Welcome to Fall 2019!

Welcome to the Fall 2019 semester! I hope you had a wonderful, productive summer. Finding time to write is one of the most important jobs for a writer. Professor Bucak has something to say about that here.

And speaking of Papatya (and her new book!), please come to her reading Thursday, September 12th, at 7:00pm in the Student Union.

And speaking of readings, please also come to the reading of our wonderful visiting fiction professor, Dantiel W. Moniz, Wednesday, October 16h, at 7:00pm in the Student Union. You can read one of her stories here.

And speaking of and, come out to the Swamp Ape Review's open mic nights the first Sunday of each month! It's at Mad Robot Brewing (2621 N Federal Hwy, Boca Raton, FL 33431) from 5 - 7pm.

What else? Hm. I want you to come meet with me so that we can revise or create your Plan of Study as needed. If you're graduating, let's go over deadlines and concerns. New folx, returning folx, come see me with your questions, your queries, your quests...

Okay, maybe not quests, though who even knows at this point. I could probably help you figure it out. My number one job skill is knowing who to call with questions. I am only sort of kidding about this.

My advice (other than to meet with me)? Attend readings, make friends, create a writers group, get involved with Swamp Ape Review, take your vitamins, get that rash checked out, I think I'm getting off track.

Listen - I'm also looking for blog posts about writing: the craft of your genre, choices you've made in revising, how you know a piece is finished, etc etc etc. Please let me know if you'd like to contribute. Thanks!



MR Sheffield is really Mary Sheffield-Gentry, a person who sometimes goes by MR, but not that often, and who is your creative writing advisor, which is why she's writing this in the first place. Her first book was published with Sundress Publications this past winter. She's got a stack in her office if you want to see.

Let's Do This

Hello, and welcome to the Spring 2019 semester! So, yeah, my picture is from October, but come on. Who can resist that little Pikachu and his big brother? Anyway.

I'm including the picture so you can see why I've been absent from this blog. Those two kept me busy for a full semester of parental leave (I'd thought to get a draft of my novel done - it turns out they had other plans). And as much as I miss their little cherubic faces every day, it really is nice to have the full use of both of my hands.

But enough about me.

There is a lot going on this semester, some of which has already transpired. We had the Alumnae reading with the lovely Brittany Ackerman, Stephanie Anderson, and, you know, me. Not sure lovely applies there. Maybe the adjective needs rethinking. We could go with indomitable. Indefatigable? Hm. Probably we are all three some of these things to some degree. But! Our reading was so fun, and we thank all in attendance. You can find Brittany's book here, Stephanie's book here, and my book is here, or I have a box of books in my office (CU 306F) if you're so inclined.

Last week literary agent  Renée Zuckerbrot spoke, and this week Danez Smith will be giving a reading (2/14 at 7pm in the Majestic Palm Room of the Student Union - do not miss it! Maybe this link to the FB event will work).

There are additional exciting events to look forward to as well. On 2/28 Mary Blossom Lee Poet, Sy Hoahwah, will be giving a reading at 7pm in the Majestic Palm Room of the Student Union, and on 3/21 the next Off the Page reading will be given by John Keene (7pm, Majestic Palm Room of the Student Union).

Remember to meet with me to discuss your program of study. Probably we should update your Plan of Study. Maybe you have questions on thesis guidelines or deadlines. Maybe you've just, you know, missed my office. I know I have... Come on in! I take appointments MW 10:30 - 1:30 and TR 11:00 - 12:30. I'm also happy to speak with you over the phone if those hours don't work.

I'm looking forward to the rest of the semester. We are going to have some great blog posts in the near future. I, for one, cannot wait to read about the Lawrence Sanders Writer-in-Residence Workshop. And listen. I'll probably be bugging some of you for a blog post. Please add your voice to this! YOU are what make this blog interesting. I'm just here, you know, curating.




MR Sheffield is the Creative Writing Advisor for the MFA program at FAU. You can reach her at mfa@fau.edu to set up an appointment. Her debut book of poetry, Marvels, was released by Sundress Publications this winter.

Welcome back!

