Well, I’m back from Portland only slightly worse for wear (I’m sure 72 hours of sleep will fix that right up) and since I received official written notification, I’m pretty sure I can share my good news I’ve been blathering on about:
My first ever grant! Washington State Artist Trust has awarded me a GAP (grant for artists) grant for my Japanese book project, titled something like “The Woman Disappears” or “She Returns to the Floating World,” depending on my mood. (Please feel free to opine on title in the comments.) Thanks so much for your comments and encouragement last week 🙂 I especially liked the guess that I had the Guggenheim, which I thought was quite optimistic and sweet! Maybe someday…
For now, I’m very excited about this and take it as a sign I should not run off and become a sculptor or something. I have oft described myself as someone who doesn’t win grants, so now I have to come up with some other descriptor. I also know that my fellow Steel Toe Books author Martha Silano, and local writer-friends Susan Rich and Ronda Broatch, were awarded grants as well. Congrats girls! The total number of writers awarded grants was about half the number of visual artists, and several less than the number of theater-related artists. Maybe we writers should start submitting slide shows with our grant applications.
The graduation party at Pacific was a lot of fun (though technically I graduated in January, we didn’t have a party then, so…) and got to visit with all my former advisors who were all sweet and enthusiastic. One of the faculty whom I adore, Sandra Alcosser, with whom I never got to work officially, actually gave me notes on my second book MS, and really encouraged me, giving me specific feedback and telling me to hit the contests hard. The difference between this particular low-res program and my residential MA at U of Cincinnati is pretty shocking in terms of – at UC you were lucky to get any outside-of-class one-on-one time with any of the workshop leaders, whom you saw once a week for workshop – at this MFA program I’m pretty sure all the faculty keep better track of me than my grandmother (some of them knew about my grant before I did!) and they are all just so supportive and generous with their time. Genuinely interested in how the students are doing, in their work. Maybe it’s just Pacific, and I know I had a great bunch of unique advisors, but sheesh! I’m thinking of adopting them as my extended family. I strongly recommend low-res programs to anyone who wants one-on-one time with great writers. If you want a lot of peer review, you’re better off at a residential program, though.
I also loved visiting with the younger students, especially this new bunch of girls who are so bright and interested in feminism etc. They’re a pretty impressive group, and when I hang around them I think “it wouldn’t be so bad teaching college.” Of course I’m always giving them advice like “learn technical writing/journalism/advertising writing so you can support yourself and not end up relying on your husband or boyfriend or starving” which I’m pretty sure is exactly what my mom said to me in my early twenties and why I worked ten years in corporate America before I focused on writing poetry. It’s my cynical nature, perhaps, but I believe artistic-type writers should also have a “trade” so they can feed themselves and have health insurance while they’re waiting for their big breaks, especially the single girls who might otherwise be tempted by some jerky rich guy. Or if they’re poets, because even our big breaks are somewhat less than inspiring financially than the fiction or memoirist’s big breaks. What do you guys think? Is that a good or bad thing to tell a young creative writer? Am I a terrible influence on young minds?
Okay, I’m going to unpack and breathe, but, oh, I am feeling happy and grateful and ready to face the rejection slips again!