2021 Applicants Forum

[Ydrl]

1 hour ago, FairleyAlfy said:

Has everyone finished applying? Are we all in the excruciating wait mode? I've been trying a bunch of different distractions. It doesn't help that I lost my job because of the pandemic. On the plus side, I got a typewriter for Christmas!! I adore writing on it so far. Another silver lining is that we only have two more days of 2020!!

Nah I still have 2 or 3 to go. And holy crap I want a typewriter now!

[orangeslice]

3 hours ago, FairleyAlfy said:

Has everyone finished applying? Are we all in the excruciating wait mode? I've been trying a bunch of different distractions. It doesn't help that I lost my job because of the pandemic. On the plus side, I got a typewriter for Christmas!! I adore writing on it so far. Another silver lining is that we only have two more days of 2020!!

I'm done! Although one of my letter writers is REALLY taking her time which is driving me up the wall. Congrats on the typewriter - that's the coolest!

[pattycat]

4 hours ago, mrvisser said:

And so it is that I go down the rabbit hole of looking at apartments in all the cities I could possibly be moving to for school.

My husband is actually more guilty of this than I am. He is constantly showing me houses for rent in Iowa City, Austin, and Gainesville. He's a positive thinker. 

[mrvisser]

16 minutes ago, pattycat said:

My husband is actually more guilty of this than I am. He is constantly showing me houses for rent in Iowa City, Austin, and Gainesville. He's a positive thinker. 

Coming from Seattle, housing looks so cheap if I were to get into any of the schools other than my own alma mater. The money in an MFA isn't great, but it's certainly enough to live on.

[Ydrl]

12 minutes ago, archiapelo said:

Three minutes after writing a post, I check to make sure that mrvisser has downvoted it. If that hasn't happened after three minutes, I know the post isn't up: either my phone didn't have the bandwidth, or this website has replaced double posting with no posting at all. I don't know what I would do without mrvisser. He's really great.

Ah yes, a normal healthy friendship between two MFA applicants. A beautiful thing.

[mrvisser]

36 minutes ago, archiapelo said:

Three minutes after writing a post, I check to make sure that mrvisser has downvoted it. If that hasn't happened after three minutes, I know the post isn't up: either my phone didn't have the bandwidth, or this website has replaced double posting with no posting at all. I don't know what I would do without mrvisser. He's really great.

Don't worry; I'm always here for you, bud.

[feralgrad]

1 hour ago, archiapelo said:

Three minutes after writing a post, I check to make sure that mrvisser has downvoted it. If that hasn't happened after three minutes, I know the post isn't up: either my phone didn't have the bandwidth, or this website has replaced double posting with no posting at all. I don't know what I would do without mrvisser. He's really great.

Have you tried 4chan? I think you'd fit in better there.

[feralgrad]

For everyone playing the waiting game, my biggest recommendations are to keep writing and work on your plan b. Nothing makes it easy, but I found that the anxiety was more manageable when I was working towards other goals (instead of just thinking about my biggest goal).

For what it's worth, I also found my application anxiety was much easier the second time around (and part of that was during the pandemic).

Edited December 31, 2020 by feralgrad

[Ydrl]

7 hours ago, archiapelo said:

Your wasting your life if your only goal is get into a school. Don't see the next three months as something to get over; life is short.

Admission is not a trophy and end in itself. Even trolling is a more noble goal. Your goal should be to publish something good.

Now I myself don’t get anything done, if I don’t have a deadline. That is one good thing about MFA applications.

It is nice that Iowa has a large 100 page limit. I make progress towards my novel by needing to get 100 pages in tip top form.

It is no good not to have any more applications due, if you can use deadlines to help create something publishable.

You should apply to one of the shitty schools that have late deadlines. That will give you an impetus to keep editing.

Tell me more about this 4chan thing. Wiki gave me the vaguest idea what it is about. It seemed to require anonymous posts without usernames. I find that cowardly. Who the hell would even downvote an anonymous post? I need downvotes.

Sssssssssssh. It’s okay, you don’t have to post constantly. We know you’re here. We are painfully aware you’re here.

[mrvisser]

Let's do some cliché, sappy reminiscing: What's the book you read in 2020?

I'm going to go with a tie between Steinbeck's East of Eden and Woolf's To the Lighthouse.

[largeheartedboy]

1 hour ago, mrvisser said:

Let's do some cliché, sappy reminiscing: What's the book you read in 2020?

The best book? Bryan Washington's debut novel Memorial.

[pattycat]

20 minutes ago, largeheartedboy said:

The best book? Bryan Washington's debut novel Memorial.

I can’t wait to read this. It’s next up on my tbr.

It’s hard to pick a fave, but the one that stands out is Lauren Groff’s collection Florida. I’ve read it at least twice this year.

[pattycat]

Also, anyone else getting those submissions out? I sent out pieces to 14 pubs today! That kept the admissions anxiety at bay for a day.

[largeheartedboy]

24 minutes ago, pattycat said:

I can’t wait to read this. It’s next up on my tbr.

It’s hard to pick a fave, but the one that stands out is Lauren Groff’s collection Florida. I’ve read it at least twice this year.

Groff is one of my favorite contemporary authors. So talented.

[spacedumpster]

26 minutes ago, pattycat said:

Also, anyone else getting those submissions out? I sent out pieces to 14 pubs today! That kept the admissions anxiety at bay for a day.

