s hallowed halls for the next three years. I just wasn’t excited about the two colleges I applied to but didn’t visit. And of the colleges I visited, I flat-out hated two of them. One in Fort Lauderdale had open-air hallways in their English building. Meaning, instead of air-conditioned corridors or utilizing the recent invention of walls, the entire hallway system was open to the outdoors for any bird, lizard, or hurricane that felt like flying, leaping, or pummeling it’s way in to do so with great ease. Plus, it was hot, and that’s in January. Those aren’t details I’d have picked up on their website!

I also had a great time visiting the cities. I found I enjoyed Fort Lauderdale, but not the programs / campuses. I fell in love with San Francisco and a program and it became my top choice for a while. Knowing what you want out of the city and exploring it will help you decide if you can live while you study. After all, life isn’t only book learnin’ – there’s the development of street smarts to consider. Speaking of smart, let me tell you right now…

Skip the admissions tour.

Of all the campus tours I took, not one made me want to attend the program. In fact, one tour guide was so disinterested in walking me and my friend around I felt like a burden. At another, all the information they had was for potential undergrads, not grad students; they kept apologizing in their presentation whenever it covered an aspect of being an undergrad only.

Tour the campus on your own. Do contact or stop by admissions for general literature about the campus, but that’s all you need. I love admissions, I’ve worked with admissions and they’re great for potential undergraduate students, but they seldom have what an MFA candidate is looking for. Your best bet is to…

Make a visit with the English Department a priority.

Email and websites only go so far. There’s something about personal, one-on-one contact which can help put you on the mind-map of English personnel. Of the programs I visited, I spoke directly with the head of the program at three, and someone involved in the program at another two. I struck out at a couple because I visited campus over winter break. One program, University of San Francisco, even had three informational meetings to attend, and each had over one-hundred potential students – all for approximately fifteen MFA candidate slots. It was a fascinating session, but it put a lot into perspective for me.

I spoke with the head of the program I’m currently enrolled in over email, then in-person during a summer visit back to Minnesota in 2004. It may be no coincidence that the program I pursued earliest is the one I chose, but if you know how to sell yourself in-person as well as you do on-paper, a campus visit is the way to go.

Today’s Action Item: Set up your campus visit!

You should already have at least one grad school in mind by now, so get cracking and knock on their door. Send an email to Admissions, the English department, and the head of the MFA program telling them you want to visit. Response time will vary because most colleges are on winter break, but someone will get back to you soon (Admissions will likely be first).

Tomorrow we send off our applications!

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[tags]mfa application, creative writing mfa, grad school application, visit grad school, campus visit[/tags]

Welcome to part IV of our “Applying to a Creative Writing MFA program” series. Yesterday, we looked at the importance of organizing the application process to save our sanity. Today we examine strategies of building our reference pool.

They say it’s all who you know, and the reference process is no different. Even in an unofficial capacity, you’ve been networking all your life, and now it’s time to figure out who you feel you could ask to represent you with confidence. Consider that…

References and letters of recommendation = NETWORKING.

You should have been doing this all your life, especially during college. You need professors and professionals willing, nay wanting, to write glowing reviews on your behalf. Look back on your college career and determine which professors you shared a friendly rapport with while maintaining good academic standing. This combination is the key – someone who knows you’re a good student but doesn’t know you personally will write a stiff letter, and someone who knows you well but saw you struggle as a student will have a difficult time writing a proper letter.

For my letters, I reached into the way back machine for a screenwriting instructor from my undergrad days and a fiction/nonfiction writing professor I was working with as a non-degree seeking grad student. They were both helpful and happy to oblige, provided I…

Give your references TIME!

Never forget, your references, particularly those writing letters on your behalf, are doing you a favor. They have busy lives and as much as they like you, there’s no reason for them to drop everything and write you a letter and mail it off all in an hour just because you didn’t talk to them until the day before it’s due. That’s unprofessional and doesn’t instill confidence in those who should already be nicely confident in you.

Letters of recommendation could, in fact, be your first step in this process. That magic window between Thanksgiving and winter break is a good time to ask for letters. Some people will prefer giving you the letter to look over first, while others will want to give it to you sealed or send it directly to the program. Follow their protocol, not your preference. Whatever they finally write, you do have potential to…

Tell your references what you’d like them to highlight about you.

