Writing Community

When I defended my thesis, someone asked, "Now that you've finished your MFA, where you've been working closely with the same folks for so long, how will you keep writing?" If you've ever talked to me in real-life, you know my face says what I'm thinking before I can lie about it, so I gave him the look my teenage son often gives me ("Are you really asking me this question?"), and I told him I would just keep writing all by myself. I'd wake up, and then I'd write at some point during the day as I'd been doing since I started writing... Like Emily Dickinson.

Why would I stop? (Though many people do after an MFA, which is strange to me.)

And I didn't stop! I got an MFA, and I moved away from my place of MFA, and kept writing (because why move a family across the country to just write for 3 years then stop?)! I wrote alone for months and submitted my work in a frenzy of submishmash account-creation. I wrote good things and bad things, and it was perfect.

However, as can happen, I met some poets. (Some amazing poets, click their links and read their work!) And now that I have a full-time job, I'm glad I have them. My poet friends keep me on my toes. Not only are we doing poem a day, which is fantastic, but we also talk about poetry and other poets and publishing and awards and residencies... Sometimes they talk about poets I'm unfamiliar with, which means I'm learning about new poets. We're learning from one another. (Well, I learn from them and contribute to the conversation, so hopefully this is a mutually beneficial poet-relationship.)

My MFA Workshop at UMass
Always a good time.