It appears my feelings reached a decision sooner than anticipated.
So the original plan was to get a grand total page count of each genre I’ve worked in since moving to Providence and then do a little math and make a decision. But as soon as I finished with the first such document I was just completely unmotivated to do anything remotely similar with any of my other writing. Which means I now know without a doubt what to focus on in grad school.
Poetry, just as I suspected.
Turns out I’ve written enough in the last five years to apply anywhere from seven to fifteen times over. I’ve also decided my writing sample will be composed primarily of my performance poetry and will mostly be focusing on taking those from the stage to the page. Fun fact— while currently experiencing a singular snafu — there’s a Facebook group for that and you should join thereby helping motivate my butt by making me accountable to you.
Now, I do want to share that last night a friend wondered at my picking poetry over nonfiction given that I am a natural memoirist (who, me?!). Which is when I put into words the logic of my felt decision: I’m focusing on poetry to focus on tightening my craft and will be nurturing my natural storyteller/memoirist styling with the fiction and nonfiction courses/workshops I will no doubt be required to take.
This makes my felt decision a felt strategy. And I feel I’m playing to my strengths here. Which I hear is something you should definitely do when putting together a grad school application.
You don’t have to ask me twice.
Also published on Medium.