Today, I registered for my first semester of classes as a graduate student. Although this is a journey that really began a year and a half ago, when I made the decision to apply to the program, this step is the one that makes it feel completely real.
I’ll be working towards an MFA (Master of Fine Arts) in Creative Writing through Naropa University’s low-residency program. Most of my coursework will be done online, but each summer I will get to spend 4 weeks doing intensive coursework on campus in Boulder, Colorado.
Classes start Monday (six days from now), and I’m eager to begin. As an undergraduate, I would never have guessed that I wouldn’t start grad school until I was in my mid-30s, but now I know that I am much more prepared, and much clearer about what it is that I want to do, than I would have been in my early 20s, fresh from my undergraduate work.
I have no illusions that the next few years will be easy, but I know that they will be enriching, stimulating, and inspiring, and that I will be both a better writer and a more effective voice for change when I am done.
Along the way, I’ll come here to share both experiences and the writing that comes out of my work in the classes I take. I hope you’ll enjoy the journey, and that if you’re considering a return to school yourself, that you might be inspired to follow that dream, as I am following mine.
In peace, Diana