365 days of being a writer: day 1

I was going to call this experiment "365 days of trying to get into grad school" but another Spring's worth of rejections and suddenly my conceit falls flat on it's conceited ass before May.

If I really want to be a writer--like, really--then every day needs to be reaching toward that goal. Some days it will be in small ways, other days it will be all I do all day.

Today, I heard back from the University of Washington. They would consider a non-fiction manuscript, if I wanted to enter the program in the fiction department. There are several reasons why I am considering this.

I have also decided to remove Hollins and UNC Wilmington from my application list. Hollins because I can't get past the smug self-satisfaction that is all over their website and UNC because I kept forgetting it every time I tried to remember all the schools I was applying to. It's a good program, but it clearly doesn't have a hook for me. Colorado may get axed as well, as I am not sure if they take non-English majors. I still need to call on that. And that leaves Ohio State at Columbus, U Minn at Minneapolis, and U Wyoming at Laramie all tied for "one of you has to go." My initial plan to apply to 12 schools this season has been curtailed by the economy fucking me over yet again. Plan B is to try to keep it to 10. Here's hoping ten is my lucky number.

Last week, I sent a packet of writing and an update on my life since my BFA to one of my former thesis advisors. The schools really want to hear from my former professors (which I think is kind of nuts) so I reached out to Jack. I only checked my email about eleventy-thousand times to see if he had responded yet.

I also poked around for a writerly job. It would be dumb to quit the one I have, but I'll be too poor to go to school if I don't. This is a major burden on my mind, so I check craigslist somewhat neurotically. But it's something that really needs to be set aside for a bit, so I am hereby doing that.

That was today: admin work, and no writing. Except for this. Tomorrow, I will commit to 30 minutes of brainstorming, with the condition it be on my glacier essay, and not on my Statement of Purpose. Here's to the year starting... now.