UGH...I saw someone post that they'd been called this morning and I immediately went and got my cell phone (which will again be glued to my side). So I had a voice mail on there and it was from a number I didn't recognize. The stupid voicemail was like someone called me on accident lol. It was a bunch of background noise, like in a mall or something. So I looked up the area code and it was from New Jersey. I didn't apply to any school in Jersey so there's no need for alarm. Only disgust, there is room for disgust with that voice mail.
I'm alright though. What will be will be regardless. Indiana is very high on my list though. Like #2. It's above even Iowa. It is my Iowa. Cornell is Cornell and Indiana is my Iowa. lol Now I sound crazy.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
So I Was Wrong...
Florida State called a poet on 1/24. I'm assuming this person was awarded one of those university wide fellowships the FSU rep on the MFA blog mentioned since those people are accepted first, I think.
I'm developing a pattern of making assumptions about people who get notified from my schools. At least they are good assumptions. I just assume that they are awesome.
I'm developing a pattern of making assumptions about people who get notified from my schools. At least they are good assumptions. I just assume that they are awesome.
Friday, January 23, 2009
My guess...
on the next one of my schools to start notifying: Indiana. Followed by Cornell. Let's see if I'm right. Oh, I think Boise State will notify soon too.
This is crazy! So many notifications are going on right now and so early: Memphis, Minnesota for fiction and poetry! It's crazy being caught up in the madness this year instead of lurking and wondering how everyone must be feeling like I did the last 2 years.
This is crazy! So many notifications are going on right now and so early: Memphis, Minnesota for fiction and poetry! It's crazy being caught up in the madness this year instead of lurking and wondering how everyone must be feeling like I did the last 2 years.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Acceptance: Alabama!
I received a call from the director of the creative writing program today. He said a lot of nice things. I'll try to cover what he said because I've always wondered what those calls were like.
So the call came in from a 205 area code. He introduced himself and what program he was calling from then said they'd like to accept me. I swear he almost sounded like he was calling to talk about something else because his pauses seemed to last forever. My mom was sitting across the room and I started waving at her frantically saying, this is it! lol She comes over and kneels down next to me trying to hear through the cell phone too lol.
He said that they really liked my sample, that I was doing a lot of different things with the poems and they liked that, he made a comment about one of my poems and how someone on the committee could hear it being read out loud, they really liked my sonnet crown. Then he said that it was a great packet...my letters were great, he mentioned my poetry professor's letter specifically, he said my SOP was great (which totally surprised me lol). Then he thanked me for sending a great packet.
I asked him, "What should I be asking you?" and he laughed. He said that we don't have to rush and he sent me an email as soon as we got off the phone with all the details and contact information and all that. There is an opportunity for them to assist with a campus visit but I may be in Egypt so I may not be able to do that. Hmmmmm....I have to sort that out.
I just got done sending my poetry professor a mushy email about how she changed my life LOL. Maybe I should have waited until I calmed down to give her the news lol.
Special shout-out to M.! Thanks again!
So the call came in from a 205 area code. He introduced himself and what program he was calling from then said they'd like to accept me. I swear he almost sounded like he was calling to talk about something else because his pauses seemed to last forever. My mom was sitting across the room and I started waving at her frantically saying, this is it! lol She comes over and kneels down next to me trying to hear through the cell phone too lol.
He said that they really liked my sample, that I was doing a lot of different things with the poems and they liked that, he made a comment about one of my poems and how someone on the committee could hear it being read out loud, they really liked my sonnet crown. Then he said that it was a great packet...my letters were great, he mentioned my poetry professor's letter specifically, he said my SOP was great (which totally surprised me lol). Then he thanked me for sending a great packet.
I asked him, "What should I be asking you?" and he laughed. He said that we don't have to rush and he sent me an email as soon as we got off the phone with all the details and contact information and all that. There is an opportunity for them to assist with a campus visit but I may be in Egypt so I may not be able to do that. Hmmmmm....I have to sort that out.
I just got done sending my poetry professor a mushy email about how she changed my life LOL. Maybe I should have waited until I calmed down to give her the news lol.
Special shout-out to M.! Thanks again!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
UGH- Alabama called someone!
