Fall Down Seven, Stand Up Eight!

 

Eastern tiger swallowtail on Lobelia (image by author)

 

“Writing is like lying down in the road and asking people to stop and look at you, and today, I got run over.”

This line, spoken by the young Lawrence Durrell, is from the PBS production of “The Durrells In Corfu”. Lawrence has just hosted a public reading to celebrate an early piece of his writing and no one, other than a confused and elderly man unknown to him and a small cadre of close family, attends.

MFA Not Needed Here!

Alice Munro, master of the contemporary short story, winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature, and non-possessor of a MFA degree.

 

No, a MFA is not needed here–not at the august literary journal, The Missouri Review, that is.

Here is an excerpt from an encouraging email I received last month from TMR about the writing backgrounds of the winners of its prestigious Jeffrey E. Smith Editor’s Prize contest:

“Writing contests can feel intimidating, especially for writers who are honing their craft on their own, outside the imposed structure of a workshop or graduate program. I’ve heard writers ask, “Do people without MFAs ever win these contests?” The answer is yes. It has happened before and will happen again.”

And this is good, of course, and it’s encouraging to read something like this.

But isn’t this, writers, our just due?

When did a MFA degree become de rigueur in the literary world?

Climb And Climb Again!

Chicago Botanic Garden, 10/16 (photo by author)

Autumn, glorious autumn. Glorious or not, autumn is not always a time dear to my heart.

Well, it is dear to my heart, my everyday heart that absolutely loves autumn. But not dear to my writer’s heart. And perhaps, writers, you recall or can guess why.

Of course!

The Nine Rights Of Writers

Selfridge’s Department Store, London, 1942 (image Wikimedia Commons)

Writers, it hurts.

I know; I’ve been there, and I’m there now. As I said in an older post, rejections are raining! 

Writing As Aversion Therapy, Or Buddha Writer, Come Quick!

The good news about this is that it means I’ve been submitting a lot as of late. The bad news is…Well, there are a number of bad things that fall out of receiving rejections.