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When I came back from Vietnam and told my father I wanted to be a writer he said to me, “That’s a hobby for rich white boys.”
A few decades later as I worked on my MFA in fiction writing, after winning a fellowship that paid for everything, I realized that the writing program was not so much about teaching me how to write but was really about teaching me how to teach; so that I could make money at a real job.
To actually make money writing short stories or novels, you not only have to be talented but also very lucky. And if you are not making money at writing, few people take you being a writer seriously.
That’s just the way it is. In other words, you better go into writing just for the sheer pleasure of writing. If you actually make money at it, that’s just icing on the cake.
Filed under: Commentaries | Tagged: fellowship, lover, make money, MFA, real job, teaching, wife, woman, writer, writing program | 2 Comments »
Let Me Help You Write Flash Fiction And Get Published
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The Old Soldier got a K LeRoy Irvis Fellowship in 2003 that paid for three years of graduate school in the writing program of the University of Pittsburgh and that also gave him a generous stipend to live off of for those three years all because of his flash fiction.
I know something about flash fiction.
Now the Old Soldier is the editor, publisher of the Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette, the most dynamic flash fiction publication on the internet.
Join the excitement. Send me something. The Submissions tab for flash fiction is at the top of the page. We’re all in this together. Good luck.
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Filed under: Commentaries | Tagged: graduate school, K. LeRoy Irvis Fellowship, Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette, submissions, University of Pittsburgh, write flash fiction, writing program | 1 Comment »