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 |  hoping for a honey pot on a blustery day |
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We suggest keeping this description under 500 characters... okay then... think, think, think... ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| So, the NOVAcat recently disappeared because she was mommynapped into a 3,000 mile trek to the Canadian border and back in a teeny tiny car with two twenty-somethings and a 75 year-old granny… “I want to listen to the end of my books-on-tape romance novel…” “No grandma, that puts everyone to sleep. Besides, the driver gets to pick… some classic music would be good…” * cue the Led Zepplin greatest hits CD* Thank god for Kindle’s Everywords game… And now that the festival of crazy relatives has ended, I am back to tasks and wondering where I am at with these graduate school applications? Well, let's see... I have tracked down my unofficial transcript from FSU, calculated by GPA, recorded my GRE test score, and have a completed application to both programs I am seeking… I have also filled out official transcript request forms for EVERY school I attended… geez…  ... I still need to work on the "personal statement"… have not had enough alone time to concentrate on that recently…And the other BIG item I need to submit is a creative writing example of the genre in which I seek admission… I choose poetry of course… which will require me to send ten pages of poetry… oh but to chose which ones?  ... Experimental? Traditional? Free-verse? Form? Published? Not-published?I would love it, good readers, if you could take the time and complete the survey on which examples I should send in my required 10 pages of poetry. If you have read my work before, they will look familiar  . I am not looking for full reviews on these, just a quick peruse and a personal opinion. There will of course be rewards, prizes, and serious accolades for those who participate… 
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| Looking again for elements of the story that should be included in my personal statement for grad school... there is something here I want to address... In the mid-seventies my family belonged to a church in Massachusetts where a famous playwright and several other published writers attended. In this parish, we put on religious theatrical productions – in the style of “Jesus Christ Superstar”. I remember vividly participating in the plays of William Gibson’s “The Body and The Wheel” and “The Butterfingers Angel, Mary and Joseph, Herod the Nut, and The Slaughter of Twelve Hit Carols in a Pear Tree.” An author of plays, fiction, and criticism, William Gibson is best known for his drama “The Miracle Worker.” What most people don’t know is that he was first a published poet, and he continued to write poetry through his life. When I was about age 10, my mother told this dramatist and writer that she had a scribbler in her house. He invited me to participate in a poetry class; I was the only child in attendance. He asked me for a new poem each Sunday. He read them. He sat and talked to me about them. He gave me a new way of seeing the world around me - filtered through the lens of poetry. He was in his sixties; I had just turned double-digits. He was my personal 'Tuesdays with Morrie' experience. I am forever grateful to William for his words, encouragement, and kindness. As is, or in narrative form? ... |
| Excerpts from two University applications: Write a personal statement articulating your education experience not evident in your official transcripts. The personal statement should address these topics: the role writing has played in your life, your aspirations as a writer, how you see this MFA program helping you meet your goals, and evidence of your ability to work well independently. Send in your personal statement describing your genre and recent accomplishments and stating why you wish to pursue a degree in creative writing. What strikes me first is how uncreative these requests are… they read as if they want a series of questions answered. Really? That would not be my “personal” statement. If they want something dry, why don’t they ask for my resume? This is Masters in Creative Writing for Pete’s sake… I suppose I am too used to WDC writing prompts: Write a short story or poem about a coming of age story where the main character is abducted by aliens. Be sure to include the word purple. Surely they don’t want me to write a bio… First I was here, next I catapulted there, and then spun three times around and now I’ve bounced this way…  I think I’d bore myself writing about myself… and that was my conundrum… until I remembered an issue of Poets & Writers from last fall which was devoted to MFA programs, and I quickly thoroughly laboriously searched and found that issue… ah, page 88… the Dos & Don’ts of MFA Personal Statements… Do: * Tell a story (now we are talking). * Show off your writing style and use beautiful language  .* Think about ways you could stand out. * Be funny (optional – yeh, I’ll probably go there). * Be realistic in goal expectations. Don’t: * Use application-resume speak .* Experiment just for the sake of experimenting (I guess the first-person interview with a purple alien style is out). * Tell the story of how you became a writer (seems to contradict one of their questions). Now, how to tell a story in beautiful language that actually answers their questions and does not experiment too much... err, piece of cake… oh, bother... |
I have abandoned my Invalid Item  … temporarily hopefully… I tried writing a poem the other day, honestly … ‘What rhymes with... duh?’ Car? No, not outside New England dummy… uh, dumb, no wait that assonates… Forget about it!’  My head cannot wrap itself around words presently. It has been invaded by financial numbers, those Huns, and pesky paperwork, each completed form breeding a new colony of time sucking forms with the rapidity of mosquitoes in a rain bucket. And rain? We have begun measuring in feet here instead of inches. Depressing… and very difficult to complete all these errands I don’t want to go anyways during a monsoon. I need a break… I’d hoped that life would quiet down after the divorce settlement but the tasks are endless at this point. I go to sleep at night wishing I could run away and I wake up wishing that this will be the day I don’t have to make another life altering decision. Last Sunday, when no place of business was open, and no company would answer their phones, and I was blessedly free from big decisions, I finished the last scoop of my yougart-granola breakfast, and I decided to get a Master in Fine Arts – Creative Writing. What?  A long, long time ago… well, a long time ago… perhaps a little while back… my life looked like this: Master’s Degree > Great teaching job > Published book > Love > Kids (maybe) > Long happy retirement The jury is still out on the last stage and somehow I managed to completely jumble up the order of the plan so now – heck – why not embrace the jumping back and forth. Life bounces. I zeroed in on a couple of Universities to send applications to and have spent two days sighing over the… PAPERWORK! What was my undergraduate GPA? Wow, I lost that information between a diaper change and a teenage car crash… When was the date I took the GRE? Don’t know, pretty sure I did not ride a dinosaur to the test though. Anyhoo, aside from the picky pesky forms and finding the money to get me through… what really concerns me is the personal statement/essay. It did not concern me initially and then I started reading the bio’s of the resident and visiting faculty… impressive, gheez, intimidating. Perhaps if anyone happens to stumble here, they will comment on my forthcoming efforts, but blogsville has become ghostville of late… To quote the fantubulous W.T.P. “oh bother…” |
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