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MFA/MFYou
THE MFA EXPERIENCE:
Eric Mckinley (Fiction) shares his experiences as an MFA Writer: My MFA experience on balance has been a good one. It’s been pretty atypical in that I’ve gone part-time. My program allows for that and I take one class per semester. That said, I’ve gotten from it what I wanted. I wanted to be more focused on and intentional with my craft. I’ve done that. I’ve had opportunities to teach. And, I wanted to join a real writing community. Check. Other than it not being free and sometimes (a lot of times) being sick of sitting in a classroom, it’s been all good. Also, as a writer, I know myself. I would not submit as much as I do were I not in a formal program. I’ve always written, and I submitted here and there before entering Rosemont, but the program gives me a certain level of accountability. Publishing is a priority for me, so this is a good thing. For folks who have a similar perspective, an MFA can work. Although, some days I feel like I could’ve gotten just as much by force feeding myself classic lit and locking myself in an empty room with a pen and a notebook. Anyway, it’s too late now. I’m almost done. And, they’ve cashed my checks. Gale Acuff (Poetry) shares his experiences as an MFA Writer: When as an undergraduate I was studying literature it occurred to me to imitate what I was studying, so I began my Creative career by writing some very bad metaphysical poetry. The more I read, however, the less imitative I became, and I soon found my voice, and voice has its way of giving form to formless thinking--if not form, then direction. In brief, I abandoned one critical doctoral dissertation (on Percy Shelley) to attend another university and pursue a Creative one. I suppose that I could have been writing literary criticism and poetry, but I often felt that I had to choose one or the other for the sake of academic specialization. In any event, I wrote a Creative dissertation--a book of poems--which became my first book, and then two more books of poetry, and continued to write and submit poems along the way. I think that being able to discuss literature as well as to to create something literary is an advantage to an English teacher--it's a bit like being an insider, or at least I have an empathy or a confidence (there's an ambiguity in this word) which I wouldn't have acquired otherwise. The trick is not to feel at cross-purposes.
THE MFYOU EXPERIENCE:
Caleb Stright (Fiction) shares his experiences as an MFYou Writer:
Although my undergraduate experience was very rewarding and may have shaped my life more than anything else, it, needless to say, was very academic. After four years I needed to be doing something where I was creating something and producing something every day, something I could hold in my hands. Journalism was the perfect route. I work in language every day, get an opportunity to experiment; each day I get feedback after thousands of people have read what I've written; and each morning I can hold what I've produced the day before.
On top of it, the stories come to me. The bulk of my writing is inspired and defined by the stories and the people we cover. The Rust Belt is a relatively untapped mine, and as governments, communities, companies and families struggle to dig themselves out of the abscess of industrial fallout, it is a constant source of conflict.
John Grey (Poetry) shares his experiences as an MFYou Writer:
I came to this country in the late seventies, with no family to fall back on, and not a whole lot of money in my pocket. While everyone else was rushing off to college, I had to find a job or starve. Thus I was thrust immediately into the grind of a job (third shift of all places) while writing what I could when I could. Miraculously, my writing was able to prosper without University influences.
No question, the whole MFA thing is quite pervasive. I've been published in more than one magazine where everyone but me in the issue is teaching creative writing someplace. I, on the other hand, continue to work (an 8 to 5 job these days) and still manage to write.