I've got a few pieces of flash out in the world, but I wouldn't be surprised if I hear back from some of my prospective schools before I hear back from the journals! Also have an application in for a residency, and another in the works. Anxiety abounds. 

[mrvisser]

Hey @archiapelo, since you somehow haven't figured it out or, more likely, continue to ignore obvious social cues: nobody gives a shit what it is you want to hear. We aren't here to work on writing—we're here to discuss applying to grad school and other things that make up casual conversation. This isn't a writing workshop, no matter how much you want it to be, and when we do get into MFA programs, we will each be relieved to discover that none of the instruction resembles in even a faint way whatever your odd, awkward brand of ideology is. If you want to participate in this thread in a cordial, social manner common to decent human beings, then great, do that; if not, kindly get the fuck out.

Edit: grammar

Edited January 1, 2021 by mrvisser

[Ydrl]

4 hours ago, archiapelo said:

I'm not so sure. When mrvisser chooses between his offer at Michener and Iowa, and when he does attend, he may not be so sure himself. 

So the standard advice is that you don't generate by rule or prescription.  But you do edit by rule and prescription. My "awkward brand of ideology" is the same language used in the last craft book I read, and the one before. 

No seriously, this isn’t a workshop or a place to tear people down. Stop or leave. It was funny for awhile, but we should have gotten rid of you much earlier. Idk what your obsession with getting downvotes and hate is, but stop. Just go anywhere else.

[pattycat]

On 12/24/2020 at 4:25 PM, Graceful Entropy said:

Y'all. I love you, but I can't stress this enough: Please do not engage w/ trolls. 

We call it out (as we have), and then ignore so as not to further the messaging. 
No oxygen, no fuel, no fire.

 

[FairleyAlfy]

On 12/31/2020 at 11:32 AM, mrvisser said:

Let's do some cliché, sappy reminiscing: What's the book you read in 2020?

I'm going to go with a tie between Steinbeck's East of Eden and Woolf's To the Lighthouse.

Wow. My two favorite novels of all time are those... haha. I even have Timshel tattooed on my wrist. 

[FairleyAlfy]

The best book I read in 2020 was The Secret History by Donna Tartt. 

[mrvisser]

12 minutes ago, FairleyAlfy said:

Wow. My two favorite novels of all time are those... haha. I even have Timshel tattooed on my wrist. 

I've never met anyone else who's read To the Lighthouse! Just incredible writing.

I'm putting East of Eden #2 on my all-time list, behind only Anna Karenina. 

[Outer Heaven]

The drama is too good to pass up. 

[FairleyAlfy]

1 hour ago, mrvisser said:

I've never met anyone else who's read To the Lighthouse! Just incredible writing.

I'm putting East of Eden #2 on my all-time list, behind only Anna Karenina. 

I read To the Lighthouse in college, and did an extensive research paper on the novel. haha

Anna Karenina was the first novel I read that made me want to be a writer. My English teacher in high school gave it to me as a gift. I've tried to read War and Peace many times, but for some reason, it cannot keep my attention. 

Sounds like we have similar tastes in literature. I would love book recommendations if you have some. I need more reading material to pass the time. 

[mrvisser]

5 minutes ago, FairleyAlfy said:

I read To the Lighthouse in college, and did an extensive research paper on the novel. haha

Anna Karenina was the first novel I read that made me want to be a writer. My English teacher in high school gave it to me as a gift. I've tried to read War and Peace many times, but for some reason, it cannot keep my attention. 

Sounds like we have similar tastes in literature. I would love book recommendations if you have some. I need more reading material to pass the time. 

I've heard similar things about War and Peace, so I haven't been inclined to start it yet.

I recommended Under the Volcano before on here and I could keep bringing it up. Very modernist writing, like Woolf. Some of the best sentences I've ever read, and also a book that took me a while to get through. The writing is very dense, so I would go back often to make sure I caught everything. Tender is the Night by Fitzgerald is another one I read in the past year that made it near the top of my list. Much better than Gatsby in my opinion; more nuanced and able to touch on specific emotions. Going in different direction from those, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues is very well-written, but is really self-indulgent in a sarcastic, self-aware way. The author, Tom Robbins, is famous for that kind of stuff, and he used to write a lot at one of my favorite bars on the UW campus.

[FairleyAlfy]

29 minutes ago, mrvisser said:

I've heard similar things about War and Peace, so I haven't been inclined to start it yet.

I recommended Under the Volcano before on here and I could keep bringing it up. Very modernist writing, like Woolf. Some of the best sentences I've ever read, and also a book that took me a while to get through. The writing is very dense, so I would go back often to make sure I caught everything. Tender is the Night by Fitzgerald is another one I read in the past year that made it near the top of my list. Much better than Gatsby in my opinion; more nuanced and able to touch on specific emotions. Going in different direction from those, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues is very well-written, but is really self-indulgent in a sarcastic, self-aware way. The author, Tom Robbins, is famous for that kind of stuff, and he used to write a lot at one of my favorite bars on the UW campus.

Thank you for the recommendations! This will keep me busy for a bit. I honestly like Fitzgerald's short stories more than Gatsby. He is a phenomenal short story writer. I recommend checking out Babylon Revisited : And Other Stories by Fitzgerald.