Calling all MFA in Creative Writing students! Do you want your own Writer’s Digest Blog?

This
post is for all you current MFA in Creative Writing students or MFA students to be. Sadly, I only have a few more
months left as an MFA-er and soon I’ll have to pass the MFA Confidential baton over to another blogger for the fall.

I
remember entering this contest last year and thinking—what a great experience that would be. What do I have to lose? I was shocked and elated when I found out
I’d won the contest and would have my own blog connected to Writer’s Digest. Writing this blog has
been an absolute blast, not to mention a learning experience. I met a writing
friend recently for wine and fries at a favorite NY bistro and I told her, I feel like a light has gone on in terms of
my process. I get it now. I understand what I am trying to do. Call it the awakening, my friend joked.
But she’s not so far off. It has been an awakening of sorts—I used to dive into
my writing not quite knowing what I was doing, where I was headed, what I
wanted to get out of it. But now, through the MFA program and this very blog, I
understand these things much better. I’ve learned about my own writing process by
writing about it. Here. To all of
you.

But,
I must say that my favorite part about the blog has been all the readers and
their thoughtful comments. The connection. Yes, that’s the best… talking to
writers from all walks of life and in all stages of the game. I get to post
something that says: I think I am the
worst writer ever and people say, Yay!
We loved your post. We’re pretty bad sometimes, too.Don’t worry, it gets better. As cheesy as it sounds, you feel less
alone. Being part of the Writer’s Digest
community has also been great. They’re generous people. Nice people. And they sincerely want to see writers
succeed.

I
encourage all current MFA students to enter the contest to be the next MFA
blogger. Or, if you’re slated to begin a program in the fall, you should definitely
apply, too. Don’t know if you got in yet? No worries—the contest is open until
July 1st.

Here’s how to enter:

• Submit 1–3 sample posts, no more than 1,000 words total, in the body of an
e-mail to writersdigest@fwmedia.com with “MFA
Confidential” in the subject line. Include your full name, address, e-mail,
daytime phone number and the name of the graduate program and school in which
you are enrolled. Attachments will not be opened. Entrants must be enrolled in a
writing-focused graduate program (Master of Fine Arts, Master of Arts or
comparable degree) during the 2010–2011 school year to be eligible.

• Judging criteria are quality of writing, uniqueness of perspectives/subject
matter, strong voice and creativity. • One entry per person. • WD retains all
rights to the winner’s entry and subsequent blog posts, including publication
on our website and/or in the magazine. • WD editors will
select the winner from all eligible entries. • The decisions of the WD
editors are final.

• Deadline is July 1, 2010;
the winning blogger will be responsible for posting three times a week from
September 2010 through May 2011 at WritersDigest.com.

For official rules, click here.

Good luck! And feel free to drop me a comment if you have
any questions!

“As I
write I create myself again and again.”

-Joy
Harjo