Your references know you want them to speak highly of you, but what they may not know is you have a varied pool of references to cover varied aspects of who you are. Ask one to speak of your writing or interest in pursuing the craft, one to speak of your classroom behavior, etc. There’s nothing wrong with doubling up here and there, but this is one way to get all of your bases covered.

On my resume reference page, I have a brief sentence for each reference saying what I feel they could explain about me. For example, some of my references have seen me teach, some haven’t. That’s why writing “Diana can speak to my teaching skills, writing skills, and text analysis skills” and “Keith can speak to my professional supervision, student interaction, and management skills” will save the program time and my references unintended bafflement.

Today’s Action Item: Draft an email to a potential reference!

Draft an email until you’re satisfied with it. Mention why you’re applying for an MFA and tell them why you think they’d be an excellent reference for you (they’ve seen you in the classroom, they know your writing, etc.). If you haven’t seen them in a while, remind them how they know you. Work on this until it’s right; t’s all about creating a correspondence that’s both personal and professional. When you think it’s ready, send it off! Yes, it’s Christmas, but only hard workers interested in their education and development as a writer would send a reference request on Christmas!

Tomorrow we’ll have a word on why visiting grad schools is worth your time, effort, and money.

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[tags]mfa application, creative writing mfa, grad school application, letter of recommendation[/tags]

Write about a special day in a character’s childhood in which either everything that can go right goes right OR everything that can go wrong goes wrong. Don’t worry about being “realistic.” The object is to heighten the story and not let up. Give this exercise fifteen minutes of your time.

Write it up and see what happens.

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Welcome to part III of our “Applying to a Creative Writing MFA program” series. Yesterday, we looked at steps we can take to prepare ourselves for a write-every-day / ready-every-day MFA lifestyle. Today we look at the importance of organizing the application process to save our sanity.

Every MFA program has a slightly different application process. It’s easy to get tripped up here. Some want letters of recommendation, others only want references. Some want official transcripts, others let unofficial transcripts slide. Some have an entirely online process, others only accept applications through the mail. A smart candidate will want to compare schools, while having submission information handy. I recommend you be easy on yourself and…

Create a program database.

I’m not an MS Excel expert, so I made a table in MS Word listing the following:

If this seems like overkill, then don’t do it. Keep track of your proposed life changes in your head. I’m sure it will work out fine. My snarky point, similar to my point yesterday about investing time and money in the application process , is if you’re not willing to do the work necessary to apply for an MFA program, what makes you think you’ll succeed in an MFA program?

Besides organizing your digital materials, you’ll need to…

Create files for paper materials.

I’ve yet to run into an MFA application process which is 100% digital, so be prepared to make your mailing process as smooth as possible. Your files should contain ten copies of each of the following:

Welcome to part II of our “Applying to a Creative Writing MFA program” series. Yesterday, we asked ourselves the tough questions about whether or not we feel we’re ready for an MFA. Today we have three goal-orientated ways to prepare yourself for a two- or three-year lifestyle of late nights writing like mad and reading like crazy:

Take a writing class to get your feet wet.

I’d been out of college four full semesters by the time I started thinking about going back for my grad degree. It had been just as long since I took a writing workshop, let alone since I was writing regularly. I spent the 2004 fall semester commuting from Cheyenne to the University of Wyoming forty-five minutes away in Laramie every Tuesday night for a fiction/nonfiction writing workshop.

This helped me remember what it’s like to write under deadline, how to give helpful oral and written comments on peer work, how to receive criticism, read and analyze novels academically, give writing prompts a try, and network with other writers. I’d done all of this before, but it had been a while, and it was high-time I exercised those writing, social, and academic muscles once again.

Cost-wise, I was lucky; I worked at a community college with a reciprocal discount tuition plan for employees. Between an application fee and reduced tuition, I ended up with three transferable grad school credits for around $55. I applied directly to the grad school office as a non-degree seeking grad student so they knew how I wanted the credits to fit on a transcript, and I recommend you take the same route.

Take writing workshops whenever you can.

Get a workshop group together. Scour the paper or online for a workshop in your area. Attend a writer’s conference. Any organized excuse to write is an excuse you should run up to and bear hug.

