I Heart Spalding

Maybe you like to write, and you’re thinking about refining your craft in a formal setting. An MFA hovers on the horizon, and you consider going back to school. Then, you think about attending classes and turning in homework every week and how you’re going to fit school into your life. Impossible, you think. Allow me to introduce you to a magnificent solution. Spalding University’s Low-Residency MFA program.

I’m in my second year of the program, and I can’t say enough good things about it. I love the format. Writers should be writing, not sitting in class, and this school believes in that. The school offers a shorter Fall and Spring semester with the 10-day residency at the Kentucky campus. The alternative – of which I partake – is the extended eight-month Summer semester with a 10-day residency in a different country every summer. The semester kicks off with the residency abroad. At the residency, students attend faculty lectures on different aspects of writing, among other literary-related activities. PLUS you are guaranteed an hour-long workshop where your work is solely discussed. This is incredibly informative, not to mention how helpful it is to participate in the workshops on the writing of others in your group.

Once you return home, you are responsible for mailing off a packet every six weeks to a faculty mentor. The packet contains two papers you write on works you chose to inform your own writing – my focus is on YA lit right now so my reading list has a bevy of YA books like Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak and Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere. The paper topics are meant to focus on some aspect of craft that the author incorporated into their work, so they become a tool for you to think about how you can apply lessons learned to your own writing. In addition to the papers, you turn in 35-45 pages of creative writing. Total packets turned in per semester? Five. Total number of creative writing pages, counting your workshop submission? 200 to 250.

The positives? The six-week deadline keeps me motivated to sit down and write. The three-to-five page letter my faculty mentor sends me with comments on each packet shows me where I can improve my writing. If you are seeking one-on-one mentoring, you can’t beat this program. Also, of all the programs I researched, Spalding had the greatest variety of subjects. You can focus on fiction, non-fiction, screenwriting, writing for children, and more!

The negatives? The program can be pricey once you add in travel costs, but there are scholarships and financial aid available.

Check out the program details here.