The Experience Factor

In last week's post, which can be found here, I missed one point in my "The case for:" section. Namely, it's a good thing that I've been out of college for four years before applying to an MFA in Creative Writing. But why? Why wouldn't I want to get cracking at that next Great American Novel™ as soon as possible? Why in the world would I, anyone, want to waste their time not doing the single most thing they love?

Here's the problem. When I graduated, my writing wasn't very good. Which is an obvious point. No one's writing ever is good the first time around. And that's the reason why you apply to grad school in the first place -- to grow, to write, to learn. But the thing is, I managed to do all those things in my time out of school. I improved. Probably not with the same intensity or rigor that only school can provide, but I learned a whole lot of other stuff in the meantime. Stuff like working an 8-5 job I hated. Working an 8-5 job I enjoyed. Traveling to Prague. Making new friends. Going to writing conferences. Joining writing groups. Traveling to Hong Kong. I could go on. My point is, there's a bit of wisdom and value in being outside of the sheltered academic world. I can say without hesitation that I was able to do a lot of things I couldn't do in school.

Simply put, I wasn't ready at 22 -- both in writing ability and maturity. Yet, what's right for me isn't right for everyone. I understand that. Some people are ready the moment they get out of undergrad. Some people need ten years. Others fifteen. There's no magic number. And I'm not even sure that four is the magic number for me. Maybe I should have applied last year. Maybe I need to mature and develop as a writer for a couple more years. I don't know. All I know is that it feels right, and at the end of the day, it's really all we can ever go by.