By: Leslie
J. Anderson
If
you’re like me, you spent most of your childhood in school. That’s where you
learned how to learn, and you’ve probably come to associate improvement with
school . So, when it comes to improving your writing, it’s natural that you
would consider a Master of Arts (MA) or a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree.
After all, what better way to give yourself time to write and a structured
place to do it?
But
MFAs are time consuming and expensive, and it’s certainly possible to significantly
improve as a writer without them. How do you know if an MFA is right
for you? And can you reproduce the benefits of an MFA without
enrolling in a program?
My
take on the MFA debate
Full
disclosure: I have both a BA and an MA in writing. It’s hard for me to regret
those years; they were a lot of fun and I gained an enormous amount of
experience. I also met my husband, so I can’t say my MA was useless. However, I
think I could have taken another path, perhaps one that didn’t require so much
of my time, money and inner calm.
Based
on my experience, I don’t think having an MA or MFA is necessary to become a
great writer. This should be obvious to anyone who knows anything about
literary history: Many famous and influential writers did not begin in
academia.
Instead,
to become a better writer without a set path, replicate important aspects of
the MFA.
. . .
Read the full article HERE!
~*~
If you
missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they are
again:
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