Suffering Sunday #1

The “suffering” of this first Suffering Sunday is not so pronounced because I’m back at residency and I’m so happy! But there’s a bittersweet edge to the week, with graduation and the end of my program coming up on Friday.

I started this MF-Adventure three years ago when I applied to Western Colorado University three years ago during a difficult period in my life. Honestly, even with the looming threat of student loan repayment on the horizon, coming to Western for my MFA in Creative Writing has been one of the best decisions of my adult life. I’ve always wanted to go back to school for writing and I’ve always talked myself out of every other MFA program I looked at. I’m so thankful that Past-Morgan finally said yes and applied. Western has been a wonderful home to me these last few years, and if you’re considering going back to school for writing (in the concentrations of Poetry, Nature Writing, Screenwriting, Genre Fiction, and Publishing), I totally recommend this university as a place to land.

While I knew this time would go fast, I can’t believe it’s already here. Being back with my Genre Fiction cohort, working with my instructors, and immersed in so much storytelling and learning is amazing; I’m sad it will be my last summer doing this. Of course, I might make a habit of coming back as an alumnus for a writing retreat instead, to stay connected to this experience.

I got in to Gunnison yesterday in time to go to lunch with my cohort (<3), and yesterday evening we had the welcome dinner and some fantastic readings by the faculty from the five different concentrations. We have a full schedule, as usual, starting with our community day today, some practice for our craft talks coming up, and a chance to check out the short films from our Screen Writers. Since it’s graduation week, I’ll also have to deliver my craft talk (eek) and read an excerpt from my thesis novel (also eek). Public speaking isn’t my favorite thing, but I do feel like we’ve been well-prepared to be successful.

So, the suffering this week will be on hold until it’s over! I’m looking forward to late nights and early mornings with my cohort. Ice cream at Jermaine’s, dinner at Sherpa Café, drinks at High Alpine, dorm room coffee over talk and writing work, and of course, the actual work of residency. We have one last workshop of our next big projects, discussions around books, and so much to absorb from our peers and instructors still.