Snapshopts from the MFA Debate

Do writers need MFAs to succeed as writers? You can name a boatload of people who didn’t: Hemingway, Tolstoy, Chekhov, etc etc etc. Is that because the MFA programs weren’t out there yet, or because they had other ways of pursuing their writing?

Corey Campbell on the UCLA Extension Writers' Program Blog

Many programs combine the study of literature with the teaching of craft, giving students a well-rounded education. If you don’t need or want this, you may be better off having your novel critiqued by a manuscript consultant or teacher and not worry about getting a degree.

Wendy Nelson Tokunaga

I used to measure the dedication and seriousness of a writer by how quickly they published, and I did NOT feel successful. Now, I measure the dedication and seriousness of a writer by how long they keep writing WITHOUT publishing.

Laurel Snyder, guest blogging on the Happy Booker
this post has some great insight!

In all honesty, some of the feedback steered me off course in my novel–and not being as confident as I ought to have been as a writer, I went off-roading for awhile, excising chapters in my novel that turned out to be valuable, writing chapters that I later threw away.

Jade Park

If you know writing is what you want to do, life-long, you’re going to find ways to keep doing that regardless.

Karen Rigby, interviewed by WOW!