Just a very cautious, respectful suggestion: If, in your career as a writer to date, you've only produced 14 pages of which you're proud, maybe you should put off going into an MFA program.
I majored in creative writing seven years ago. I felt guilty and selfish about the degree and set out to establish a "serious" and "grown up" career to show my immigrant parents their efforts weren't wasted. I taught in Japan after graduation and eventually found my way to court advocacy for sexually abused children testifying against their perpetrators. After three years, I started doing a child abuse prevention and education column in a Spanish newspaper which led to our center's hotline getting calls. Long story short, it made me realize that I could in fact contribute thru my writing. I signed up for two workshops in the Spring and revised a short story written back in my undergrad years that completely changed its tone. After almost four years, I quit my job, and this October, I finished a three month internship at the second-largest English publication in one of the top four largest cities in the country. I did this because it was free and I wanted to be around and learn from professional writers and lacked the financial resources to take more writing workshops. Good writing is good writing, whether fiction or journalism.
I thought the purpose of an MFA was to work on one's craft and towards a solid manuscript. The workshops that I took taught me the power of revision and showed me a taste of what it would be like to be in an environment of dedicated readers and writers.
Pongo, you hit a nerve, because i so desperately want to get into a school that will allow for three years of focused, selfish writing time, and yet, having spent all week reading every single post in here, I'm paralyzed with fear. I have 3 creative writing professors who are published agreeing to write me letters, but yet...
