The Writing Residencies

In January, I was updating my About page, and I realized how impactful doing various writing residencies and fellowships had been and how I’d made some great friends doing them. So I decided I would apply to some writing residencies this year. I did some research and estimated there were about twelve to fourteen to which I wanted to apply. The deadlines are staggered throughout the year, so I couldn’t do them all at once. Last weekend, six months later, I had applied to fourteen. So far, I was waitlisted by one that turned into an acceptance, I’ve been rejected by six, and there are seven more I haven’t heard from yet. Later this year, when I’ve heard back from all of them, I’ll write one of my Fuck You, Pay Me posts about it. Applying was a good exercise for a variety of reasons. It required perseverance. It demanded an investment with no guarantee of a return. It prompted me to think about my work as a whole and individually in a broader context. Next time, I’ll probably apply to half as many because fourteen was a lot! But I’m glad I did it. It taught me a lot.

Buy My Book I About | Blog I Newsletter I X I Instagram I LinkedIn I Hire Me I Email