Being in an MFA Creative Writing Program

I am on day three of my 365-day personal writing challenge, and I almost skipped it. I have spent the day pampering my seven parakeets, reading about literary theory, fighting my dogs' anxiety from being cooped up because of all the dang snow, and working on an outlet review covering The Washington Post for one of my classes.

My brain is exhausted, but I know that the beginning of anything new is the most crucial for setting habits. I tend to give up to quickly and let excuses guide my way. I am more tired of failure than I am from this day, so here I am. It is nine pm, and I am just starting, but I will get it done!

I want to share my experiences so far being in an MFA program with you. I have seen a lot of mixed reviews from others who have gone on this endeavor, and I feel like a lot of them are negative, so I want to add some balance to the force.

Even more so, I will talk about my specific program, not just an MFA in general.

I have been taking courses in the MFA for creative writing at Liberty University since last May (2021), so I feel I have had enough time to give some insight into it.

I hope that if you are considering taking an MFA, what I am sharing with you will be helpful.

What it is like being in Christian based MFA program

It is a well-known fact that Liberty University is a Christian College. More specifically, its doctrine is that of basically the Southern Baptist religion. I will say upfront that as an adult in my 30’s, my religious background since I left the nest has been minimal.

Most of my Bible studies have been self-guided; I spent a couple of years watching Joyce Meyer’s sermons and reading her books. The rest of it has come from me being a student at Liberty. I currently hold a Bachelor’s of Science and Master of Arts degree from this school.

Even for someone without strong convictions, I enjoy being at this school. The professors are mostly kind and some are just the most amazing people I have ever worked with.

But I will say that there have been some days where completing assignments has been more difficult than others when they are Bible heavy. That is not just in this program, but throughout most of the programs offered at Liberty. Their mission is to "Train Champiagns in Christ," so this should be expected. My Master’s degree is in visual communication and design, and that was not as Bible heavy as the other programs that I have attended, but it was still engrained into every class.

Sometimes I see people simply state that they do not have a religious viewpoint, which is acceptable, and they are not reprimanded for it. But there are classes in this program that might prove difficult to complete without some background as a Christian.

For example, one course I completed in the MFA is Editing, Layout, and Publishing. In this course, we wrote a 4,000-word essay about our walk in faith. Once we wrote the piece, we spent several weeks working with a group of peers, group editing, and getting our collection of works together to create one publication from it.

In my group, a girl shared her experience with religion and was open about being unsure where she stood in her faith. That was acceptable. We all got an A on the final project.

It is one reason I like this school. It is not as judgemental as I have seen it made out to be. Personally, this is not an issue, as I do believe in God, and agree with their doctrine, I just am too much of an introvert to show up to church every week. But people from all walks of life do show up to class. Just plan on learning about God if you haven't already been acquainted with him.

What the workload is like

I have also read bad reviews about this school being a diploma mill. I will tell you right now if you sign up for an easy-going piece of paper that makes you look good, this is not going to be a good time for you.

It is all very fast-paced, and even though the entry requirements are minimal, there is still an application process. You must submit a writing sample for this particular program to be considered for admission. Some programs at the graduate level at Liberty do not require anything but a good GPA from a regionally accredited school. Still, some have more rigorous requirements, and the MFA is not an exception.

The reason for this is there are expectations of the level of work you can produce even in the beginning.

You hit the ground running when the doors open to class — or your courses are uploaded and available for access if you are going online. You may have to read from three or four textbooks or journals, watch several video lectures, and write a hefty paper by the end of the first week. It is not always like this, but at times it is.

I have joined several of Liberty’s student-run Facebook groups, and by the middle of the semester, I usually see students who are at their wits end feeling like they aren’t going to make it. Too many people jump into these programs thinking they will be easy, and they are not.

I wouldn’t expect anything but rigor.

I am not working on an MFA in creative writing because it is neat, I am here for the challenge to be the best I can be so I have a fighting chance at a career in writing.

But I do think it is a lot of fun! If you appreciate the burn from growing pains, you will love it.

What I have learned

When I first applied for the MFA program, I wasn’t sure what to expect, even though I could see what classes I needed to take. I just thought it would be a lot of writing. I didn’t consider what all goes into being a good writer — including being a good reader and researcher.

Technically you don’t have to be a great reader to be a writer. But if you want to be a good writer, it is important to understand what goes into good — even great — writing.

These classes have opened my eyes to so many authors, genres, and types of work that I would have never found otherwise. There is so much fantastic literature out there; it is easy to get caught up in what you know you like and leave it there. For an aspiring creative writer, this is a mistake!

I have learned about the structure of sentences and paragraphs in a way I never realized existed. Some writers write their paragraphs in rhythm, almost song-like. Slowing down to exam texts like that gave me a whole new appreciation for the process that goes into writing.