Hello, all, and welcome to the Fall 2017 semester!

To those of you currently in the MFA program, I hope you will attend the Swamp Ape Review meeting today (8/23, Wednesday) at 6pm in the Amp Lab. Check your email for more information.

Our Off the Page Series is off to a fantastic start this fall with a reading by Carole Maso on Thursday, 10/12, at 7pm in the Majestic Palm room. Ira Sukrungruang is up next with a reading on Thursday, 10/19 at 7pm in the Palmetto Palm room.

Our Lawrence A. Sanders Writer-in-Residence for this year is the talented Paul Lisicky. His workshop for MFA students will run in March of 2018, so be on the lookout for an email on how to apply to attend.

Which brings me to my strongest advice to you this Fall 2017 semester. Whether you are a new student (you might check out this blog) or getting ready to graduate (this one is for you) or somewhere in between (yeah, haha, there's a blog for you too), be sure to show up. That is, attend as many events as you can this year. Commit to participating in events inside and outside of the program. Form a writing group with friends. Come meet with me and discuss your progress in the program. Apply for grants, scholarships, and travel money. Go to AWP (it's in Tampa!). Check out this blog on how to log onto the AWP website (and email, visit, or call me if you have trouble). Apply for travel money here. The sooner you apply, the more likely you'll be able to receive funding (they give funding to students participating in conferences and to students who are simply attending).

I love meeting with you one on one, so please set up a meeting if you haven't yet. Good luck!




MR Sheffield's work has been published in The Florida Review, Black Warrior Review, Hayden's Ferry Review, and other publications. Probably her poetry manuscript is forthcoming from Flaming Giblet Press, but who really knows how these things shake out, amite? Contact her at mfa@fau.edu and/or 561-297-2974.

Bienvenido!

Hello, all, and welcome back to the ever-stellar FAU MFA Creative Writing Blog! For this post, I'll be your host (and I promise not to continue rhyming).

Who is this, you ask? Well! I'm the English Graduate Advisor, and I'm here to help you navigate the salty waters of your degree progress. Please don't be shy - email, call, or drop by and ask me any questions you have. I might not know the answer, but I will find out what it is! My detective skills have grown immensely during my tenure as your devoted advisor.

So! What are you in for this coming year? Well, our Sanders Writer-in-Residence this year is, drum roll, please: Justin Torres. He'll be here 3/27-3/31 for the MFA workshop, and will be giving a reading Thursday, 3/30. You'll need to apply for a spot in the workshop - information on this will be sent out later this semester. You can check out an interview with him both here and here, find an editorial he wrote on the Orlando Pulse shootings here, and reviews of his beautiful book, We the Animals, here and here. We are so excited to have him!

We are also hosting several wonderful readings: Ira Sukruangrang on October 13, Victoria Fedden on October 20 (more on this in the next action-packed paragraph), and Jensen Beach and Elizabeth Powell on November 16. All these readings will be held in Live Oak D at 7:00pm. 

Victoria Fedden, an alumna of our Creative Writing MFA Program (!), will be here for the National Day on Writing. You can check out some reviews of her latest book, This is Not My Beautiful Life, here, and here, and you can find an excerpt from the book here. Her author page is here, and it includes a lot of good stuff: hilarious blog posts, writing advice, information on her books, and a reading guide for This is Not My Beautiful Life. We're thrilled to have her!

Our Literary Magazine, Swamp Ape, will be launching January 2017. Get involved with the magazine reading submissions, working on marketing, or however you’d like to participate. Be a literary midwife and help birth this baby!

I want to encourage you to apply to stuff, go to events, and basically do all the things. You might feel busy, but trust me, this is the time in your life to really focus on the reading and writing community that you are a part of! It won’t be forever (I can vouch for that, ha). So while you might feel like you need to do everything else (and binge watch old episodes of Supernatural or whatever), do the writing stuff instead. Apply for Swann funding. Travel. Go to the readings (it bears repeating: go to the readings! These are amazing opportunities for you to learn from and meet writers outside our program). You will get so much out of these experiences. The time goes by so quickly. No lie, apple pie.

