I spent the past two weeks in Denver completing my final residency at Regis University’s Mile-High MFA. Over the last two years in the program, I’ve worked hard to write, revise, and edit my young adult novel-in-progress Sightless, and I’m so proud to say that I’m officially a graduate.
The picture above is from my thesis defense, where the lovely people in the image (From left: Dr. Marty McGovern, Mario Acevedo, and Denise Vega) asked me questions about my writing process, the development of Sightless, and the challenges I encountered along the way. It was so fun to talk about my book with industry professionals who understood my goals and process so thoroughly (Denise and Mario were my semester writing mentors through the program).
It feels strange to finally take off my “student” cap and search for the next hat to don, but I’m excited by the opportunities ahead of me. There’s a lot of debate online about whether an MFA is worth it, and I won’t get into that here, but I will say I’m confident I’m a MUCH better writer now than when I started. If nothing else, earning an MFA helped me build a thicker skin, learn to love revision, and recognize that it’s perfectly acceptable to label myself a writer.
That self-acceptance was worth every penny.
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