Happy Sunday everyone! It's rainy and gross in Florida, but I'm trying not to let it dampen my spirits. I spent today painting (OMG I actually did something creative aside from writing! It will probably turn out like crap, though) and researching low-residency MFA programs...because I think I'm going to go for it. Right now I am eying Vermont College of Fine Art's low-res program in writing for children and YAs with some serious envy, but who knows? I did send away for more info, so we'll see what happens. Not that I think you need to have an MFA to be a good writer; I know plenty of writers that I love who don't have MFAs. But I would love to teach at the college level, and you pretty much need to have a masters or higher to do that. So I'm thinking about it.
Anyway, here are what some of my favorite blogs have been up to this week:
Shannon Messenger is a talented writer, one of my favorite bloggers, and quite the inspiration to me. She is also, apparently, a very talented artist. In one of the most inspirational blog posts I've ever read, Shannon shared some of her old artwork, and talked about her struggle to become a good artist - both drawing and writing.
Heather Z. at Secret Adventures of Writer Girl posted a list of reasons you know you've been querying too long. I haven't even started querying yet, but I can already see myself facing some of these...
NPR is hosting a very serious read-along of Twilight. This week's discussion included a dissection of the writing style which really is a must-read because of its hilarity and truthfulness.
Market My Words had a wonderful teen panel on their blog this week, discussing how to market to teens. This is part of a series, but links to previous posts and dates of future posts are included, and readers are encouraged to submit questions!
Read a 110-year-old rejection letter at Brooklyn Arden (via CA Marshall)!
And finally, from Janet Reid's blog, a video which details a day in the life of a writer. Shift the wake up time up about three hours, change the bed time to somewhere in the 2am range, and switch the Jack to red wine and I'd say it's about accurate for me. Also, I have dogs, not cats, because we all know that dogs make better muses.
Have a great week, everyone!
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I want to do an MFA program, too. I've been waiting to find the thing I want. Almost got a masters in American Studies, almost got Education. Now I'm looking at creative writing. I need to just DO IT, because I'll make more $$ as a teacher, and the opportunity to teach at the college level is open to me.
ReplyDeleteOk, that Twilight discussion was hilarious. It also affirms something that has been dancing around in my head since your post on the revising cycle a few days ago. Maybe you really don't need to do all that revising if all you want to do is publish your book. As long as you have a somewhat decent story, just repeat scenes and descriptions a few hundred times, use three chapters to set up an incidental occurence to give your MC the idea that gets her to the next plot point (because she clearly needs help in that area), sprinkle in a few dozen incorrect uses (per book) of a smart-sounding word, find a publisher to take it as is, and voila! You haz $$Millyenz of Dollerz!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, goodl luck on the MFA!
P.S. I ended up revising this comment about four times before posting it!