Ahem. Okay! Weird endearments notwithstanding, are you nervous about your degree progress, the Plan of Study, the thesis, the thesis defense, graduating, choosing classes, teaching, or anything else? Good! That means you're human. Now come and meet with me.

MR Sheffield, aka Mary Sheffield-Gentry, is an alumna of FAU's MFA Creative Writing Program and your graduate advisor. Her work has been published in Hayden's Ferry Review, Fiction Southeast, The Florida Review, and other publications.

Welcome to Fall 2015!

Welcome, everyone, to the Fall 2015 semester here at the MFA program at FAU. I'm your friendly English Graduate Advisor, and I want to give you some information before we get into the more interesting blogs this semester.

Speaking of more interesting blogs, if you have something interesting to say, I beseech you to get in touch with me. We're especially interested in blogs on the craft of writing, the publishing class, your writing process, and reviews of reading events.

And what great reading events we have this year! We will have readings from Chantel Acevedo, Russell Banks, Tom Sleigh, Reginald Dwayne Betts, Jay Critchley, David Keplinger, and our very own Susan Mitchell.

But as you know, an MFA program isn't all readings and philosophical discussions. You also need to take classes and, you know, make progress toward your degree. Let me get some of that out of the way. The program is 48 credit hours: 21 credit hours of workshop classes (seven classes), 18 credit hours of literature/theory classes (six classes), ENG 6009: "Principles and Problems of Literary Study" (this is your only specifically required course), and six thesis hours. Take a look at the advising checklist if you're more of a visual sort of person. Heck, while you're clicking around, why not check out our Web site wherein I go into all this advising stuff in more detail? It'll be great fun.

If you're graduating this semester (or next, because, hey, it's good to be prepared), take a look at the thesis guidelines. Remember! After 18 credit hours you must have a Plan of Study on file. See me for help with this - it's what I'm here for.

Well, okay. And speaking of me being here, I won't actually be here the whole semester. As you may or may not know, I'm expecting a kid (a human one!) this Halloween. Don't believe me? Here's a picture.

He's just the cutest, right? What kind of unborn baby is this cute already? Gah.

But, okay, so I'm going to be here until mid-October and then I'm leaving you in the very capable hands of Kelly De Stefano. She'll introduce herself on the blog soon. I will be back to advising next Summer 2016.

So! Welcome or welcome back, as the case may be. I encourage you to attend everything! To host readings (and invite me)! To write and write and then write some more! I hope this is a wonderful semester for all of you.



MR Sheffield, aka Mary Sheffield, aka Mary Ruth Sheffield-Gentry, aka Mars (that's an authentic nickname, guys) is your English Graduate Advisor. She can be reached at Mfa@fau.edu. Email her and make an appointment - you will make her day, I swear. I mean, I know for sure. Well, because I'm she.

Welcome Back!

It's the start of a new semester - a time to review and renew your writing habits, goals, and progress toward your thesis. To that end, I thought I'd give you some programmatic information.

After 18 credit hours, you'll need to complete a Plan of Study. See me for help with this. Basically, the Plan of Study is your contract with the English Department and the Graduate College for the coursework that's required for the MFA. As such, it's an important form, and you'll need to stay current with it by filling out the Form 9 (Revision to Plan of Study) pretty much each subsequent semester.

If you're wondering what classes to take, check out our advising checklist and degree maps (for students with and without a GTA). Your degree is made up of 48 credit hours - 21 hours of Creative Writing Workshops, 18 hours of lit/theory classes, ENG 6009: Principles and Problems of Literary Study, and six thesis hours. It's recommended that you take ENG 6009: P&P as close to the beginning of your coursework as possible. Also, take workshops outside of your chosen genre! This will help to not only broaden your writing horizon, but will also enhance your chosen genre (I promise - there's a new energy you'll bring back after trying something new).

When you're ready to take thesis hours, come see me and discuss the process. Basically, you should email your prospective chair to set up an appointment. Don't ask your prospective chair during class or in the hallway - be formal, be polite, and take this request seriously. Your committee is made up of your chair and two other readers. Check out the faculty list for information on the professors' areas of study - consider choosing one reader from the non-creative writing faculty (they can bring a new perspective to your committee).

