Ashley and Damien Cowger are married amateur writers trying to find their place in the great big scary publishing world. Both are taking different paths to reach the fabled book deal; Ashley is currently enrolled in an MFA creative writing program while Damien got a “real” job after college and has been writing in his down time ever since.

So what’s the difference between these two separate paths? What do you gain from an MFA program and what do you gain from doing it on your own? That’s what we hope to find out, and document, on this website. Watch our careers unfold before your eyes, check out our blogs to find out our views on writing, life, and everything in between, and read our online journal, where we attempt to answer the same question again and again: just what is the difference between MFA and non-MFA writing?

Some benefits of MFA life:

• Network with other writers (both your peers and your teachers)
• Learn more concrete information on the publishing industry
• Find out what sort of writing your fellow new writers are doing
• Be sheltered in a nurturing environment where you’re expected to focus on honing your writing skills
• Receive both feedback and encouragement on your writing
• Gain experience working on a literary journal (in most cases)
• Gain experience teaching writing – and learn a lot about how to write by talking about these things explicitly with your students

Some benefits of MFYou life:

• Not having to spend time studying and planning lessons, which essentially uses the same brain faculties you need to write
• Be more immersed in the “real world” and not surrounded mostly by other writers and scholars (more diverse experiences = more diverse writing material)
• Not have your writing steered towards workshop clichés and instead be more allowed to explore writing however you want to write
• Not be in a competitive environment where people tend to believe that however they write is the best way to write
• Have more freedom to explore writing that might not be encompassed in the “literary fiction” genre or that is more plot based (and more marketable!)