Comment

Comment by Michelle Haimoff on March 6, 2012 at 9:12pm

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 out their lives after college. Your comment reminds me of some of the conversations the characters have. 

Comment by Stevie Edwards on March 6, 2012 at 7:53pm

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 creative writing degree, but there are many programs with full-funding that are worth looking into. 

Comment by Barbara L.W. Myers on March 6, 2012 at 1:00pm

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 $10,000 in one year is dead-on. I am the last person in my family I invest in (Husband? Check, Kids? Check. Cat? Check), even though they all (save the cat) encourage me to put time and money into me. I've started getting more and more comfortable with it, and the points raised in this post only solidify that goal.

Comment by Janet McAdams on March 4, 2012 at 7:25am

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 (literally) people with or pursuing or applying to MFA programs and can only think of one who was paying for it (at Columbia & the amount of debt was, to be sure, staggering).

In fact, I would argue that one of the reasons TO get an MFA, if you're willing to live modestly, is that you can focus on your work for a few years, with the support the program gives you to live.

Comment by Lauren Michelle on March 3, 2012 at 8:49pm

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 person. She gets anxious about what I'm going to do after graduation, because I majored in English. I could see myself going either way, really. I could be the kind of person who holds a 9-5, no weekends job and gets her writing done in the evenings and on weekends, but I could also see myself going to grad school, but only if it were for an M.A. program. That's something I would like to do one day just because I'm not quite ready to give up expanding and working my brain the way literature courses require of you. I don't know that I'll be going the semester following graduation, but I may decide to go in six months, a year, who knows. I just know that I want my book to take shot gun when I graduate, and if that means not going to grad school afterward, then I'll hold off on it.

Comment by Michelle Haimoff on March 2, 2012 at 11:12am

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 those struggling with their writing right now, I genuinely believe it's never too late to finish a project. The middle of the journey, where you can't yet see the light at the end of the tunnel, can be the most agonizing part.   

Comment by Kattalina M Kazunas on March 1, 2012 at 8:06pm

Well, as someone who  did go for an MFA at what i consider to be a much later age  than most ( late 30s),  reading this was difficult.  Because, i didn't get my MFA to impress anyone  or even to teach ( although that IS what I THOUGHT I  was going for as an end goal.) In fact, it was a last minute ( perhaps even rash) decision, and sometimes i DO think to myself, " What was I thinking?"  Because i financed this with student loans, and I might be paying on these for a long time.  I didn't consult with anyone on this either ( i am single) and that too was probably a mistake. IN truth, I started graduate school to save my ass, my soul, my spirit.  Through my MFA program,  I discovered that I DO have more writing ability than I thought I did, and also that I LOVE poetry, AND that I can write it. I studied with some wonderful inspiring teachers, Audrey Niffenanger, for one, and my art, my mind, and my spirit were greatly expanded by the entire experience. I discovered more of WHO I really AM through my MFA.  I still don't know how I am going to pay off this loan.  So what I would say here is, do your homework before you go, yes, but if a program calls you,  just do it. You CANNOT know where it will take you. You cannot know how it might change your life. You cannot know how it might SAVE your very life. 

Comment by Kate Cone on March 1, 2012 at 7:12pm

Hi Michelle: I agree with a lot of what you say. Most of it actually. But I DID get  my MFA, and I can't take it back. I took student loans to live on plus pay for tuition which meant for me having a $55,000 loan. So....I was underemployed, taking job after job to pay my monthly student loan payment. I paid on it for 2 years, put it into forbearance so I could job hunt, got a job and I now see that my balance has gotten back up to the full $55,000 again. I am still struggling to finish the novel that was my creative thesis in the MFA program. I now have a full time day job in a different field. I have a retired husband who likes to talk to me when I get home. And a dog who likes to be exercised. So I have a huge loan, and no time to write. I am not alone. My focus now is to keep my day job, pay down the loan in 3 to 5 years (thanks to husband who pays for all the day to day bills), leaving me the freedom to pay down the loan) and try to write in lunch hour, pen on napkin or whatever else I can grab. There are 2 ways to think about this: do what you suggest (I wish I had your wisdom back when I applied to my mfa program) or get the degree which is "terminal," which means you can teach at the college level. Some MFA programs offer scholarships. Do your homework before you apply.

Comment by Penny J. Leisch on March 1, 2012 at 6:32pm

You are right that the unspoken message is there in many ways. It's there when people don't respect your time when you work at home. It's there when people don't credit you with "working" because there's no regular paycheck or because you don't go to an office every day. It's even there when your family doesn't have any idea what you've published and says you "don't work", even when you've been published many times.

Comment by Kerina Pharr on February 29, 2012 at 4:58pm

another great alternative, Michelle. Can't wait to see #4 and #5!

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