When you're getting ready to graduate, please see the degree completion page from the Graduate College. I recently sent an email around with Fall 2014 graduation deadlines - check it out, and if you're graduating this Fall, please be sure to set up an appointment with me as soon as possible.

We have some great readings lined up for the Fall, but I'd also love to be invited to readings you host (hint hint!). I'm planning a welcome back yoga class in the next week or so, so feel free to email me if you're interested in that. Don't forget to check out New Pages for information on journals and literary contests. Read Khristian Mecom's blog about publishing if you haven't yet.

I'm looking forward to a wonderful semester with all of you. My email is msheffi3@fau.edu if you have any questions. Thanks!



MR Sheffield's work has been published or is forthcoming in Pank, Fiction Southeast, and Far Enough East - she's also your devoted English Advisor and an English instructor at FAU. Contact her at msheffi3@fau.edu or (561) 297-2974.

The MFA Blog is on Summer Break

This is a post to let you know that FAU's MFA Creative Writing Blog will be on hiatus until August 2014. If you have any questions about the program, please don't hesitate to contact Mary Sheffield, the English Graduate Advisor, at msheffi3@fau.edu.

And while I have you here, please keep in mind that the summer is a perfect time to catch up on your writing projects, travel-for-writing, reading-for-writing, and all other activities that suffuse and enrich your writing-life.

To that end, here are some suggestions for summer activities that I hope will inspire you.

1) Check out a best-of 2014 books list (like this one from the Huffington Post or this one from Goodreads) and get reading whatever looks interesting to you. I also like NPR's book reviews. Remember: read to feed your writing. (Yes, I just made that up. Yes, I know it's super cheeseball. I'm sorry, okay?).

2) Okay, great! So now I (probably) have the cheesiness out of my system. Go to places in nature! Even if you're unable to travel out of the area, South Florida has so much to offer. Head over to Mounts Botanical Gardens in West Palm Beach, go to the Morikami Museum's Sushi & Stroll every second Friday of the summer (or just go to the gardens - they are breathtaking), visit the Wakodahatchee Wetlands in Delray Beach, visit one of Florida's State Parks (I especially love Cayo Costa - you have to take a ferry over to it), or just bike/run/walk the El Rio Trail right over by campus. Oh, yes, and of course there is always the beach...

3) Go out to museums (the Boca Raton Museum of Art, the Norton Museum of Art, the Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale). Go see a play (the Delray Arts Garage, the Wick Theatre, and this Web site has a listing of South Florida theatre companies and shows), go see local music (see Pure Honey for information on upcoming shows), see an independent movie (here at the Living Room Theatre on campus, or you can go to Cinema Paradiso in Fort Lauderdale).

4) Number four, but actually numbers one, two, three, and four combined is this - WRITE. Take a small journal out with you even on errands so that you can take notes. That amazing idea you think of will simply dissipate if you don't write it down. If you're having trouble getting moving on new projects, begin with revising something you've already written. Find a book of prompts or a Web site that gives them - look, here's a Tumblr for that.

5) Send your work out. See New Pages or AWP for lists of journals accepting work (here is a link to my blog on navigating the AWP Web site). Find literary journals on Facebook and "like" them (they often post about submission openings and contests). I also recommend reading Khristian's blog about this. 

That's about it, folks. That is all I have. But there is so much more! Just remember to make the most of your summer. Yes, you can simply sit inside an air conditioned room binge-watching your favorite television show, and look - I know this might seem like heaven at first, but listen: now is the time - right now - to find that which sustains you. To write. To explore and experience and contemplate.


Mary Sheffield is your ever-faithful English Graduate Advisor. She is taking her own advice this summer and is working on a novel. Hold her accountable!

New Year, New Semester

Welcome back! I hope everyone had a good winter break. This is a blog about new beginnings, about New Year's resolutions, about choices you will need to make as MFA students...

First things first. Did you write over break? If you did, wonderful(!) - now you have more material to work with. If you didn't (well, and even if you did write), what experiences did you have over break that you can bring into your work? Start taking notes now so that you'll have access to all those vivid, specific details associated with the present tense (or at least not-so-past-tense).

