Three Things Every MFA Student Should Do
Tips for Networking and Goal Setting
In September, I had to drop everything and move back to the US after spending the last three years working in South Korea. Once the circumstances of my sudden move had settled down, I found myself in Tampa, my hometown, the home of my MFA program, with nothing but time to write. For the majority of my life, writing full-time (read: being comfortably unemployed) had been a goal I constantly strived for by saving money, applying to fellowships, or fortifying the necessary patience to bear crashing at my parents’s place while I finished a draft. Even though writing full-time (for however brief that time may be) had always been the goal, I had a problem. The absolute last thing on Earth I wanted to do was write.
When I arrived in Florida, I was burnt out from a very difficult year in my writing life. But I knew in my soul that I had to make use of this gift of time because time to write is always a gift, no matter how strained my relationship with writing may be. To find a way back into my writing habit, I sat down to do the X Page Exercise that my pedagogy professor, Dr. Heather Sellers, had taught our class at the University of South Florida. Halfway through the writing exercise, I remember that I was in Tampa, a short drive away from USF, and thought: if I wanted to restart my writing life, what better place to return to than the place that taught me how to be a writer?
I reached out to Dr. Sellers, and she welcomed me back into the program’s writing community. A couple of weeks ago, I joined her and a group of current students for an informal discussion about the writing life and the business of publishing. Our conversation revolved around strategies for making the most out of your time in an MFA program. Here are three takeaways from our conversation and how they might help current MFA students, MFA graduates, and writers outside of academia. As always, take anything that’s useful to you and your writing life and leave everything that’s not.
In-Person Writing Workshops
Heather Sellers is hosting in-person writing workshops here in Tampa, Florida. Join her June 2nd-June 10th for her popular courses on book structure, children’s books, revision, and more. These courses are sequenced together so you can take them all or pop in per your interests.
Heather Sellers is one of the best teachers I’ve ever had the pleasure of learning from. No matter where you are in your writing life, you will leave her courses completely inspired with concrete next steps for your writing project.
What Students Are Saying
Heather is organized, so fun, so delightful, inclusive and incredibly knowledgeable. I will take any class she teaches.
– Sy P., Asheville, NC
The course is crafted as a well-structured story: beat by beat. Nothing out of place. Nothing unnecessary. Each lesson leads into the next by a master instructor . . .
– Shantell S., Balm, FL
Coming to this workshop series is the best thing I've done for myself in a very long time.
– Heide N., Salt Lake City, UT
How to Register
For more information, you can reach out to Heather Sellers at heatherellesellers@gmail.com. Early bird registration is now open. Enroll in all four courses by January 31st to receive a 10% discount. Checkout her Facebook page and join The Writing Room group where she offers free quarterly office hours to all past, current, and future students.
3 Things Every MFA Student Should Do
And Their Equivalents for Writers Outside of Academia
1. Go to Office Hours and Ask Craft Questions
My biggest regret as a student (both in undergrad and grad school) was not seizing every opportunity to learn from my professors. Before transferring to U of South Florida, I was in the MFA program at the University of San Francisco, and I basically only went to office hours if it was mandatory. But when I transferred, I was suddenly a second-year student at South Florida and had 30 days to decide who to request for my thesis committee even though I had no relationship with the faculty yet. To make the decision, I scheduled office hours appointments with every potential thesis director and asked them questions related to the craft issues I was struggling with in my novel. Their responses truly opened my mind. Hearing their diverse approaches to craft helped me better understand which approaches aligned with my own understanding of story and which approaches would lead me down an unproductive path given my personal writing process.
Although my goal for these meetings was to determine who I’d like to work with for my thesis novel, I walked out of each meeting with the beginnings of a professional writer-to-writer relationship with my professors. When I first started my MFA, I was twenty-three years old, and it was difficult for me to see that my relationships with my professors would eventually transition from a student-teacher relationship to one of colleagues. Office hours offer an opportunity to get to know your professors not as teachers, but as writers that you can have career-long professional relationships with.
As a whole, attending office hours is an excellent way to expand your knowledge and network beyond the classroom. To make the most out of an office hours visit, I recommend asking general craft questions that aren’t specific to your writing, especially if they haven’t read part of your project as coursework. For example, instead of asking your professor if the pacing of your novel chapter is too slow, ask: What are some story elements that kill or improve the pacing and tension in a novel? A question like this will teach you about the craft concept without requiring the context of your specific story.
I also recommend avoiding yes/no questions, at least at the beginning of your conversation. If your questions starts with do, does, are, or is, you’ll likely get a yes/no answer that might not have enough depth to help you the next time you’re struggling with that craft concept. Instead, work to ask W-H questions. Who, what, where, when, how, and why questions naturally encourage people to think deeper about their responses. As a result, their answers are more likely to teach you something concrete that you might not have known before you walked into their office.
For Writers Outside of Academia
If you’re a writer outside of academia, you can apply this to your writing life by asking writers in your network out to coffee and discussing their thoughts on craft concepts. Every writer comes into their writing life under different circumstances, and every writer knows something you don’t. If you ask questions about concepts you’re curious about, you’ll learn something new, maybe even solve a problem in your writing project without needing someone to read it.
If you’re looking to build your writing network, comment on posts like this one with your questions to connect with other writers and learn from their experiences.
Craft with Kat is back!
Paid subscriptions resume on January 1st. If you had an active paid subscription on August 4, 2024, please make sure your payment method is up-to-date. I have a lot of content planned for 2025, and I am so excited to share this space with you all again!
