I’ve been MIA for the last week but this time I have a good reason. Well, kind of anyway. I’ve been working on my website and researching writer fellowships and residencies.
Actually, I started with researching MFA programs
. I’ve been doing this for the last month in addition to blogging and I discovered quite a few MFA programs. I salivated over John Hopkins and Columbia University’s MFA programs for quite a few days wishing for that rich old aunt I never met then I moved on to more financially realistic programs but even the cheapest costs a ridiculous amount of money, which I just don’t have. I started looking for alternatives and stumbled on a recently published writer’s article about residencies. I’m not quite sure why I never explored this until now but better late than never.
As a writer, it is important to have time, space and most importantly, silence, to create. The humdrum of everyday life is guaranteed to drown out the thoughts in a writer’s head and cramp creative style. Well, it cramps my own style anyway. I wrote about it in Sweet Childhood, Sweet Bliss last year. A writer residency can provide the much needed solitude and concentration to get that book going or finally finish one. I am certain I could achieve more in 1 week at a residency that I can within 2 months at home. That’s how much regular life can stifle creativity.
Residencies are available all over the world (this is my favourite part as I love to travel) and are paid, free of charge, or provide scholarships/stipends. They last anywhere from a few days to a year or more. Researching and narrowing down residencies suitable to you is the first task and can be extraordinarily time consuming but worth the effort. Next comes the application stage. I’m at this stage now and it’s more or less like applying for a place at university. This is also time consuming. Hopefully, someone somewhere will be impressed enough with my writing to let me in :).
Here are the main resources I’ve used for my research:
Actually, I started with researching MFA programs
. I’ve been doing this for the last month in addition to blogging and I discovered quite a few MFA programs. I salivated over John Hopkins and Columbia University’s MFA programs for quite a few days wishing for that rich old aunt I never met then I moved on to more financially realistic programs but even the cheapest costs a ridiculous amount of money, which I just don’t have. I started looking for alternatives and stumbled on a recently published writer’s article about residencies. I’m not quite sure why I never explored this until now but better late than never. As a writer, it is important to have time, space and most importantly, silence, to create. The humdrum of everyday life is guaranteed to drown out the thoughts in a writer’s head and cramp creative style. Well, it cramps my own style anyway. I wrote about it in Sweet Childhood, Sweet Bliss last year. A writer residency can provide the much needed solitude and concentration to get that book going or finally finish one. I am certain I could achieve more in 1 week at a residency that I can within 2 months at home. That’s how much regular life can stifle creativity.
Residencies are available all over the world (this is my favourite part as I love to travel) and are paid, free of charge, or provide scholarships/stipends. They last anywhere from a few days to a year or more. Researching and narrowing down residencies suitable to you is the first task and can be extraordinarily time consuming but worth the effort. Next comes the application stage. I’m at this stage now and it’s more or less like applying for a place at university. This is also time consuming. Hopefully, someone somewhere will be impressed enough with my writing to let me in :).
Here are the main resources I’ve used for my research:
Poets & Writers
ResArtis
Trans Artists
If you’re looking for a place away from everyday life to pour all your time into your writing, a residency might just be the way to go.
ResArtis
Trans Artists
If you’re looking for a place away from everyday life to pour all your time into your writing, a residency might just be the way to go.
