” I Don’t Have to Pay for an MFA in Creative Writing ? “

Click the Image to Enter the Do It Yourself Master in Fine Arts (creative writing) Site

Just in case you don’t know what an MFA is, it’s a Master of Fine Arts degree and, according to one source, it can cost $US 13,800 in a public institution or $US 36,300 at a private school.

I want to introduce the idea of doing the work for an MFA without paying for it; but, I should share a bit about a lesser goal first—the bare beginnings of learning how to write.

The left side-bar has my Subject Index Links—the larger the words of an entry in that list, the more posts I’ve written about that topic.

So, two particular Top Tags you can explore to read posts that might help you learn to write are Creative Writing (with 29 posts) and Writing Advice (with 60 posts)…

However, I’m not a professor of creative writing—I’m a self-taught creative writer who also blogs.

So, what my posts usually tell you are my opinions on what to avoid; plus, I give you plenty of links to other resources…

Now, let’s get to the heart of the matter—doing the work of an MFA in creative writing without paying thousands of dollars.

First, check out the site diyMFA—Do It Yourself Master of Fine Arts.

Read about the formula they use—Writing + Reading + Community = MFA.

Check out their Writing Resources Page.

Check out their Reading Resources Page.

And, check out their Community Resources Page.

And, if you’re extremely serious about learning to write, you should also check out what the founder of diyMFA—Gabriela Pereira—has to say about the site…

One more, possibly important, point.

If you pay for a normal MFA in creative writing, you also earn the right to teach creative writing.

However, let me quote Michael Nye, managing editor of The Missouri Review, in the article, The MFA Degree: A Bad Decision?:

“There are many excellent professors, brand spankin’ new and decades old veterans, who hold only MFA degrees. One could absolutely be a terrific professor and a write a dozen wonderful books: they exist now and probably always will. But if asked, I’d suggest taking a long, hard look at pursuing a doctorate at a program like Florida State, the University of Cincinnati, or any of the other thirty departments that offer creative writing doctorates. It might be the wave, the next great shift in creative writing programs, and isn’t it better to be ahead of that curve?”

By the way, I’m sorry this post leans so heavily toward the MFA in the USA—true, most of my readers are in the USA—still, I’d love to hear about similar programs in other countries in the Comments of this post…

I’ll wrap up with a video from the diyMFA site:

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