Alright, so someone reported that they got a call for poetry from Alabama today. That's one of my schools! I received no such call. lol I'm actually alright. I've decided that this person is a Wunderkind whose sample shined so brightly they got called waaaaay early. lol Now my cell phone seems abnormally still. It's just a little black box doing nothing right now.
Well, today I found out my security clearance went through so I'm now preparing to leave for Egypt! I almost don't want to go. Which means that I almost just want to sit looking at the phone and stalking the mail box instead.
Well, today I found out my security clearance went through so I'm now preparing to leave for Egypt! I almost don't want to go. Which means that I almost just want to sit looking at the phone and stalking the mail box instead.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
I Imagine
You know what I love to read? The Welcome message in literary journals. I love when they list who they previously published. My hope is that one day a journal that took my poems will be proud to be able to say, "Hey, we published (me) back in the day" and then announce it in the list of other respected poets. God, that will be hard to accomplish. Fame or even respect lol isn't my ultimate reason for writing, I just have a need to express myself or I find myself extremely unhappy. But I don't just want to express myself, I want to express myself in the best way possible so as to be understood. That's why I've chosen to study creative writing, I guess.
It feels good to be submitting again.
It feels good to be submitting again.
Submission: Waccamaw
The good thing about submitting to journals online is that I can read previous issues instead of just using a mission statement or submission guidelines to try to guess how I'd fit. So WOW. The writing in Waccamaw is so image rich! I really like this journal. So I sent 4 poems. We shall see.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Submission: RATTLE
They are having a special African-American edition in June 2009. So we'll see.
It's funny. I haven't had any acceptances to anything soliciting African-Americans. That's not the funny part lol. That's fine...there is stiff competition. But the 2 pieces that I have had accepted dealt with race (among other things) but the publications weren't focused on that subject. So that's nice (and possibly the funny part I was mentioning). I used to be afraid to talk about race, thinking that I would be declared a stereotypical black poet. My poetry professor (who is not black) must have sensed that and she started just lending me books out of the blue. The one that woke me up the most was Hip Logic by Terrance Hayes. The skill with which he dealt with race and all his politically oriented subjects amazed me. I knew I was only hurting myself by not allowing my poetry to represent me in my truest form. I'll be forever grateful to that professor because my poetry changed for the better and those pieces, my truest pieces, are the ones that are being accepted.
So yeah, I said all of that to say, odds are I won't get accepted for this one lol.
It's funny. I haven't had any acceptances to anything soliciting African-Americans. That's not the funny part lol. That's fine...there is stiff competition. But the 2 pieces that I have had accepted dealt with race (among other things) but the publications weren't focused on that subject. So that's nice (and possibly the funny part I was mentioning). I used to be afraid to talk about race, thinking that I would be declared a stereotypical black poet. My poetry professor (who is not black) must have sensed that and she started just lending me books out of the blue. The one that woke me up the most was Hip Logic by Terrance Hayes. The skill with which he dealt with race and all his politically oriented subjects amazed me. I knew I was only hurting myself by not allowing my poetry to represent me in my truest form. I'll be forever grateful to that professor because my poetry changed for the better and those pieces, my truest pieces, are the ones that are being accepted.
So yeah, I said all of that to say, odds are I won't get accepted for this one lol.
Submission: Naugatuck River Review
They're looking for narrative poetry. I had good luck with a narrative submission in the past so we'll see if this one works out for me!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Doot-doot-do <---That's Waiting's Soundtrack
I am totally and completely in limbo now. But you know what the omnipotent "they" says about "the best-laid plans of mice and men" and all that. So I was hoping to be doing my waiting for MFA notifications while overseas on an internship. The security clearance process is taking a long time so who knows when I'll be leaving. So instead of alleviating waiting stress, this internship added itself to the list of things I'm waiting to find out about!
All things considered, I'm extremely blessed. I didn't consider that some people weren't able to apply to as many MFA programs as they would have liked for financial reasons. I'm not rich or even middle-class anymore after going back to school full-time, but I was able to pull it off. Let me try to add up what I spent:
GRE: $140
Sending GRE Scores: $160
Transcripts: $320
Application Fees: $660
Total: $1280
They say(there's the omnipotent they again) that you get what you put out back ten-fold or something like that. So hopefully I'll get a fellowship or stipend worth at least $12,800 lol. I'll report back here with how that turns out, of course. Wait for it.
