Nori's No-BS Guide to Choosing an MA/MFA Program for the Unpretentious Writer (in 6 Easy Steps!)

Well, it's official—I have an MA in Publishing!

I'm in that place where most new graduates are after they walk the stage—proud of myself for doing something huge, excited for all that comes next and all the promise of the future waiting for me to create it, and terrified that things will go horribly wrong and I'll fail miserably at all of my endeavors and die homeless under a bridge. (Yes, I am aware that I'm catastrophizing. Don't tell my therapist!)

I took a week off to rest and recuperate after we returned home from Colorado. It was wonderful to take time to just stay at home and knock some books off my TBR pile, watch my favorite movies, paint (a hobby I'm slowly picking back up after years of letting it sit on the back burner), and play with my new cello. I've always wanted to learn cello, and I promised I would get one as a graduation present to myself after I finished school. And I keep my promises!

Now, of course, I'm back in the fray looking for a job in the trad pub industry while building my little fledgling Amanita Press, continuing to write my own projects, getting ready for the big October rerelease of Cats Are Sluts (ARC applications are open, by the way!), and getting ready to launch a podcast at the end of September. (You'll be the first to know the deets if you sign up for my newsletter, among other things.) One of my goals for the immediate future is to post on my blog every other week and on Substack on alternate weeks. I figured that giving you a little how-to guide on choosing a master's program would be a good start to the new schedule. Whether you're considering going back to school for an MA/MFA yourself, or just curious about my experience, I present you with Nori's No-BS Guide to Choosing an MA/MFA Program for the Unpretentious Writer!

How I Chose My MA Program

I have always known that I wanted to earn a master's degree in creative writing. My motivation was primarily driven by three things:

• My life plan has always been to become a professional working writer. If writing were a hobby or just a side hustle, I wouldn't put this much investment into it. But it's not a hobby or a side hustle—it's what I've known I was given this body and this lifetime to do since I was six years old. And I believe that if you want your dream career badly enough, you have to be a lifelong learner. You have to take every opportunity you can to grow your skill set and nurture your craft. For me, that meant pursuing post-graduate education and career training. I would also like to teach creative writing at the college level in the future, and you typically need a master's degree for collegiate employment.
• My family valued education, and the importance of learning and gaining professional skills was something that my grandfather in particular instilled in me from a very young age. It was somewhat unusual for a man of his generation to be so insistent that his daughters and granddaughters prioritize education and establishing a career before getting married and starting a family, but I think this came from the fact that he grew up poorer than dirt in rural Texas and watched his single mother—who, naturally, received no formal education beyond basic literacy—work her ass off to provide for her nine children in the middle of the Great Depression. He put himself through school and built a successful career and retirement from scratch, and I think that going after my dreams is also a way to honor that family legacy.
• I'm a nerd. I love school, and I love learning. If cost were no object, I would probably be one of those people who collects college degrees. The good news is that I can literally learn about whatever I want just by going down to my local library or indie bookstore (or YouTube, or my favorite podcasts, or... well, you get the idea), so I saved the formal schooling for the thing I love best: writing and creating and getting good books into the hands of people who love, want, and need them.

For a long time, I believed that I would eventually pursue an MFA in fiction. The problem was that most MFA programs out there are hostile to genre writers, and I'd had enough of that foolishness in undergrad, so there was absolutely no way I was going to put such a big financial investment into a program where I knew my work probably wouldn't be welcomed. When I left my last full-time job in the nonprofit world to jump headlong into building a sustainable bookish career, I began to toy with the idea of starting my own publishing company one day. After I published Hooves, Horns and Roses and began working on Cats Are Sluts, I started to do some research on what it would take to form an indie imprint. I was reading an article about getting started in the publishing industry on a website (unfortunately, I can't remember which site it was), and I saw an advertisement for the publishing concentration at Western Colorado University's Graduate Program in Creative Writing. I clicked on the link, read what the program was about, and thought, "Maybe an MFA isn't really what I need. Maybe this is."

I applied. I got in. I edited a major anthology, reissued my favorite classic novel, formed an LLC, made amazing friends, and had the time of my life. Now I'm all gradu-ma-dated and cutting my chops.

Alright, let's get to what you really came for.

