Starting the DIY MFA in Non-fiction
Day 3 of the journey-what led me to this point plus where I want to go…
I’ve been a reader since I could remember. My father had a big brown chair in the living room which he’d sit in and read me books as a child. Around five, my lifelong love affair with books would take on a life of it’s own.
The writing part took longer. I was an English major in college who had read vastly but except for journal entries and the occasional love letter never picked up the pen creatively.
That changed the day I walked into a poetry classroom at Carlow University. I had met a few bright, fun loving students who raved about the poetry classes. I got to audit a class session with the instructor’s permission.
That day I fell in love with the craft. I found every spare minute I could to write. I learned the rules and how to break them. For eight years, it was my obsession.
Those were some pretty good years. I enjoyed the Carlow community both as an undergrad and in their Madwomen program. I learned from the best teachers.
Eventually, the time came when I didn’t feel challenged by poetry anymore.
It wasn’t that I didn’t love it, it just felt like I could close my eyes and write and be done. I wanted a break. I wanted to feel challenged again.
I tried fiction and didn’t hit it off. I studied a semester of it in the commumity program. I realized the only type of fiction I could write that people enjoyed was flash fiction. That might have been because of its brevity.
I tried to learn dialogue, plot lines and structure of actual fiction but still struggle with application greatly.
So my next option was turning to a method I had always wanted to try…
After years of thinking about writing a lifestyle blog I changed focus. I’ve been blogging for the past 10 months. So far I’ve enjoyed blogging and article writing.
I wanted to study non-fiction and blogging like I used to study poetry. In depth and working on it daily. Learning from great teachers and other students.
Knowing I wasn’t going to be teaching, an official MFA program was not in the budget.
What I decided to do instead was a mixture of the 1000 Day MFA program by Shaunta Grimes and advice found in the book “On Writing” by Stephen King .
In reading, I’m following the 1000 day format:
- 1 essay a day
- 1 short story a day
- 1 poem a day
- 1 additional book per month
- 1 craft book per month
- (Plus 4 blog posts a day)
Writing:
- Publishing at least 4 pieces a week (in lieu of a short story)
- Writing 1000 words a day (Stephen King’s rule for writer)
- Keeping an ongoing journal
- Participating in NaNoWriMo and Camp NaNo.
Community:
I’m planning to get back into the Madwomen courses in the Spring. I’m hunting down writing communities/courses online for the present.
My focus is in non-fiction especially as pertains to blog and article writing. However, I imagine that poetry will still creep in here and there. Love dies hard.
So far, I’m excited about the program. I love the way that the readings include multiple formats of writing. I also know that 1000 days from now, I’ll be a better writer overall than I am right now. I’m willing to pay the price to get there.
