Interview with Author and Poet Lori A. May

Lori A. May

“Literary citizenship.”  Lori A. May introduced me to the term during the Whidbey Island MFA Residency last year.  Over a weekend, she delivered inspiring talks about how to promote the work of other writers through review-writing, networking, and social media.  I met her in the midst of her latest book project, The Low-Residency MFA Handbook: A Guide for Prospective Creative Writing Students (Continuum, 2011).

As a low-res Creative Writing grad myself (the uproarious class of ’94 took the God out of Goddard College), I appreciate May’s careful research and superb chapter-organization to make sense of a style of higher education that can be mystifying.  Since her book hit the shelves, I’ve recommended it to my undergrads at the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon and at U.C. Berkeley’s online extension program .

May kindly agreed to an interview about the topics addressed in her new book.  We did a Q&A via e-mail earlier this week.

MH: So many of my graduating journalism students have approached me over the years and asked whether an MFA in Creative Writing degree would be useful to them. I know you discuss this in your book, but can you comment briefly on the benefits of an MFA program, as you see them?

LAM: I think anyone who feels drawn to writing as not just a path to publication but as a way of life will benefit from an intensive program of study like the MFA. The MFA is a great way to immerse one’s self in the writing life and to learn and obtain those skills that will continually fuel the writing habit. It’s exactly that-a habit that forms and is best when nurtured. An MFA program-or any intense colony of writers-provides such nurturing from an automatic community, a collegial gathering of like-minded souls who desire nothing more than to push one another creatively. Having the right group of people to support you through challenges and triumphs, knowing there is a cheering squad for your every move, can be invigorating and push you to reach new heights. Of course, there’s all the practical benefits one gains from a writing program, too: learning how to properly submit one’s work, learning what editors and agents are looking for in submissions, and how to build a sustainable life from writing and writing related activities are all valuable lessons learned in a graduate program. The MFA is a terminal degree-but it is not the final step in a writer’s career. This is one of many paths to help a writer fill his or her toolbox with the skills and know-how to keep writing, to keep moving forward.

MH: Another concern my students have relates to cost. Many Masters programs in Creative Writing offer students a paid teaching or editing position, offsetting most–if not all–of their tuition. As you researched low-residency programs for your book, did you find similar arrangements, or should low-res students expect to pay the bulk of their tuition?

LAM: There is certainly a growing trend within low-res programs to provide grad assistantship opportunities-on and off campus. Some programs offer editorial internships or placements that provide moderate funding while others employ students to assist with administrative tasks. Some of these opportunities are available to students no matter where they live and others require the student be closer to campus, but there’s often a few opportunities students should ask about when they contact program reps for more information. It never hurts to ask what funding opportunities are available.

Yes, there are more limits to what low-res programs offer as there aren’t the usual in-class teaching assistantships, but you’d be surprised at the opportunities available to low-res students. A few of the programs featured in The Low-Residency MFA Handbook that offer scholarships and fellowships include Spalding, Wilkes, and Pacific Lutheran, but not all funding is a result of assistantships either. As an example, Northwest Institute of Literary Arts offers a handful of partial scholarships based on a creative writing submission and Fairfield University provides an annual financial award and book publication prize open only to their student body.

Funding is out there, but it’s something each prospective student needs to seek out. And, yes, most students will find their needs are likely met with personal savings and student loans. But, as Melanie Faith, who graduated from Queens University of Charlotte, says: “It’s a worthwhile trade-off.” Each student can decide for him or herself if the time and financial commitment of two or three years of intense writing study is worth it in the long run. Many think so. Others may not, and that’s okay. There is more than one way to delve into the craft.

MH: I was in my mid-20s when I completed the low-residency MFA program in Creative Writing at Goddard College, and I feel like I didn’t know, or take advantage of, the opportunities offered through the program. What advice can you offer potential students about getting the most out of their low-residency program in terms of both education and networking?

LAM: One of the biggest suggestions I have is to get acquainted with the faculty! Incoming students are sometimes shy or intimidated by the already established community of writers within a program, be it faculty, visiting guests, and upper year students. Push that shyness away and introduce yourself! Meet people. This is not just about networking. Actually, it’s very little to do with networking. I think a great deal can be learned in the less formal moments of a residency. Faculty and guest writers are there for the students and they want to talk to them! They want to share their personal stories and their knowledge acquired over the years. It may feel awkward at first, but I’d advise each and every new student to just bite the bullet and pull up a chair to a ‘faculty table’ during common meals. Get to know them. Get to know your community. Ask them questions. They’ll certainly ask them of you and want to know what motivates you, what you read, what you write. Use the opportunity to find out more about how so-and-so got published the first time around, what he or she is working on now, what books and authors are hot on their list of must-reads at the moment, anything!

