Friday Find: New Low-Residency MFA Program at Western State College of Colorado

by Erika Dreifus on
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Earlier this week I received an e-mail telling me about a new low-residency MFA in creative writing, to be offered by Western State College of Colorado. There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of information available yet (the program will launch in July 2010), but you can take a look at some descriptive material online, including the following:

“The program will use a “low-residency” format — i.e., master’s candidates will spend only two weeks for three consecutive summers on campus, and during the four academic semesters (fall-spring-fall-spring) between these summer sessions, the candidates will work 1-2-1 with professional writer-mentors online. That means candidates in the program can live and work anywhere during the academic year while pursuing the degree. The program will have three concentrations:

* Commercial/Genre Writing
* Poetry with an Emphasis on Formal Verse
* Screenwriting

The program will also offer a one-year Certificate in Publishing, to help make writers more savvy about the publishing industry.”

I’ve added it to our ever-popular program list.

Have a great weekend, everyone. See you back here on Monday!

Help Wanted: A Prospective Student Seeks Advice

by Erika Dreifus on
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Recently, I received an e-mail from a self-described “frequent reader” of this blog. This person gave me permission to share his/her request for advice with the full blog community.

Basically, our fellow practicing writer is “trying to figure out what is the difference between a Master’s in Professional Writing and a M.F.A in Creative Writing with a focus on Creative Non-Fiction.”

Anyone have insights to share on this? My own first guess is that it might depend on the program(s) in question, that there’s surely some variation among MPW programs just as there can be among MFAs. Beyond that, I’m suspecting that the MPW (generally speaking) might have a more forthright focus on publishing and a broader commercial outlook, and that MFA programs (again, generally speaking) may require more reading and critical writing.

But let’s please hear from all of you.

Quotation of the Week: Anton Chekhov

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

“I saw everything, so it is not a question of what I saw, but how I saw.”

Source: Letter from Anton Chekhov to Alexei Suvorin, September 11, 1890, excerpted in How to Write Like Chekhov: Advice and Inspiration, Straight from His Own Letters and Work, edited and introduced by Piero Brunello and Lena Lencek, and translated by Lena Lencek.