Again, I lucked out at the community college where I worked, this time twice. The new theater instructor brought out one of her fellow MA classmates, Clay McCleod Chapman, for a workshop and reading / performance. Next, some grant money afforded us poet Robert Bly to travel out to Wyoming for a writing workshop, a reading, and a dinner party. In the course of one year, I learned from two writers, one young and just entering the publishing world, and one experienced and revered, in positive workshop settings. You can’t go wrong with that one-two combo.

Write every day.

This should be a no-brainer, but if this suggestion surprised you let me posit you may not be ready for an MFA. I spent two of my three years in-between my undergrad and grad degrees writing and directing eight plays. That means I was writing steadily and under deadline, and always with an audience in mind; I believe being able to put this active writing lifestyle in my letter of intent helped get me into a program. If you’re not writing every day, just forget it.

Today’s Action Item: Register for a class!

Go online and research writing workshops and literary analysis classes at colleges in your area. Seek a class which sounds interesting, fits your schedule, is affordable, and register for it! Perhaps take time to email the instructor or speak with an on-campus adviser about the class.

Tomorrow we organize your application process.

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[tags]mfa application, creative writing mfa, grad school application, writing class, write every day[/tags]

Welcome to part I of our “Applying to a Creative Writing MFA program” series. Today we ask ourselves the tough questions about whether or not we feel we’re ready for an MFA.

There are many reasons to pursue an MFA. Perhaps you want to teach English writing and/or literature. Maybe you’re looking to break into the writing biz with the proverbial Great American Novel. Or it might just be you want to improve your writing and reading abilities. The reason is wholly unique to each individual and so long as you know why you want an MFA, no one can judge you for your reasons. Yet if one is to fulfill their MFA dreams, what realities must they first confront? Here’s a list of what to consider before you jump into the MFA application process:

Applying to MFA programs will cost you time and money.

That’s just the way it is. Consider your expenses:

Even if I eliminate my travel expenses, I spent close to $600 on the rest. Remember, you’re investing time and money to set up the next two or three years of your life. You wouldn’t buy a house without putting in the time and effort to do the research, would you? Okay, bad example…

Not only does the application process cost money, but…

The MFA isn’t free.

If you have a trust fund, my hats off to you and your dreams.

For the rest of us, there are options, some better than others. Some MFA programs have lucrative assistantships which pay for tuition, some fees, and provides a stipend; this is the case with my program where I get to teach intro-level composition and creative writing to pay my way through school and get some grocery money on the side.

This seems to be the exception to the rule. Some grad assistantships only cover tuition, while programs simply have no assistantships whatsoever (what’s your deal, Hamline?!). That leaves financial aid, if you’re into paying off loans, or balancing grad school with a full-time job. If you’re a “full plate” kind of person like me, you’ll have a grad assistantship, plus loans and a part-time job. It keeps me busy, it keeps me frustrated, but like other less-than-ideal life situations, one finds ways to make it work.

If you’re going to put in a lot of hard work and cold cash, you’d better ask yourself…

How will an MFA better who I am?

Your reason(s) for pursuing the degree are one thing, the realities of what you’ll leave with may be entirely different. You may find you’re not that great of a writer, or dread teaching, or lost interest and lack passion for the material. Is this a lesson you’re willing to learn by spending hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars? This, of course, is a worse-case scenario, but let’s face it – not everyone goes on to get their graduate degree, and not everyone survives a regimented grad program. This is about facing facts about who you are, how you stick to things, and if you can commit to your craft, your education, and a new lifestyle.

These aren’t easy things to think about, but if you’re not honest with yourself at the beginning of the process, something tells me you might be in for a bumpy ride.

Today’s Action Item: Make a Plan!

Today is a day for dreaming a little. Write about why you want an MFA in Creative Writing. What do you want to get out of it? How will you pay for it? What’s the alternative to grad school? What if you put it off for a year? Two years? Where will you live? Who else is affected by this decision. Give this exercise at least thirty minutes of your time. Set it aside and come back to it later tonight to read it. If things look positive, and honest, maybe it’s time. If things don’t look quite so positive, but you still have interest, decide what needs to change. Remember, this is your life we’re talking about here!

Tomorrow we take three steps toward preparing ourselves for the MFA lifestyle.

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[tags]mfa application, creative writing mfa, grad school application[/tags]