"I haven't been on SheWrites much lately. Been busy doing my own "thang" I suppose. I'm curious as to what my SheWrites friends are up to, writing-wise, though. Right now, I'm waiting to hear back from 2…"
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Carrie Ann Lahain commented on the blog post 'FIVE REASONS NOT TO GET AN MFA - REASON #5'
"Kerina, there's an MFA program out of the California College of the Arts that has a focus on cross-genre work...unusual but since they also deal with writing for films and television not totally unexpected. The down side is that they are…"
Michelle Haimoff commented on the blog post 'FIVE REASONS NOT TO GET AN MFA - REASON #5'
"Kerina, consider doing a week- or weekend-long summer workshop at Iowa Summer Writing Festival this summer. The teachers are phenomenal and capable of guiding writers through any genre. (Don't overthink it, just go!) Good luck to you! "
Kerina Pharr commented on the blog post 'FIVE REASONS NOT TO GET AN MFA - REASON #5'
"A great end to a great series, Michelle. It was really great to hear from someone who has weighed the pros and cons so thoroughly. I would love to focus on my writing for 2+ years in grad school but I have yet to find a program that is supportive of…"
Michelle Haimoff commented on the blog post 'Five Reasons Not to Get an MFA - Reason #3'
"Great point Stevie and Janet. Barbara I'm so happy to hear that you're finally investing in yourself and in your writing! Ren, I think you might like my novel, "These Days Are Ours." It's about 20-somethings trying to figure…"
Stevie Edwards commented on the blog post 'Five Reasons Not to Get an MFA - Reason #3'
"These sound more like good reasons not to go to an un-funded MFA. At Cornell, I'm getting paid to be a full-time writer for the first time in my life. I certainly don't think it's a good idea to go thousands of dollars in debt for a…"
Barbara L.W. Myers commented on the blog post 'Five Reasons Not to Get an MFA - Reason #3'
"I've been planning to take myself on a "Writer's Retreat" this spring in a nice, clean hotel ten minutes from my house--just as you suggested. I'm really looking forward to it, and the thought of how far I could go with…"
Janet McAdams commented on the blog post 'Five Reasons Not to Get an MFA - Reason #3'
"Michelle,
Although I agree with your overall premise (that for some/ many writers there are good reasons NOT to get an MFA), I do want to correct one thing. Very few people actually pay out of pocket for an MFA. I know/ have known hundreds…"
Ren M. Brock commented on the blog post 'Five Reasons Not to Get an MFA - Reason #3'
"Madeleine L'Engle actually talks a lot about treating your writing as a job, and how it's just as worthy of being called such as an accountant or doctor or astronaut. My mom in a way belittles writing, because she's a money-minded…"
Ren M. Brock commented on the blog post 'Five Reasons Not to Get an MFA - Reason #2'
"I actually talked about the people I have my fiction workshops with as strangers in the first post of this series. This is because I'm only at school two days out of the week, so that's as often as I see them. Plus, I'm not very…"
Ren M. Brock commented on the blog post 'Five Reasons Not to Get an MFA - Reason #1'
"This is one of the reasons why I changed my mind about the MFA program I applied for in December. I'm on the writing track as an English major at my university, and I'm starting to regret it. I wish I would've taken the general track…"
Stephanie Renée dos Santos liked Michelle Haimoff's blog post Five Reasons Not to Get an MFA - Reason #1
Michelle Haimoff commented on the blog post 'Five Reasons Not to Get an MFA - Reason #2'
"Great info Penny, and thanks Tina! "
Michelle Haimoff commented on the blog post 'Five Reasons Not to Get an MFA - Reason #3'
"Penny, that is so well said. Kate, thank you for sharing your story with other writers that may be in similar financial situations. Kattalina, it's true, sometimes you have to do what you have to do and worry about the consequences later. For…"
Michelle Haimoff commented on the blog post 'Five Reasons Not to Get an MFA - Reason #4'
"Roselle, I agree, there is no way around doing the necessary work, and in my experience the real leave-me-alone-I-need-to-finish-this work comes late in the process when the whole of the book becomes greater than the sum of its parts. Until then…"
Michelle Haimoff commented on the blog post 'FIVE REASONS NOT TO GET AN MFA - REASON #5'
"Kathy, Victoria and Kathy - thank you! I know that people extrapolate from their experiences, and if I had gotten an MFA I would probably be just as confident about getting one as I am now about not getting one. But I do know that publishing a…"
Profile Information
- Who I am:
- I'm a writer, blogger and feminist.
- Connect with me online! My site, blog, or Twitter handle are:
- www.MichelleHaimoff.com
www.TheseDaysAreOurs.com
www.genfem.com
- Books I've written, anthologies I've contributed to, and any scripts or plays I've authored:
- THESE DAYS ARE OURS (Grand Central Publishing February 2012)
THE NEW YORKER CARTOON CAPTION CONTEST BOOK (Andrews McMeel September 2008)
SECRET NEW YORK: EXPLORING THE CITY'S HIDDEN NEIGHBORHOODS (Interlink Books January 2008)
- Media outlets that I currently write for:
- I've written for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, PsychologyToday.com and The Huffington Post.
- My writing is:
- Fiction, Nonfiction, Journalism, Blog Posts
- Outlets where I review books, TV, or film:
- genfem.com
- Services I offer to other writers:
- I can generate ideas about anything.
