Jay S

I really appreciate the thoughts that have been shared in this forum. The primary post virtually explains exactly how I feel, at this point. This is my first year to apply to any MFA program, and I have applied to six: all fully funded programs at big time Southern schools. I knew that the odds of acceptance were slim at any one of those places, but managed to convince myself that I would get into at least one of them. Now, I find myself taking all of this much too personally--something that I swore I would not do--and feeling frankly overwhelmed with anxiety and dread. Am I, then, actually a bad writer? Despite the assurances to the contrary of my spouse and friends? After all, they are not exactly unbiased, where I am concerned. I do feel the magic, where writing is concerned, but perhaps what I feel does not necessarily translate into good writing. If so, then I am screwed. All of my eggs are in one basket, as it were. The one surprising thing I have learned during these past several months is that while I consider myself primarily a fiction writer, and a casual sometimes poet--I find myself envying those who have been accepted into MFA programs as poetry 'majors'. And I find myself writing more poetry than prose. Perhaps I need to rethink my assumptions about my own writing. Am I actually more of a poet than a novelist? If so, then I will have learned something valuable, after all, during this excruciating process.