the unreliable author

Longform.org podcast with n+1 editor/founder Keith Gessen:

Gessen: “I learned when I was a staff writer at New York magazine that pitching stuff to editors, in a way it’s kind of hopeless. As a writer, you just don’t know what editors are thinking, and you’ll never know what they’re thinking. The New Yorker . . . sent me to Kazakhstan, and they sent me to the Arctic . . . There’s a kind of vague outline and then you have to fill it in. With ‘Moscow Traffic,’ this is a story I pitched numerous times and they were like, ‘This isn’t gonna work.’ And so I just did it–I’ve done that a few times. You can ask for permission all the time, and if you think it’s a good idea you just do it and send it in.”

Poe was po’.

Probably one of the most interesting components thus far of applying to Creative Writing MFA programs has been following this blog, the “Creative Writing MFA Handbook.” Apparently every year MFA applicants convene here to discuss what schools they applied to and report on their acceptances/rejections as they filter in. I’ve been lurking silently, a voyeur, fascinated by what the comments on this blog say about how writers view themselves and how much weight is placed on obtaining the MFA in order to “be a writer.”

Commenters describe their anxiety levels, state what round of MFA application this is (although some people are accepted on the first try, there are some who are on their second or third go–which is shared as encouragement to re-submit applications next year), and talk about how they are coping with the waiting (whiskey, chili and cornbread, hatching plans to form writing groups, “more yoga”). People also exchange tips about funding, commiserate about the quality of life in cities like Baltimore (so newly gentrified), and wail about how they realize now that they screwed up on the Personal Statement, and “can someone who was accepted explain what they did with their Statement” (I cringe at the incorrect grammar there, but even aspiring writers drift into bloghorrific language). One commenter named “SnackAttack” has become obsessive and dominates the discussion at every turn; when a blog administrator posted a new thread (it’s up to the 5th thread now), Snack Attack jumped in with: “Just wanted to be first in something today. Go team!” And this is not SnackAttack’s first year on the blog; this commenter even remembers what month certain schools notified about poetry acceptances in previous years. Continue Reading »