Really, the more you get to know your faculty, the more you get to know what resources are available to you. In the beginning, it should just be about making yourself comfortable within the community of mentors and peers-and you will learn just as much from your fellow students-but later, when the time comes, you’ll know who to approach for advice on queries, agents, editors, and the everyday business of writing. Making those contacts early on will prove valuable later – and not just for networking’s sake, but for general support and encouragement, well beyond the degree, as well.

MH: Can you offer a couple of low-residency success stories you’ve run across during your research–maybe students who graduated with an MFA degree from a low-res program and immediately sold a book or got a great teaching position?

LAM: Well, it’s funny, because there are two truths to the MFA: 1) you don’t need one to succeed and 2) even so, it seems like everyone has one. Yes, the MFA can certainly help a writer blossom perhaps at a faster pace than without the rigorous study, but I’m usually cautious of labeling something “immediate” or “successful” as both those terms are, in my mind, quite subjective. That being said, there is MFA success everywhere. Jim Warner was in the Wilkes writing program and soon after he graduated he was hired on as the Assistant Director! Of course, he gained a nice amount of his teaching and admin experience before being an MFA student, but what he learned at Wilkes and the contacts he made most definitely positioned him for an excellent career spot!

Also, Loreen Niewenhuis ( http://laketrek.com ) blossomed in the Spalding program and came out running full speed ahead with an incredible book, A 1,000-Mile Walk on the Beach . Truly, I have never heard an author so much on the radio and in the news. Loreen seems to be everywhere touring and promoting her book and it’s been so well received. When you look at her list of recent and upcoming events on her website, her calendar is packed. Is such success a result of the MFA? In part, yes, but the reality is Loreen also works her butt off to promote her work. Well before the book was released, she was out there hitting the media pavement. Yes, she learned about the business of marketing and promoting through her program and, yes, she received some killer skills in knowing how to tighten that book so it would sell in the first place. But she also knew how to follow through and that typing ‘the end’ in a manuscript is usually a very busy beginning for a writer.

I think what’s important for incoming students to keep in mind is that the MFA will not make you a writer. You’re already a writer going into your chosen program. What the MFA can do is help you as you define who you are as a writer and aid in your creative development. It’s not like two years of study get wrapped up and ta-da! here’s your book contract and tenure contract. Writing is work. It’s work that never seems to end. There are high points, low points, better paydays and not-so-great paydays. But if it’s the life you’ve chosen for yourself, it can be an extremely rewarding one.

Too, not all success is what we initially imagine for ourselves. One of my interviewees in The Low-Residency MFA Handbook , Laura Nathan-Garner, credits much of her success to her time at Bennington College. Yet, what is success? As she explains in her interview, she was surprised by the odds and ends writing jobs she took on after graduation. She worked with publishers and blog ‘zines, wrote some commercial material, and picked up just about anything that paid the bills. But it was all writing. And from those odds and ends jobs, she made valuable contacts in the business that paved the way to bigger and better projects. For Laura, it seemed every opportunity opened the door to even more opportunities, and she’s managed to carve out a nice writing life for herself. So, is that success post-MFA? I certainly think so.

MH: You’re an accomplished poet and public speaker. How has your career changed since publishing The Low-Residency MFA Handbook ?

LAM: I wouldn’t say my day-to-day has changed so much as it has evolved to include a few more items in my repertoire. I am an active speaker at writing events, touching on subjects such as social media for writers, networking, marketing, and even goal-setting. I did these types of sessions and lectures before the MFA book and continue to do these, but perhaps at more locations since my readership has grown. There is always the benefit of crossover, in that a reader finds you because of one book but then discovers what else you have to offer, so that was something nice and unexpected from this publication. I’ve received some nice emails from folks who found the Handbook and then discovered they liked my poetry or my essays, for example. That’s wonderful. Too, I get emails from people asking about their projects, their decisions to attend a program, and general ‘how-to’ questions for the writing life. I guess in some ways, the Handbook has made me more accessible to a wider audience. I’ve always welcomed notes and questions, but this book has reached a wider net for which I am grateful.

Otherwise, maybe things happen so subtly I don’t realize it at the time, but it seems to me that my writing life is just as it was before. I wake up, I make myself a pot of coffee, I put my butt in the chair and get to work. Some days, it’s hard to imagine how I made it to book four, but usually I don’t think about where I am in my writing life–I think about where I’m going. And then I get to work.

Advertisement