2. Reach Out to Your Professors When You Think of Them
When I graduated from my MFA program, I found myself in the Sisyphean cycle of applications for grants, fellowships, and teaching opportunities. More often than not, recommendation letters are required for these writing-related applications. I personally feel like a burden when I request a rec letter, but I always feel more comfortable asking for a letter if I’m organically maintaining a relationship with the recommender. In the three years since I’ve graduated, I’ve stayed in touch with my professors by reaching out to them whenever they cross my mind.
If I read something that reminds me of a conversation I had with a professor, I send them a link to the article. If I see that they have a new publication out, I’ll read the publication and send an email talking about how the piece resonated with me. If I publish a story they helped me develop, I send a thank you note and a link to the publication. As a whole, I find that reaching out to people in my writing life whenever I think of them is a great way to maintain a connection when life gets busy. What I like most about this method of staying in touch is that I’m not just reaching out to my professors when I need something (i.e. a rec letter). Instead, we’re organically engaging as two writing professionals.
If you’re interested in trying this out, here’s what I include in my emails:
A mention of why I’m reaching out
“Have you read X article? It reminded me of when we discussed ABC in your class.”
“Congratulations on your publication in Y Magazine! What you wrote about Z Theme really resonated with me because . . .”
“This story I workshopped in your class was just published in ABC Magazine. Here’s a link to the piece. Thank you so much for helping me develop this story.”
A brief update on what I’ve been up to
In 2-3 sentences, I summarize what I’ve been up to in my writing or professional life. A lot of MFA programs want to see where their students end up so that they can update their alumni employment and publication records. I write my update with this in mind.
A question about what they’ve been up to lately
Sometimes I ask about what they’re working on in their own writing life. Other times, I might see on social media that they recently did a cool trip and ask them about it.
The key here is to keep your message brief and sincere. If you’re like me and the thought of “networking” with other writers makes you feel icky and disingenuous, reaching out whenever someone happens to cross your mind is a sincere way to stay in touch and maintain your network. Some of this stuff might seem obvious to some people, but it wasn’t obvious to me when I was a student. I wish someone had encouraged me earlier in my writing life to reach out to other writers whenever I thought of them.
For Writers Outside of Academia
If you’re writing outside of academia, I encourage you to reach out to the writers in your network whenever they cross your mind. This could be critique partners, writers you met at a summer workshop, or even a writer that you have an online rapport with. There are a bunch of writers that I met once at a summer workshop, but I kept in touch with them because I would send them an Instagram Reel if it made me think of them, and they do the same. If any of these writing friends need professional support from me, I’m more than happy to help them simply because they occasionally send me great submission calls (hi, Catherine!) or hilarious Vampire Diaries memes (whaddup, Emily!). Sincere, organic engagement is the best way to maintain your writing network.
3. Prioritize Your Book Above All Else
At the beginning of our meeting, Dr. Sellers passed out notecards and asked us to write down our publishing goals. To do this, she gave us three guiding questions:
What do you want to publish in three years?
What do you want to publish in five years?
What do you want to publish in ten years?
She encouraged us to be ambitious and share our answers if discussing our goals would further inspire us.
Here are the goals that I wrote down:
Three Years: Publish my novel, You Will Survive This
Five Years: Publish a novel based on my experience working in South Korea’s video game industry
Ten Years: Rewrite my thesis novel and publish it as a YA novel, publish a poetry collection, publish a writing craft book or textbook
After we wrote down our goals and shared them (if we were comfortable), she asked us, “What are you doing today to get closer to achieving that three-year goal?”
Most of us wrote down that we wanted to publish a book in three years. Some students at the table wrote that they wanted to publish a novel, but realized they had spent most of the year working on short stories. This exercise really helped us (1) identify the kind of writing that’s most important to us and (2) understand how we can better prioritize that writing in our day-to-day writing lives.
At the end of the day, your MFA program wants you to publish a book so that they can have a success story they can use as an argument to get more funding. Make your coursework and weekly writing habits align with your book publishing goal. My biggest takeaway from our conversation that I wish I had embodied more as a MFA student is this: Prioritize your book over everything else.
For Writers Outside of Academia
The takeaways in this section aren't all that specific to current MFA students. Try out the publishing goal writing exercise, and then each morning, take two minutes to write an answer to this question: What will I do today that will bring me closer to my three-year publishing goal?
Then, at some point in the day, do that thing. It can be as small as adding one sentence to your novel’s manuscript or as big as writing 2,000 words. No matter what your daily goal might be, setting daily intentions will help you accomplish those three, five, and ten-year goals.
What are your publishing goals? How do you stay in touch with your writing community? If you’re an MFA student, what do you wish you had done differently during your first semester? Let’s chat in the comments:
Virtual Write-In on January 4th
The best part about returning to the US is that I can engage with you all in real-time. Join us on January 4th at 1 PM EST for our first virtual write-in. This live event is free to all. We’ll be sharing our writing intentions and using the Pomodoro Technique to achieve our writing goals. Please RSVP here. I hope to see you there!
Until next week,
Kat
Welcome back! I thought about you when I heard about martial law and protests in Seoul. I didn’t reach out because you were taking a break! Your advice about reaching when you think of someone—that goes beyond professional courtesy. It’s good life advice. We need all our connections! Thank you for sharing this wisdom. I’m looking forward to the virtual write-in.
Hi, Kat! I am actually applying to USF's MFA program for next fall. I'm way over 23 but I'm eager to take the risk of taking my writing seriously. Thanks for this timely post!