Like many writers, I wonder sometimes if I should get an official advanced degree in writing. The MFA debate is one that has raged across the pages of many of my favorite journals, and I’m nowhere near ready to make that decision, but I do look at programs and their admission requirements, just to keep my options open.
Almost every program I’ve seen requires the applicant to describe their reading in the genre in which they are applying, and that has inspired one of my writing goals for the year: read both deeply and widely. I’ve always been omnivorous when it comes to reading, which my bookshelves could tell you, and my library ranges widely across many subjects– but there’s still room for improvement. I haven’t read as many international authors as I would like to, for example. Also, I want to remind myself to read deeply– to read past the most-anthologized poem by an author, or past their most well-known works. I want to get a better sense of an author’s body of work, not just the highlights. This is a task we’ve attempted at the secondary school where I teach, so a student reads not only “Ozymandias,” but other pieces by Shelley that may help them see continuing themes or techniques. I’ve done this with authors in the past (like Edith Wharton and Carol Shields), but need to continue.
One of my other goals was to try and make this site as useful to me as possible, and so that’s one reason why I’ve started doing book reviews here. If I’m doing all this deep and wide reading, I want to keep track of what I’ve read and what I’ve thought about it. I’m also trying to use Good Reads for this purpose too, so friend me there if you like!
