On Saturday January 12, 2013, I was awarded an MFA in Creative Writing from the Stonecoast MFA Program at the University of Southern Maine. (Pictured above, L-to-R: Allister Timms, Derek Hoffman, Jim Kelly, Amy Tibbetts, Kendall Giles)

There was much rejoicing.

Note: as backgrounders on writing and …

Previously I had written about choosing an MFA program, and this time I wanted to talk about a central component to any creative writing program—the writing workshop, where members submit stories for critique by the other members of the workshop. And I guess I should state that writing workshops …