Jamie Rand: Blog Post 7

I don't really have many strategies that involve my professional community. The only strategy I really have, and the one that's gotten me this far (which is to say, into an MFA program) is coming to know my professors, asking them if they'd like to meet up, then picking their brains about the field. As an example, when I was a year from graduation back at the University of Toledo, I had lunch with a professor of mine and asked him about grad school. His reply was that I'd have money enough for food and rent and that was all and I'd do nothing but read and write. He pointed me in the direction of a few different schools, gave me the names of other professors who could help me with the application (personal statements, etc.), and gave me some general tips about applying. It was enough of a lead for me to start, and now here I am. (By the way, his summary of grad school was absolutely correct.) I guess it wasn't the most efficient way to go about being a part of academia (undergrad took me a whopping twelve years; by the end of my tenure there I felt like Van Wilder), but it worked for me. During that time, I came across the Poets and Writers website, which was a real boon (and which, sadly, I haven't looked at in months). Other than that, though, I can't really list any other websites, blogs, listservs (I can't even define that term), or anything else. Mostly I just read a lot of contemporary stuff, admire what I read, and learn about writing from that.