Vermont College of Fine Arts - MFA Program in Writing for Children & Young Adults

I recently returned from my first 10-day Residency as part of my work at VCFA's MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults. What an experience! If you read this blog regularly you'll remember that I was in a bit of a panic - mostly about sharing a dorm room, trekking down the hall to use the bathroom, and showering with a crowd. I shouldn't have been. Somehow, believe it or not, I survived dorm living and actually enjoyed it (well, "enjoy" might not be the right word...let's just stick with "survived"). This is my side of the dorm room. Trust me when I say my roommate's half was neater.

But surviving dorm life is the easy part of the 10-day residency. Surviving the Rez, as it is fondly called by us fortunate enough to be a part of the VCFA community, is truly an achievement. It is ten days packed, jammed, crammed, crowded, loaded, stowed and stuffed with "stuff". I learned more in the 10-day Rez than I have learned in my previous 10 years of writing. How is that possible, you might ask? It's magic...

In the opening lecture, Tim Wynne-Jones compared Rez to Brigadoon, a magical place that rises out of the mist every 100 years. VCFA rises from the mist of Montpelier, Vermont every six months. It truly is a magical place.

While Tim spoke of magical places and trusting your inner genius, Alan Cumyn spoke of what makes a good story and cheese sandwiches. Cynthia Leitich-Smith lectured on mysteries where good triumphs over evil, brains are better than brawn, and life is sacred. Louise Hawes spoke about the communion between writer and reader, and Rita Williams-Garcia spoke about finding archetypal experiences in refreshed images. Sharon Darrow spoke about digging deeper into our emotions and the emotional baggage carried by writers and readers alike. Through these lectures and the others I found myself amazed at how much I had to learn, and wondering how I had ever thought I was writing stories before.

I learned about psychic distance, extended metaphors, pause button violations, and the ever elusive objective correlative. A lot of this is instinctual, but now I can imagine how much better my writing will be now that I am aware of what I am doing. And I've only finished the first Rez! I have four more!

There are 18 students in my class. We range in age from 23 to...well, let's just say to way past 23. We come from all walks of life and from all over the country, plus one Brit. Some of us are published, some of us are not. Some of us are new to writing, some of us are not. Some of us are teachers, some of us are not. What we all have in common, what everyone at VCFA has is common, is our love of children's literature. With this single thread to bind us together we forged new friendships - friendships built on trust and respect.

I was never so happy to come home to my own bed, my own bathroom, my own cooking, as when I came home from my first Rez (if for no other reason than my face broke out immediately upon moving into the dorm, as if it knew it was in a place built for adolescence). I am ready to get to work, to push myself to produce the creative and critical work for each of my "packets", due every four weeks. And I am already counting the months until I return again to Brigadoon to see what magic is worked on me then.