waitinginvain?

Thank you both for the lists. I'll check my library for these titles. By the way, Lolita is my daughter's favorite, too.

Thank you for the Yale link. I see MIT, Harvard, Notre Dame and some others also have open course ware. I followed your link and started watching the video. It's so amazing to be able to watch a lecture given by a Yale professor for free. Thank you for the link!

Thank you! This is so valuable to me. Juillet, I especially like the idea of planning time to procrastinate. I never would have thought to do that! Setting smaller goals than my peers is also a good tactic. They are all more prolific than I am, but not necessarily any more talented. I'm going to check out Scrivener, too. . Fuzzy, I'm going to use your guidelines the next time I have to write a paper. By the way, I could see how writing subsections could work with playwriting, too; they could serve as scenes! I'm grateful to you both for your detailed suggestions.

Hi Everyone! I am in an MFA program for dramatic writing. Ironically, I have a difficult time writing! I either procrastinate or write very slowly. One of my professors is expecting me to add 50 pages to my latest play over the summer. It seems impossible! I know, I know, why am I in the program in the first place? I guess it's because when I do finally finish something, it's pretty good. I've had productions around the country and have had plays published. But if I can't compete with my prolific, fast-writing cohorts , I'll fail. Any helpful tips are appreciated--especially if they are not, "Shut off your internal editor as you write." That just doesn't work for me. Thank you all!

Hi everyone. I made it though my first year of graduate school. But my GPA is only a 3.41. I need to do better. So I'm planning to develop my vocabulary over the summer and to read even more than I usually do. Can anyone recommend any books/journals/authors to aid my intellectual development? I've never taken classes in philosophy or literary criticism--both of which I suspect would be helpful. I've heard somewhere that Bertrand Russell's A History of Western Philosophy should be required reading. Does anyone agree? I am a dramatic writing student, by the way. Thank you for your suggestions!

What makes you think I haven't "sweated it" through annoying graduate courses?

I'm in an MFA program that requires us to take 20 credits a year in order to graduate in 3 years. I'm currently taking a class that's combined with undergrads. I hate it. We are required to play "games for actors and non-actors" for the majority of each class, twice a week. The rest of the time in class is spent talking about oppression. I'm 50 years-old. I really don't want to play acting games any more. Worse, we have to find a community in which to present a 90-minute workshop to an oppressed community. I've found another class that starts in March that will actually be helpful to me--teaching English composition in secondary schools. But I'm afraid that if I take that class and don't do well, (it's an accelerated class) I'll be put on academic probation. If I don't take it, I'm stuck in this other class because I need the credits. What to do? Stick with the annoying/time-consuming class, or go for the maybe-difficult but relevant class? I have a paper due in the annoying class tomorrow! I really don't want to write it!

Thank you everyone. I should aggressively pursue publication and theatrical productions to increase my chances for employment. Graham17, I found the picture on Google images. I just searched "circus." There are a lot of them on there. I hope I'm not committing some sort of crime by using it!

Have you checked the professor out on ratemyprofessor.com? I had one whom I suspected didn't like me. I looked her up on ratemyprofessor and found comments from others who felt the same way.

Thank you, JoeyBoy for putting it into perspective. I think I have a poverty mentality that makes me feel trapped and dependent.

I'm self-employed but don't make a lot of money. I'm afraid that if I stay in the program, I'll still be self-employed but in debt too.

Thank you, Laura for telling me about how the loan repayment works. I'll look into it. Thank you too, takeruK. I should see what community colleges require. But I wonder if any of them would tell the truth about whether or not they hire people my age.

Thank you.

Due to my age and lack of funds, I'm seriously thinking about not going back to school. But I've been assigned a TA- ship (I lead a discussion on my own) and was given a small scholarship for my talent (I'm in a dramatic writing program). I'm worried that I'll let down my mentor and the other TA who will have to take over my position. School resumes Jan. 7th! Any advice for how to handle this? Thanks so much.

Hi everyone. I've posted a questions about whether or not to drop out of grad school, due to my personal problems and lack of money. A few people have told me that I probably won't get a tenured track position because of my age (50). I really had no hopes for that anyway. But are there other jobs at maybe community colleges for older people with MFAs? Does anyone know? My degree would be in dramatic writing--writing for the stage and screenwriting. Thanks for helping.