A couple of weeks ago in my MFA class we turned in a scene. We were told it should follow an introduction scene we had written for a previous class and that we should summarize that whole earlier scene in about 50 words (which is almost impossible). So I followed the directions – at least…
In many of my MFA classes, including the one I’m currently taking, I get a lot of feedback on my creative work. It’s part of why I wanted to pursue an MFA, but sometimes figuring out how to process it is challenging. After taking lots of classes, and working with critique partners over the years,…
The class I’m taking right now for my MFA is Speculative Fiction Writing II – it’s one of the classes I have looked forward to the most, and even though we’re only a couple of weeks in I’ve already learned so much! The slightly scary thing is that this is the class where we finally…
Hi everyone! I have what I hope is a fun ask – my short short story “The Roller Coaster at the End of the World” is a finalist in a short story contest at SNHU. Part of the final judging is based on votes from the public, and the top prizes include scholarships at SNHU.…
Please read that post title in the voice of your preferred version of Star Trek’s Dr. McCoy. This is a continuation of my earlier post about celebration. In my MFA program, I’m currently in Speculative Fiction Writing I – only a few days in and it’s glorious. I take forever to get the actual assignments…
I’m a hundred percent convinced that most of us creative types don’t celebrate our victories enough. Just deciding to be creative and inventive in a chaotic world is worth taking time to honor. So in keeping with that, here’s my little celebration – One more class down toward my Master of Fine Arts in Creative…
Before the pandemic, and trying to get tenure, and relocating to a new state, and… I was a writer in search of an agent. I researched, queried, went to conferences, entered contests, followed up on leads, and tried to take each rejection as just another step in the process of becoming a traditionally published writer.…
I’ve been working on editing a novel today – it was that great feeling where you get sucked into a project and don’t want to stop. It felt great. Then I decided, “Maybe I’ll spend a few minutes working on getting rid of my filler words.” Filler words are those words that 90% of the…
It’s been a rough year – I lost my mom a few months ago, and that’s just one of those challenges that makes you wonder how we humans walk around with ragged holes in our hearts. Add to that extra craziness at the day job, stressful medical news of my own, etc. etc. etc. But…
I did this last night as part of my effort to better stay motivated on my writing goals this month. This is a trick that a lot of writers use – I’ve even done it using Post-It Notes on the wall, but in this case I wanted my tasks to be a little more portable.…
Jenel Alan 