Baby’s First Shipwreck

Or: Where Mace Briefly talks about finishing their masters. And then you get a story.

WE ARE DONE THANK THE GODS

That’s right. Earlier this month, I officially finished my last term of my MA in creative writing. There is a whole lot I could say, and there is an equal amount of what I would have done differently. But, for a moment, just the cathartic scream of ACCOMPLISHMENT feels really good.

I really enjoyed the MA program I was in (SNHU, fully online), and knew going in that it was going to be different than doing the MFA program. I’ve got a BA in theatre, which also has a BFA counterpart. The conservatory-esq focus on just the Art/craft makes a big difference. Because of that, you might be surprised how LITTLE writing I walked away with.

In the 18 months, I did a LOT of research and learning about the craft. I love literary theory and analysis, which was why the MA was a bigger draw for me. If I had taken the MFA route, I wouldn’t have finally gotten to read an Octavia Butler novel (Fledgling) or discovered Ta-Nehisi Coates (Between the World and Me). I wouldn’t have been able to rant about the queer erasure in Frankenstein and The Portrait of Dorian Gray. The MA program was a firm reminder that I LOVE English in general, not just my little corner of high magic and science fiction.

That is to say, outside of the 30K portion of a manuscript that I completed for my thesis, I only walked away with two pieces of new, creative fiction. I know ONLY like half a novel and two fully drafted short stories makes it seem like that isn’t a lot of writing. Trust me, I know it is. But still, my one regret is that I wasn’t able to get more CREATIVE work done in terms of finished pieces.

You don’t NEED both degrees. But while they are both Masters level degrees that focus on writing, they do so in different ways. If you’re only going to do one, which you absolutely only NEED to do one, do your research and really think about what you want to get out of it. I’m taking a few months off and considering if I really want to take on an MFA, so we’ll see from there.

I PROMISED YOU A STORY

After the page break is the one of the two short fiction pieces I wrote for one of my classes. She’s a little clunky, and I haven’t done another pass/read through since I wrote her. But she’s fun. Complete with a little bit of sapphic mermaid yearning.