The End of the MFA

It has finally happened. I am reaching the end of my Master’s in Fine Arts in Creative Writing. As I’ve referenced in previous posts (here, here, and here), this journey has not been easy from the very beginning. I was thinking about dropping out before I even started. However, I stayed with it using “sheer bloodymindedness” as one dear friend told me. That attitude would end up destroying me. I honestly didn’t know I could still be broken like this and I can already tell that I will need years to heal from has happened and how hard it has been to balance this program alongside running my business.

Bowed, Broken, Bewildered, and Bitter

I recently completed my process paper for the entire program and I titled it the same way I titled this section of my article. That is how I feel. This program has broken me. The hours required have been extreme. I had to pack things into semesters when I could schedule them with absolutely no flexibility from administration (see more on that below) and I had to endure terrible experiences along the way.

Terminal Degree

I will admit that when it came to the intensity of a terminal degree program I was not aware how intense that would be. I’ll own that. I didn’t really understand the concept until I sat with someone from another department at residency and they explained to me what a terminal degree program really meant. I should not have arrived with the attitude of a master’s program; I should have arrived thinking like it was a PhD…