I was in my 40s when I became aware that I wanted to write for an audience beyond just myself. I had stories and books I wanted to create, but was unable to accomplish what I was able to envision. That’s when I decided to get my MFA. The good news about being in an MFA program at that age is I was completely committed to the hard work of learning every bit of craft I could. The downside of being in my 40s (I graduated at 49) was I was much older than all of my classmates, several of whom made it clear they resented my presence in the classroom.
The workshops were sometimes exhilarating and sometimes gut-wrenching. I would polish and polish and polish my little stories, hoping someone would see promise there, hoping I had begun to crack the