6 Tips For Finding an MA/MFA Program That's Right For You

1) Get very clear about what you hope to gain with a master's degree.

This is probably the most important bit. Graduate school is a life-changing endeavor—not just in terms of how a post-grad degree can change your life, but also in the sacrifices you'll have to make in your daily life to achieve it. This is especially true if you also work a day job, have a family to care for, etc. If you are going to invest substantial time, money, and energy in a master's degree, don't do it on a whim or for street cred, and definitely not because you're feeling pressured by anyone to do so.

Think carefully about what you hope to gain out of it. Do you want to advance your career and your earning potential? Transition careers? Gain transferable skills?

I know, I know--writers are artists first and foremost, and we get into this business because we are driven to create by a voice within us that simply won't be still. And that's nothing short of fing amazing.

But we also live in the real world where we have to make executive decisions that will help us get to where we want to be in life.

If you're considering an MA/MFA program, I suggest writing down a minimum of five reasons why earning one is important to you, what you hope to get out of it, and how it will help you achieve your goals as a writer. Give yourself some time to mull over it. You can start shopping around for potential schools and programs after you've reviewed it a few times and have a solid starting point to go off of.

2) Get honest about your values.

There were three reasons why I chose the publishing program at Western:

1) The publishing concentration is a one-year intensive that provides what is essentially job skills training for the publishing industry. And if I was going to invest in a master's degree, I decided it'd better be one that can actually make it easier to get (or make) a gig!

2) The publishing program is designed to give students a solid foundation for modern publishing, meaning that we learned the ropes of traditional and independent publishing and what it takes to succeed in both. It isn't an academic project that only teaches theory or lofty, outmoded models; Kevin and Allyson deliberately designed it around how publishing works in the twenty-first century. No snobbery? No shove-everyone-in-the-box-that's-completely-untethered-from-reality approach? Everything undergrad should have been but wasn't? Yes, please!

3) Western also offers an MFA program in genre fiction. Do you know how rare that is? If you don't, let's say it's the equivalent of finding a saltwater pearl out of a thousand shucked oysters. Even though I enrolled in the publishing concentration, the very fact that genre fiction was even an option was enough to sell me on the program. (The genre fiction director, whom I met at residency, is also a lovely human being.)

After enrolling, I found out that the GPCW also offers free livestreamed masterclasses from all five concentrations and monthly Sip and Sprint writing sit-ins that are open to the public so that everyone can have an opportunity to learn about craft and writing and publishing even if they can't afford (or just aren't interested in) a degree program.

A program that offers practical career training for the real world, centers its students' creativity and artistic visions over how the academy thinks everyone "should" write and create, and strives to be as inclusive as possible? (And that's actually pretty affordable as far as master's programs go?)

​It wasn't a hard sell.

​3) Consider the cost (and shop around).

This one's pretty self-explanatory. Crunch the numbers, figure out what you can and can't afford to put towards a degree, what options are available to help if needed, and take your time finding a program that's right for you.

A master's degree is as big of a financial decision as buying a house, in both the immediate cost and how it will potentially impact your future earnings. Be diligent, be realistic, and choose wisely.

​4) Consider the timeframe.

How long do you want to be in school? What will a timeframe that accommodates all of your other responsibilities look like? Does your program have a limit on how much time you can take to finish a degree if you need to take a break?

5) See if you can communicate with program heads before you apply. Pay attention to how they respond.

The directors at Western were so kind and personable when I reached out for more information and never made me feel like I was bothering them with stupid questions. If you reach out to someone who gives you a cold or off-putting response, consider how that may reflect on the program as a whole. You want to choose a school that centers student success and not just name recognition.

6) Listen to alumni.

If you can, reach out to alumni on platforms like LinkedIn and ask about their experiences with the program. This can help you decide if it's worth it based on those goals and values we talked about. It can also help you gauge how successful former students have become in their post-grad endeavors. Be kind, respectful, and follow basic networking etiquette.

[Shameless plug time: I'm going to leave the link to the Western GPCW here, because you know you want to take a look.]

Even if you don't, I hope this little no-BS guide helps you find an MA/MFA program that you'll love and will get you where you want to be. And when you get there, drop a line and let me know!