[Izulde]

This semester's been a tough one so far, thanks to my schedule setup and the courses I'm taking and teaching. I've also been pretty isolated, which doesn't help matters. But if I can get through this semester, hopefully with my 4.0 still intact, a good start on my thesis, and the German reading proficiency exam -finally- out of the way, my last semester is shaping up to be a thing of beauty.

I'll only have one class to take next semester and it's an elective, based on how I have it mapped out. I already know which class I'll be taking, I think, though there's quite a few tempting options on the list. The rest of the hours are thesis hours. I'll also hopefully be teaching World Lit next semester like I've been wanting to since I came to campus, but if not, I'll teach Comp II like I did last spring.

But the biggest reason I'm updating this thread is because it's time to start looking at MFA programs again. In my darker moments this semester, I've pondered not applying to any and just graduating in May, but, as I said in the last post, if I don't, it'll be like Princeton back in high school all over again.

I've already secured one letter of recommendation and I need to check with a second letter of recommendation writer to make certain they'll still be able to do it.

As for the writing sample, I've been going back and forth between a section of a novel versus two short stories. But I need to decide very soon and start polishing the hell out of the writing sample I'm submitting, as a lot of schools have early December deadlines and it's already mid-October.

Next update will be a re-visitation of possible schools. Some things have changed since the last time I went through this process.