in case you missed the news:

here is my graduate school. I have started an MFA in Writing, focusing on writing for children and young adults.

MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults | VCFA

the reason I chose this emphasis is that the faculty are outstanding. The faculty at the other writing program are less impressive.

I have completed one of five residencies--two-week stints on campus in Vermont. The rest will be in July of this year, January and July of 2017, and my graduate residency is January 2018.

it's an amazing program.

here is my advisor for this semester:

Uma Krishnaswami

she's amazing.

I have one packet due to her each month. My first packet is due this Saturday.

a packet consists of 20-40 pages of new creative work; 2 critical essays, either author studies or examining elements of craft; and an annotated bibliography of at least 10 books I've read during the month.

at least one of you requested this information; here it is. Let me know if I missed anything.

now, I'm off to work on my new novel, the first several chapters of which will fulfill the first requirement above.

this is great! I'm so glad. I'm sure it will be motivating. Looking forward to those residential segments is going to be exciting.

an exciting new chapter of life!

So this is what "pulling on one's bootstraps" looks like in the writing world.

, well, with an MFA in Writing, she could teach at the college level.

other than that, I can't think of anything.

publishing pays notoriously badly, so I don't recommend that.