  Cathy wrote urlLink this : Don't kill me dude, but...why don't you just get a shit job and start writing? I'm working in a gardening warehouse part-time and am learning lots. For one thing, I'm seeing once again how out of touch I am with a huge chunk of the wage-earning world. Just this reader's unfiltered response. And if you really want to go to grad school, just pick one and commit to it. You'll find what there is to find wherever you end up.
You're already a good writer. You don't need some fancy schmance grad school to teach you. You just need to fucking do it. See what happens when you post things on the internet for everyone to read? It is a valid point. Why am I doing a graduate program for creative writing?
In the first place, I want guidance. I have never spent time solely on my writing, and I see this as a good way to start. However, I still feel like I'm at the base of a mountain, and that with some guidance I'll get to the top. The top symbolizes getting to that "level," fulfilling that potential that I know I have. I need a writing support group, which I don't feel like I have. I don't know lots of writers anymore, and the ones I do are not in close contact with me any more.
Doing an MFA program helps to solve that problem. Also, I've been out of school for three years. I recommend that everyone delay a grad program for a few years until he or she has worked in "the real world. " I 've worked shit jobs; I've barwenched, sold t-shirts, barista'd, and temped. The only things they allow me to do is bore and tire me, and make me hate humanity. I like my jobs to foster a sense of creativity in me, that flows through the rest of the day.
Now I'm in public relations. My current job is getting that way, since I write and edit and promote during the 9-5. While in grad school I may quit my current full-time job to do freelance tutoring and editing and writing, but for now, this works for me. As I've said before, I have never thought I needed a degree to write. I do need a degree to teach at most places. I do find it unsettling that you describe it as a "fancy schmance grad school.
" Some people do degrees because they have nothing else to do; I'm getting mine because I have lots to do and see it as a way of reaching my goals. No one needs to "teach" me how to write. I'm seeking guidance and support, which is what fits me. So Cathy, I hope that makes sense to you. It does to me. I think your approach is what works for you, and I applaud any writer who does whatever he or she can do to write.
But know this--that's what I'm doing too. P.S. Re: the blogging wrath of heather: I only verbally assault those who piss me off with stupid, irrational, unresearched and/or unfunny comments. Disagreement does not necessarily count as any of those--in fact, I really hope whoever disagrees or has other opinions to share does post them, because I like replying to them. However, if you accuse me of a missing payment, or ask why I don't have nudie girl pics up, prepare for some serious shock&awe. 
