In 2004, I decided to leave my full-time editing job
at a small publishing company in the Midwest, move to New England and go
back to school for my MFA degree in fiction. I'd been at my job for
eighteen years, and it was a good job, with great people and tasks I
enjoyed. I'd learned so much working with the editing team, but I'd
come to a place where I wanted very much to test the waters, see if I
could create/write full-time, have as much space and energy as I wanted.
A
collection of short stories and a couple of novels were simmering. I
also needed more advanced skills, so the MFA program felt like the next
step.
Wonderful dream. Instant upheaval. Not only did I
immediately lose benefits and salary, I had too much time on my hands.
That totally astonished me--that, left to my own devices with unlimited
time, I fell into a rather uncomfortable state.