You should (hopefully) be registered for classes. Remember that as MFA students, you will take 21 credits of workshops, ENG 6009: "Principles and Problems of Literary Study," 18 credit hours of literature and/or theory classes (just fyi, for MFA students, ENC 6700 does count as one of these classes. The colloquium does not), and six thesis hours. Wherever you are in your progress through the degree, be thinking about which books have most deeply influenced you. Consider which professors you'd like to work most closely with for your thesis. Think about which stories/poems/essays you can bring in to your thesis project.

Did you make a New Year's Resolution? If not, why not choose one from my list below? Any of these would be great resolutions for writers:

1. Start a writing group and meet at least once a month to discuss each other's work.
2. Read at least one book (that is not assigned by a professor) a month.
3. Go on a trip and take notes on it. Somehow work this experience in to an essay, memoir, poem, story, or novel.
4. Begin a blog. It will help if you choose a topic  - this will narrow your focus.
5. Compose a piece of creative writing in collaboration with one or more of your peers.

Okay! I am also looking for more contributors to the blog. Please send me an email if you're interested in writing something. I can give you a specific prompt if you'd like. Also, email me to set up an appointment. For anyone applying to the program, the application deadline for Fall 2014 is January 15th!



MR Sheffield is FAU's English Graduate Advisor. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in Pank, Epiphany, Spring Gun and other publications. You can reach her at: msheffi3@fau.edu.

Winter Break Writing Prompts

            It’s nearly winter break, and you are probably feeling overwhelmed, overworked, and as overdone as a turkey left too long in the oven (are Thanksgiving jokes [can that be called a “joke?”] allowed in December?). Winter break. Concentrate on it. It is nearly within reach.

            And this blog post, perhaps you’ve guessed already, you clever person, is about making the most of break. Because, yes, you do need sleep. And yes, it’s a good idea to catch up on Orange is the New Black (I just goggled popular TV shows for 2013 and picked the one I’ve seen, ha. What good TV are you watching? Leave the title in the comments). You’ll be baking, maybe, or traveling; celebrating with family and catching up on reading (what are you reading? Leave titles in the comments. I just finished Maddaddam. Oryx and Crake was better).

            But listen. Find the time to write. Choose a time every day, give yourself space, peace. Write. It doesn’t matter what you write, only that you do. Only that you use this time of relative freedom to pour yourself onto the page.

            If you know me, you know I don’t really believe in writer’s block. If you can’t find something to write, you can always revise, but writing prompts are also great. Here, have a few (leave more in the comments section – look, this is an interactive blog for the holidays, okay? Get involved in the conversation).

1.      Write an argument between two characters that begins at the dinner table.

2.      What wouldn’t you trade for anything in the world? Why.

3.      Describe sound (music, quiet, the ringing in your ears; an important concert, festival, or show; your baby’s voice, your mother’s voice, your lover’s voice).

4.      Write a lyric essay as a how to guide. How to garden. How to let go of someone. How to get through grad school. How to drive yourself crazy.

5.      What does the concept of time mean to you? Can you demonstrate the effect of time through two characters interacting? Through dialogue? Through a series of memories?

6.      Get all DFW and write a piece with a proliferation of footnotes. What goes in the story/essay/poem, and what goes in footnotes. Why?

7.      Start a piece at the end and work backwards. Begin, as they say, with a bang (literal or otherwise). Start as big as you can.

8.      What do you know more about than anyone else, like ever? Write a piece explaining this. Demonstrate how this knowledge has been transformative (or not).

9.      What would you change about yourself if you could? Would you be the same person with a different face, voice, or set of life circumstances?

10.  Go all “Hills like White Elephants.” How much can you reveal through dialogue and character action? How true can you stay to the third person objective point of view? What is lost in this exercise. What is gained.

So. Hopefully one of these will speak to you. And if they don’t, google writing prompts, buy a writing prompt book (like the cool little book The Writer’s Block). Hold a reading. Invite me to it! Inspire and encourage each other. Inspire and encourage yourself. You have something important to say. Write it.

