0 Answering the Most Frequently Asked Questions

Almost November... must be "Freak Out About MFA Applications Time"!But don't worry, we've addressed many of the most frequently asked questions below. And of course Sally Jane, Nancy, and many others will answer any new questions in the latest mailbag. Hang in there!-- Tom Kealey1. If you can afford it, apply to between 8 and 12 programs. The selection process is unpredictable. Keep your options open.2. When considering programs (and this is my advice, and not often the same advice of many other people): Consider location, funding, and teaching experience, in that order. Make a list of places where you'd like to live and where you could stand...

0 Mailbag - October 28, 2012

Looking at the mountain of apps and wondering how to begin?  Editing your writing sample and feeling anxious?  Killing time before Hurricane Sandy cuts your power?  Then post your questions, concerns, and advice right he...

0 In Case You Were Wondering What NOT To Do....

For a few good laughs: http://www.tinhouse.com/blog/17985/how-to-apply-to-an-mfa-program.h...

0 Residencies – A Step towards the MFA? An Alternative?

Over the summer I was fortunate enough to be offered a residency at betterArts in the North Country of New York.  Besides swimming in the crystal clear lakes and eating veggies fresh from the organic garden, the residency also gave me the time and space to do a lot of much-needed writing free from the demands of my “real” life.  I loved every second of it.  And it also got me thinking about writing residencies as a concept – I already have a MFA, and I work at a writers conference, so why is applying for and receiving a residency important?  And is it important/interesting to everybody?For those of you applying to MFA programs...

0 Mailbag, Friday Sept. 7, 2012

Keep the questions, support, rants, vents, and ideas comi...

0 Preparing Your Manuscript

Here are my questions: what do you do to prepare your manuscript for your applications? Do you workshop? Exchange work with a few trusted friends? Revise quietly, alone? Pray?What do you consider ethical, or unethical, when it comes to getting help? There has been a lot of debate over the last few years about fee-based services and freelance editors (and, full disclosure, I am a freelance editor). Where do you stand on the issue? Have you used such services? Would you consider it? Why, or why n...

0 Mailbag, August 15, 2012

Here's a space for questions, concerns, ideas, freak-outs, support, encouragement, etc, etc. This mailbag isn't quite as frenetic as the Facebook MFA Draft 2013 page, where posts can often get lost. So feel free to dig in, share, and let other applicants know: the MFA blog is BA...

0 Low-Residency Experience: Writing to the Finish

I have one semester left in my low-residency program at Queen's University of Charlotte. I am overwhelmed by:How quickly time has passed. How much writing I've done in the past year and a half. How much more writing I will be doing in my final semester. How much revision I have to do this summer on my thesis.How absolutely this was the best decision I've ever made.The third residency/semester, which began in January for me, pushed my writing. Not only was I submitting new work to our workshop, but I began to seriously revise an old piece or two. Not just glance through, or make some quick changes based on recent critiques, but...

0 If I Had Known Then What I Know Now....

April 15th has come and gone, and hopefully all of you are starting to make your plans for next year, whatever and wherever that may be. As you are taking what feels like your first deep breath in months, I'd like you to reflect on your application process. Are there things you wish you had done differently? Something you should have known but didn't? Any advice to pass on to next year's application pool? Please post your comments below. And good luck to everyo...

0 Camp for Writers (2012)

*Just in case you were in the mood to fill out MORE applications (at least it will be a distraction from checking your email umpteen times a day), I thought I would re-post my blog on summer writers conferences. Enjoy!*Trust me, no one loves the solitude of writing more than I do. I crave small, dark rooms. I relish working alone and in silence. If it were possible to write in a vacuum, I would. But I know, and we all know, that we can't. We need other people, not only to read our writing, but to critique it, massage it, cajol it, and sometimes even like it. So we join writers' groups, or apply to MFA programs, or apply to writers conferences,...

0 Where Are You Applying? Part 6

Three more weeks until April 15...

0 Where Are You Applying? Part 5

Are we in the home stretch yet? Hang in there, fol...

0 Where Are You Applying? Part 4

And the posts just keep on coming! As usual, use this thread to post your lists of applications, acceptances, rejections, and waitlists. Fingers crossed for all of y...

0 Where Are You Applying? Part 3

The previous "Where Are You Applying?" and "Where Are You Applying?" Part 2 are up over 200 comments now, so I'm starting another one to keep it reasonable. Please post where you are applying, which program (fiction, poetry, CNF, etc.) and if you've heard anything back yet (acceptances, rejections, waitlists, et...

0 Where Are You Applying? Part 2

The previous "Where Are You Applying?" post is up over 200 comments now, so I'm starting another one to keep it reasonable. Please post where you are applying, which program (fiction, poetry, CNF, etc.) and if you've heard anything back yet (acceptances, rejections, waitlists, et...

0 Mailbag (2.14.12)

Feel free to post questions/pertinent information here. Happy Valentine's D...

0 Southampton Writers Conference

Southampton Arts, Summer 2012Session I: July 11 – 15Session II: July 18 – 29Creative WritingVisual ArtsTheatreFilm Our Distinguished Faculty and Lecturers include: Roger Rosenblatt, Melissa Bank, Emma Walton Hamilton, Stephen Hamilton, Ursula Hegi, Matt Klam, Jules Feiffer, Meg Wolitzer, Nick Mangano, Marsha Norman, Annette Handley Chandler, Robert Reeves, Lou Ann Walker, Julie Sheehan, Billy Collins, Scott Sandell, Donald Sultan, Steve Miller, Christina Lazaridi, Eric Fischl, Keith Sonnier, Frank Pugliese, Paton Miller, Paul Chojnowski, Daniel DeSimone, Angela Scott, Kathryn Markel, Mitchell Kriegmann, Jon Robin Baitz, Jay McInerney, Mary...

0 Another Response to Shivani

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....

0 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, et...

0 Mailbag (1.17.12)

Feel free to post questions/pertinent information he...