To MA or not to MA, that is the question...

by Teri Terry

No, I'm not talking about the big life decision of whether or not to have children! Instead the question is this, one that I get asked a lot when someone finds out I'm doing a creative writing MA: Should you do one? What will you get out of it?

To try to get to the bottom of this, I've enlisted some writing buddies who all have creative writing graduate degrees from different places.

J.K. Rowling - Adversity and Imagination

Something worth watching if you've got a spare 20 minutes this sunny Sunday!

J.K. Rowling gave a Harvard Commencement speech in 2008, where she talked about overcoming adversity and the significant, if painful, benefits of failure. She then talks about where the power of imagination truly lies - not in the ability to escape or picture new things, but in the ability it gives us to empathise with people who are experiencing things we ourselves have not.

http://www.ted.com/talks/jk_rowling_the_fringe_benefits_of_failure.html

Maureen says, 'OMG I'm Pitching!'

by Maureen Lynas

To pitch or not to pitch, that may be a question, but is there a right answer?

Confusion reigns.
You’re going to a conference (let’s say SCBWI Winchester 2012 for instance) and some advice is saying PITCH! And some is saying DON’T PITCH. So you go with the latter and decide not to pitch because it would be rude to foist the five page pitch for your ten-ton WIP on an unsuspecting agent queuing for the toilet. And you are a very well brought up author who knows her/his place in the queue.