Higher Learning. With Croissants.

Last week, I woke up to an email that stopped my coffee cup dead in its tracks to my mouth. I applied to graduate school a few weeks before and there was an email from New York University telling me “Congratulations!” I got in. My first thought was “No one applied except for me.” While that could actually be the case, it doesn’t matter. This summer I’ll begin working toward an MFA in creative writing through NYU’s Paris Writers Program. Which means I’ll be going to Paris five times over the next two years for ten-day intensive creative writing workshops. Eating croissants and French cheeses and hearing lectures from some of my literary idols. But the absolute very best part is that a handful of amazing authors will be MY mentors. They will be reading my writing and giving me critiques. That seems completely unreal to me.

When I stopped being a reporter back when I moved to Yemen, I definitely had some worries about giving up that career. But what comforted me was that I knew journalism wasn’t my true passion. I really wanted to write fiction. I started writing a novel based on my experiences in Yemen when Mr. Dame in Spain and I lived in New York, and participated in a writing workshop with a crazy talented author at the Center for Fiction gave me a good confidence boost to keep moving forward. And now, this. It doesn’t even seem real. I hate to write a string of cliches (especially when I’m writing about creative writing) but I’m just so stoked for this opportunity and so very,very grateful that I have the freedom and support to follow this dream, which is largely thanks to my bestie, hubs, and Francophile extraordinaire, Mr. Dame in Spain.

To dreams coming true, (ugh, I know, terrible writing)

The Dame in Spain