Mary Sheffield (MR Sheffield, as she prefers) is FAU's English Graduate Advisor. Email her with questions about the program (msheffi3@fau.edu). Her work has been published or is forthcoming in Pank, Fiction Southeast, The Florida Review, and other publications. She is getting married in ten days.

The AWP Web site

          Have you logged into and checked out the AWP Web site recently? Yeah – as a member of FAU’s Creative Writing MFA program, you have access to their membership-only content. You didn’t know that? Well, read on, friend, and discover the resources glinting in your future – that magnificence of online ephemera. Ahem. I mean, um, log on to the AWP Web site and take a look around.

                A good place to start your journey is the About section. Here the AWP goes into whey they exist and why you should care that they do. And you should care that they exist – they are a real voice of advocacy for Creative Writing programs and the importance of the Humanities in a world that seems to care less and less about any subject that isn’t a subset of math or science. AWP discusses why you should be a member and why you might want to attend their annual conference.

                Speaking of AWP’s annual conference, click on the link to find out details about their next conference (it will be in Washington. You should go! Read about Negean’s, Gloria’s, and Courtney’s experiences at AWP conferences). This link also gives information about other conferences and residences you might want to attend (read: should deeply consider applying to). They have a directory of conferences and centers – browse it! For example, I did a search for conferences, residencies, centers, festivals, and retreats in Florida that offer scholarships and got three results (Atlantic Center for the Arts, Eckerd College Writers' Conference:Writers in Paradise, and Palm Beach Poetry Festival). If you find an opportunity you’re interested in that would require travel, put in those travel requests now! I’m telling you – the sooner you do this, the more likely it is that you’ll receive funding (even if you are not presenting).

                Another section that might interest you is the Careers tab. The AWP has a wonderful jobs list – check it out! If you’re looking for a job, you might also be interesting in Erika Dreifus’ blog that tracks Creative Writing jobs.

                The AWP Web site also has a link to contests. For the love of everything that is warm and sweet in this world, check these out. Here they list opportunities for grants,awards, publications, and go into detail on their own contests and well as scholarship contest information (for attending a writers’ conference, center, retreat, festival, or residency).

                You also have access the Writer’s Chronicle (their magazine) as well as relevant blog posts (about teaching, literature, writing – all the fun stuff). There is a section on Writer’s News which will keep you up to date with the literary and academic world(s), the Writer’s Notebook which allows you to search articles on such compelling topics as craft, job searching, the submission process, and myriad topics. And a Podcast series. Seriously. Who loves not the podcast?

                I tell you all of this to say this: check it out! I’ll be sending you an email with your log on information. Log in, look around, and feel free to make an appointment with me or with Becka to discuss any questions you have about publishing or finding a job.

                Oh yeah, one more thing. Go to the AWP Conference while you still get the student rate. I’m just saying.

M.R. Sheffield is the English Graduate Advisor at Florida Atlantic University. Her work has been published in The Florida Review, Pank, Fiction Southeast, and other publications. Email her to set up an advising appointment: msheffi3@fau.edu.

Advice for Third Year MFA Students

1)    Make sure you have completed your Plan of Study. These are now online – go to MyFau and click on the “Graduate College” tab. The Plan of Study must be completed at least the semester before you plan on graduating (they should be completed after 18 credit hours for MFA students, and after 15 credit hours for MA students).

2)    Make an appointment with your advisor, me (!), to make sure everything is in order for your final year. Figure out which semester you are graduating. Review graduation deadlines. Don't forget to turn in your thesis topic approval form before registering for thesis hours. To register for thesis hours, please have your chair email me their permission. Don't forget to let me know how many you'd like to take.

3)    Meet with your thesis chair to go over graduation requirements and to set progress deadlines for your thesis project. In case you have misplaced their information, click here for faculty contact info.

4)    Take a look at your workshop stories, poems, and essays so far. Is there anything from among them that you can expand on or include within the thesis project?

5)    Start working on your CV or resume now. Ask peers, professors, and me for help.

