The Three Ps of Post- Montana MFA '08:

I am still in Missoula, and I have to disagree with Trina, hanging around town does not allow you to milk the thrall of the MFA. Not when almost everyone is gone, and you keep running into First Years (soon to be Second Years) at the taco joint who ask when you are leaving. Did I mention it SNOWED this week?

For many MFA's it's the two years after that are the make or break time, not the two years spent in school. Was the MFA that lark, that ha-ha amusing time, that last grab at the golden ring of youth, that idyllic interlude where Art Mattered that one will always fondly remember (sigh) — or is this the beginning of a writing career?

Are we beginning to understand why there's a scad of blogs dedicated to the MFA application process, yet so few about after the MFA?

On the plus side, many Montana MFA's actually have launched writing careers. Former prof Kevin Canty (alias The Cheerleader) and Montana grad/now best-selling author Aryn Kyle both agree that it's those who keep at it who seem to be making it. Those who "decide to do something else for a few years" tend to drop out.

In other news, I'm selling all my furniture and it's depressing as hell to post on Craigslist and have people sniff at your grandmother's dresser that you moved 2500 miles across the country but can't afford to move back, finger the scratch and then lo-ball you and then even after you come down in price say no thanks.