Got thrown off kilter today.
I work for a scientific nonprofit as an editor and we’re past deadline on our close for three of our journals. Wishing I had taken a more hardline with authors late with their corrections is one of those ‘hindsight is 20/20′ things. Tomorrow we close one way or another and hopefully not burn any bridges in the process.
In the midst of all the work angst came a letter from an MFA program I had applied to and had not heard from well after I’d heard from the two others I’d applied to. The letter let me know that basically the letter they had sent last week (which I haven’t received yet) had noted that I was waitlisted, but that a spot had opened up for me (since I was at the top of the waitlist).
Financially, I think the program is more convenient than VC since I wouldn’t have to travel as far, but the tuition is the same, but I’m not entirely sure the program is as good a match for my writing as the VC and the other program I had applied for.
I’m also waitlisted at the other program which, I think, is the strongest of the three for my nonfiction, but doesn’t offer the Children’s Writing track. An MFA in Children’s would be unique, I think, since there are very few programs, residential or low, out there for that type of writing. I’m hoping that having the dual-MFA will put me in good stead after I graduate.
Anyway, it all threw me off and I was edgy for most of the day. I did more community narrative though, to get writing practice in at least. Christopher Paul Curtis (Bud, Not Buddy and Elijah of Buxton) said he wrote for years during breaks while working at an auto factory – years of simple diary notes on how much he hated his boss. **chuckle**
Practice is practice,” he said, so I’m trying not to be too uptight about not chasing a contest or scholarship down tonight.
I’m going to sit on the email I got today and go through those risk questions Ben Cooper (Take the Risk) outlines in his book:
What’s the best thing that can happen if you don’t do this thing?
What’s the worst thing that can happen if you don’t do this thing?
What’s the best thing that can happen if you do this thing?
What’s the worst thing that can happen if you do this thing?
I think I know the answers, but I’ll meditate and see where that takes me next.
What If 