Aside from that, I have also learned how to do research before writing. That is relevant both in fiction and non-fiction. For fiction, you may need to research a location where you want to place your story. In non-fiction, unless you are a genius, you will need resources to back up claims.

Also, I have learned about how to submit to major publications. I was required to purchase the latest Writers Market, a large book full of names of publications, editors, and agents; many have contact information included. I have an affiliate link you can use to purchase this on Amazon here.

It is worth its weight in gold if you want to be published. I have the 2020 edition, but a new one just came out, and it is up to date.

The last thing I feel that I have learned that has dramatically improved my writing is the process of editing. In class, we are not just expected to edit our work but also to edit our peers’ work. This was something I was uncomfortable with at first.

I was a high school dropout and have not learned much about grammar since then, and I am in my 30’s. I about died the first time someone started marking up my work. I returned the favor, although I must admit I had no idea what I was doing and only can hope that the people I worked with within my first classes someday forgive me.

Then I took an editing class and worked in a group with a couple of girls who had earned a BFA degree in creative writing, and they were awesome at pointing me in the right direction to get caught up.

Besides the editing process, the hardest thing I have had to get comfortable with within this program has been revising my fiction. I am, by default, what is called a panster. I had worked with outlines for school papers, and even when I wrote a non-fiction book, but I was surprised that a lot of writers use an outline for fiction.

I will forever dread the outline but will never write a fiction story again without one. But my first experience with writing fiction, I was so confused that I did a complete rewrite of my story. Thankfully my professor felt that I had made the right decision, and it was a great improvement on my first draft.

What I have done outside of school to help me

When I first applied to the MFA, I had to submit a writing sample. The program at Liberty allows for you to choose your primary focus, and I was able to submit a non-fiction piece. In 2019 I wrote and published a guided journal with in-depth research sprinkled about it. Thankfully it met the word count requirements. I had worked hard on that book, so I was comfortable using it as my portfolio work.

And it got me in.

But when I realized how ignorant I was when it came to English grammar, I knew I had to do something about it. I decided to sign up for a proofreading course with Proofreading Academy, now called Knowadays. I found a few that I thought would be helpful, but I chose them specifically because they were affordable and had great reviews.

It was self-paced, but I decided to fly through it. I went through the course in about a month. Had I been a bit more patient, I would have done better. I missed getting accepted for their work guarantee by like 5 points. I was so mad, but it was my fault for not slowing down.

I learned so much despite that mistake, and I am happy I decided to take it on. The great thing is that I have access to the material forever, so I can go back and review anything I feel I need to refresh on.

If you are interested in taking a course like this, you can use my affiliate link here to take a look.

It was a game-changer for me. I still am not a grammar master, but I am still in my first year of this journey; I don’t expect that I will ever stop learning.

Grammarly

I will get more into Grammarly later, but I wanted to bring it up because it has helped me both in school and writing online. I see bad reviews about it, but it has been an excellent tool for me. I have learned that I cannot wholly rely on it, but I use the paid version, and it has taught me that sometimes a sentence can be reworded or rearranged to make a much stronger statement. It is also helping me make sense out of commas; I am terrible with them — sprinkling them around like confetti.

I will say that sometimes Grammarly goes a bit overboard with suggestions, and if you are not careful, it will take away your unique voice. I don’t recommend aimlessly accepting all their suggestions. I also insist that if you use Grammarly, you go back and proofread your work before you publish it because even Grammarly misses mistakes.

My hopes for the future

When I first started the MFA in creative writing, I was completely oblivious to my mission. But now, I have had time to explore, reflect and indulge myself in different types of writing. I have taken the time to feel the feels for copywriting, content writing, fiction, and academic writing.

I initially thought I would exit this program and focus more on professional copywriting or something along those lines, but a year later, I know that I am ready to dive further into literature and writing fiction and poetry.

And, of course, this blog. I hope that someday I may find that my content writing gets noticed, and somebody will want to pay me to write content that I enjoy researching and writing about.

I look forward to including different types of writing here and not limiting myself to just sharing my journey but sharing my creativity in several writing forms.

Final Thoughts

For tonight, this is where I leave you. If you are considering taking on an MFA, know that it is a lot of work. It will challenge you, even if you are an experienced writer. Going to a Christian school can be an option even if you do not come from a Christian background, but be prepared to learn about the Bible.

If you love to write and want to focus on growth, I personally think it is a great investment of time and money. Is it absolutely necessary? Maybe not, but I know I would have never come this far in the amount of time I have without it.

I made it to the end and even though it is two hours later, I am glad that I toughed out being tired. I really do hope that this has been insightful and given you something to think about.

If you have read this far, I am grateful for you. If you want to come for this ride with me, please feel free to subscribe and/or follow me! I'd love to connect.