The Portable MFA in Creative Writing (New York Writers Workshop)

by The New York Writers Workshop

Time. This is the most important thing the MFA candidate is buying: the time to suspend all “real-life” concerns, and to write. Time is a luxury, and while

the gradual passage of time, with its potential accrual of wisdom and craft, might be on the writer's side, the tick-tick-ticking away of the immediate present is definitely the writer's enemy. MFA programs offer you a lot of the immediate present, and that can prove to be invaluable.

Community. The MFA program is a place to cultivate a community of writers. Some of the people in my old program still look at my work, and I theirs, and it's helpful to know where someone's critique is coming from. It's als...

(This must be lacking in the low-residency programs, except when the participants convene, which i...