6)    Head over to Career Development Services and see what help they have to offer for life after the MFA program.

7)    Read Khristian Mecom’s blog about publishing. Subscribe to the magazine Poets & Writers. Join the AWP while you still get the student rate. Consider going to the AWP Conference this year. See FAU's policy on graduate travel reimbursement - I know from experience that the sooner you get these requests in, the likelier it is you will receive funding.

8)    Begin looking into PhD programs or start browsing for jobs. Think about who you can ask for a letter of recommendation and ask them. Consider setting up an account with a Web site like Interfolio – they are an online database that will keep your CV, writing sample, letters of recommendation, and other employment application documents for you. They will also send them out to potential employers at your request. This costs about $20 for a year.

9)    Try not to freak out about graduating. Yes, it can seem overwhelming and scary, but then, so do all new experiences. Instead of becoming anxious, work on readying yourself for this next phase of your life. It might be beneficial to set up an appointment with FAU’s Counseling and Psychological Services - counseling is free for currently enrolled FAU students.

10)    This is your last year, so take full advantage of it. Create a writing group that meets every week or month. Set up a poetry reading for you and your peers. Attend all the readings you can. Wring out every last drop of the program. You’ll be happy you did. Start  by attending Oliver de la Paz's reading this Wednesday, 9/11! I hope to see you there.



Mary Sheffield is an alumna of FAU's MFA program, and the current English Graduate Advisor (contact her: msheffi3@fau.edu). Her work has been published or is forthcoming in Pank, The Florida Review, Monkey Bicycle, Fiction Southeast, and other publications.

Advice for Second-Year MFA Students

You’ve been hearing whispers about the Plan of Study and you’re perplexed, concerned. What could a Plan of Study be, and why do you need one when you’re about 18 credits into the program?

Well, my friends, a Plan of Study is your contract with the English Department and the Graduate College; it says that no one can change your degree program, and hey, it’s required! But don’t fret, I think too often we hear the word “requirement” and a shiver starts somewhere near the backs of our knees and travels all the way up our bodies; yes, collectively we are somewhat alarmed, I think, by forms and deadlines, but we need not be. 

On the Plan of Study you’ll list the classes you’ve taken and the classes you will take. You’ll state the fact that you are a thesis student. If you have spoken to your committee members and they have agreed to be on your committee, you’ll list them on this form.

For your thesis, you will work with three committee members. Your committee chair will give you the most feedback; s/he (this is, I know, an awkward grammatical construction, but it’s my favorite of the gender neutral) will work closest with you on deadlines, requirements, and revisions of your thesis project.  

You should be thinking about this now, actually, second year MFAer! Who do you want to chair your committee? Who really gets you as a writer? It’s good advice to approach a CRW professor in whose class you received an ‘A.’

The other committee members will offer valuable feedback as well. Think now, while you’re in workshops, about who you’d like to have critiquing your work, about who you want to be present for your thesis defense.

Fully immerse yourself in the program. Attend lectures and events. Ask questions. Read literary journals to see what is published where. Talk to your peers and professors about writing. Establish a writing routine. Form a writing group with your peers. Play Exquisite Corpse together (not for any particular reason - really I just think it’s fun).

Remember, for the MFA degree you’ll take 21 hours of workshops, 18 hours of lit/theory classes, one required course (ENG 6009: Principles and Problems of Literary Study), and six thesis hours (see the advising checklist).

So, second year, are we clear? Make an appointment with me to complete the Plan of Study. Think about who you’d like to work with as your committee. Get involved in the writing culture and community. Look at your writing and think about what kind of thesis you’re going to create. What shape will it take? Why? How? 

Now is the time to ensure you’re taking classes that will assist in your thesis work. Allow your literature/theory courses to inspire you as well. Take in everything, take notes, and allow your work to grow like a passiflora vine; tend it so that it may bear fruit.

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M.R. Sheffield is an instructor and the English Graduate Advisor at FAU. Contact her at msheffi3@fau.edu. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in the Florida Review, Blip Magazine, Fiction Southeast, Pank, and other publications. She received her MFA in fiction from FAU. And her cat keeps a blog.