Showing posts with label Suitcasing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Suitcasing. Show all posts

Monday, February 18, 2008

Making New Friends and Extending Hospitality

There's a link to Suitcasing under my writers' blogs. Daniel Wallace is a fascinating young writer from the UK who has lived as an expat in Taiwan and more recently in Syria. Over the last several months he's been applying to a number of MFA programs in the US and will be visiting the states, arriving in New York City in late March. If you'd like to host a charming and talented young English writer during his visit, please get in touch with Daniel. I've been following his adventures on his blog and have had the good fortune to read some of his fiction -- which is fantastic.

Please check out his post on the upcoming trip here.

"On Thursday morning, I received my first offer from one of the MFA courses I applied to. Lots of questions still remain, and I’m still waiting for a response from the other seven colleges, but it has been a wonderful relief. I suddenly have a much clearer idea of what I’ll be doing for the next 2-3 years.

It’s going to be a huge change. My life, especially over the last several months, has felt very stark - living in a strange country with only books for teachers. The thought of being in university and taking classes in Jazz Theory now seems so wonderful.

I’m trying now to handle the waiting period, which is turning out to be much harder than the hoping period. A few days ago, I doubted if I’d get in anywhere, but essentially I felt relaxed. Now that calm has gone, and I feel the urge to check my email every few hours. It’s impressive, isn’t it, how hard ones demons work?

On the positive side, this means that I’m going to be visiting the US soon. I’m going to fly to New York sometime in late March, visit various people on the East Coast, and possibly head into the Mid West if those colleges want me. If you are in the East Coast area, or know someone who might like to have a wandering English writer as a guest, let me know.

I’m going to be living in Syria for one more month, and going to try to stay focussed on my novel writing until I leave. Best wishes to you all; I’m feeling very grateful for the life I’ve been able to lead."






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Literary Quote

It is worth mentioning, for future reference, that the creative power which bubbles so pleasantly in beginning a new book quiets down after a time, and one goes on more steadily. Doubts creep in. Then one becomes resigned. Determination not to give in, and the sense of an impending shape keep one at it more than anything.


Virginia Woolf