- I found out about She Writes from:
- Jodie Evans
Michelle Haimoff's Blog
FIVE REASONS NOT TO GET AN MFA - REASON #5
Posted on March 2, 2012 at 12:30am 7 Comments 0 Likes
5. Reason #5 not to get an MFA: Pride
Full disclosure: I applied to a number of MFA programs in New York City that rejected me and I’m not the kind of person who takes rejection well. In retrospect I genuinely believe it was for the best, but I will always think that it was uncool of those schools not to take a chance on me. I suppose I could have applied to schools outside of New York City, and I did apply to one in London because I was in a long-distance relationship…
Five Reasons Not to Get an MFA - Reason #4
Posted on February 29, 2012 at 11:00pm 7 Comments 1 Like
4. Reason #4 not to get an MFA: Timeframe
Some people write everyday. I don’t. I can’t. If I had to write everyday I think it would actually hinder my writing. Ideas come to me at very inopportune times. I’ve written on many an airplane air sickness bag, on subscription cards in magazines and on electricity bills. I don’t think I’ve ever opened a blank word doc in the hope that something would just pop into my head. I transcribe almost everything.
I technically…
Five Reasons Not to Get an MFA - Reason #3
Posted on February 28, 2012 at 10:00pm 15 Comments 5 Likes
3. Reason #3 not to get an MFA: Cost
Let’s say that getting an MFA costs around $50,000 (not including housing, books, health insurance, etc). That’s two years and a significant amount of money that you could spend in a myriad of other ways. If you took just a fifth of that money, you could spend it on lectures, workshops, books, week long writing retreats, a personal computer just for your creative writing, or any other number of writing related activities. I did that math…
Continue Five Reasons Not to Get an MFA - Reason #2
Posted on February 28, 2012 at 8:00am 13 Comments 2 Likes
2. Reason #2 not to get an MFA: Perspective
I don’t know about you, but I would never tell a friend that I thought her work was crap. Writing is personal and it hurts to hear that. There are enough people in all stages of the writing process that will tell you that your work is crap, your friends are supposed to bolster your confidence. But how many times have you torn apart a book or movie written by someone you didn’t know? It’s easier to be brutally honest with…
Comment Wall (6 comments)
- At 4:47pm on April 24, 2012,
Rebecca Lane Beittel said… I haven't been on SheWrites much lately. Been busy doing my own "thang" I suppose. I'm curious as to what my SheWrites friends are up to, writing-wise, though. Right now, I'm waiting to hear back from 2 agents who have requested my full manuscript of The Time Minders. I'm still working on Kingdoms of Blood & Magic, but not as diligently as I should, since I've been querying/submitting for the TTM, doing scads of tutoring at my daughters' school and work for our church's youth group. How about YOU?
- At 7:35pm on November 6, 2011,
Rebecca Johns said… Hi Michelle! So nice to see you here, and congratulations on the novel! It's such a thrill to hear one of my former students is getting published. Hope it sells tons!
Best,
Rebecca
- At 11:04am on November 6, 2011,
Meg Waite Clayton said… Michelle, thanks for friending, and glad to have you in the novelist group! You might introduce yourself there by telling us what you’re working on in the “Show Me Your Novel and I’ll Show You Mine” discussion if you're not too uncomfortable talking about what you're working on. We save the wall for discussion, so please refrain from linking to blog posts or posting book jackets there, but do add your titles to the "Our Published Novels" thread, and feel free to post blog links in the “Links to Helpful Blog Posts for Writers” discussion thread.
We do a live chat every Wednesday at 1EST; instructions on how to participate are in the "Our Water Cooler Wednesdays" box near the top of the group page. Hope you can join us for that!
Meg
- At 8:08pm on November 5, 2011,
Jill Starishevsky said…
Welcome to SheWrites. Feel free to reach out if you need anything.
Jill Starishevsky
Prosecutor, Child Abuse/Sex Crimes
Author, My Body Belongs to Me
http://www.MyBodyBelongstoMe.com
Facebook Fanpages:
LinkedIn Group: Child Safety Network - Come Join Us!
- At 12:38pm on November 5, 2011, Meg Waite Clayton said…
- Michelle, Welcome to She Writes and congrats on the forthcoming! Love to have you join us in the Publishing Industry News group and/or in Novelists – Struggling or Not. You can find all the groups through the Community button at the top of your page. Enjoy the site!
Meg Waite Clayton
Moderator, Publishing Industry News, and Novelist Group
Bestselling Author of The Four Ms. Bradwells, The Wednesday Sisters (a writing group novel), and The Language of Light, a finalist for Barbara Kingsolver's Bellwether Prize
- At 10:50pm on November 4, 2011,
Monica Medina said… Welcome to She Writes!
You can check out the Getting Started section to help you find your way around. A great way to get involved is with our Groups. Also, you can follow @shewritesdotcom and me, @monicastangled, on Twitter.
Please let me know if you have any questions!Best,
Monica Medina
She Writes Volunteer Coordinator
www.monicastangledweb.com, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/monica-medina
Latest Activity
D. Wright Downs commented on the blog post 'Write Outside the Box'"Thanks, Kimberly. Seems as though I have to fit in time to write, but I am retired. I can fit other things in. I have always lived outside the box…I try to think inside the box when I write because I was a journalist.…"
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