All things considered, I'm extremely blessed. I didn't consider that some people weren't able to apply to as many MFA programs as they would have liked for financial reasons. I'm not rich or even middle-class anymore after going back to school full-time, but I was able to pull it off. Let me try to add up what I spent:
GRE: $140
Sending GRE Scores: $160
Transcripts: $320
Application Fees: $660
Total: $1280
They say(there's the omnipotent they again) that you get what you put out back ten-fold or something like that. So hopefully I'll get a fellowship or stipend worth at least $12,800 lol. I'll report back here with how that turns out, of course. Wait for it.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
16/16- FINISHED!!!!
WHOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Can someone please tell me why Boise State's application was the worst of them all. The TA app required me to critique a student paper and suggest improvements and answer essay questions! I just wasn't in the mood but I got it done. I'm glad I got it done because I miscalculated their application deadline and today I realized their deadline is actually January 15. So I did end up getting all my apps done on time. One of my biggest motivators was the fact that my recommenders had taken the time to prepare 16 letters for me so I couldn't back out of applying to any schools (out of laziness) because I didn't want their letters to go to waste. Seriously, the last 4 applications I considered not doing just because I was tired of doing applications and I saved my lower ranked schools for last. Watch...my only acceptance will come from one of those schools lol. Well, all I need is one yes. At least I've given myself 16 chances to hear it.
I plan to get back to submitting my poems for publication...even though I'm sick of looking at them. I'm interested in doing some character development for a short story or a screenplay or something. I don't know, I just know I'm feeling like creating a character. I think it was Claudia Emerson who previously wrote poetry books in different personas (I'm sure many others have done it but I heard her talk about it at a reading, I think). I think one was an old farmer or something. I plan to write about a drag queen. Different strokes for different folks, I guess lol. So I'll do this whole character thing and see if it ends up in poetry or prose. Who knows? At least I'm getting back to writing!
Can someone please tell me why Boise State's application was the worst of them all. The TA app required me to critique a student paper and suggest improvements and answer essay questions! I just wasn't in the mood but I got it done. I'm glad I got it done because I miscalculated their application deadline and today I realized their deadline is actually January 15. So I did end up getting all my apps done on time. One of my biggest motivators was the fact that my recommenders had taken the time to prepare 16 letters for me so I couldn't back out of applying to any schools (out of laziness) because I didn't want their letters to go to waste. Seriously, the last 4 applications I considered not doing just because I was tired of doing applications and I saved my lower ranked schools for last. Watch...my only acceptance will come from one of those schools lol. Well, all I need is one yes. At least I've given myself 16 chances to hear it.
I plan to get back to submitting my poems for publication...even though I'm sick of looking at them. I'm interested in doing some character development for a short story or a screenplay or something. I don't know, I just know I'm feeling like creating a character. I think it was Claudia Emerson who previously wrote poetry books in different personas (I'm sure many others have done it but I heard her talk about it at a reading, I think). I think one was an old farmer or something. I plan to write about a drag queen. Different strokes for different folks, I guess lol. So I'll do this whole character thing and see if it ends up in poetry or prose. Who knows? At least I'm getting back to writing!
Friday, January 9, 2009
14/16- Almost Done!
I have sent out 14 out of 16 of my applications. All I have left are Boise State's and Georgia State's applications. I totally lost steam in regards to completing the last 9 of my applications.
I got an email from U of Alabama stating they were missing transcripts from one of my undergrad schools. So I called them this morning and the wonderful woman with the best southern accent ever (I have a thing for accents since I don't have one...at all) looked through the pile and found that it just hadn't been entered into the system. PHEW! So she made my day.
Alright...these last 2 will be out tomorrow. 16 is a lot of applications. A lot.
I got an email from U of Alabama stating they were missing transcripts from one of my undergrad schools. So I called them this morning and the wonderful woman with the best southern accent ever (I have a thing for accents since I don't have one...at all) looked through the pile and found that it just hadn't been entered into the system. PHEW! So she made my day.
Alright...these last 2 will be out tomorrow. 16 is a lot of applications. A lot.
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