Buenos Aires

Hm-m-m. I've been wondering what it would take to get me writing again. I think I know. Buenos Aires. I found (quite by accident) a low-residency MFA program that includes fiction and nonfiction for children in Louisville, KY. Too late to apply for this year but their residency program is in Buenos Aires next summer (2010). You can get your degree in three semesters if you've already published a book by the time you get there. So I've got a year to get a book contract. I have wanted to go to Buenos Aires for a long time. Me and Evita, baby. Getting an MFA is not something I'd considered until now. I was always pretty good at school but getting into a program in the arts is another thing altogether.

If not Buenos Aires, then maybe Chautauqua. This is a special Highlights children's writer's conference in New York. Just up the road five hours or so. No biggie for someone used to Texas driving. But the tuition is almost two thousand dollars! Yipes. More motivation to make enough money to do that. I also found by accident that a very well-known children's writer (who teaches at this MFA program in KY) lives close by in Moscow, PA. I've sent her an email asking for an interview for an article in an online newsletter I write for.

On another topic altogether (OATA--is that an acronym in texting language like LOL?) my friend Steve sent me the obit of a family friend named Beth Krush who did those miraculous illustrations in The Borrowers books. I remember all of them so clearly. So does Michael. I had no idea Steve knew her. She grew up in Forty Fort. Her work made quite a favorable impression on me when I was a kid.

I'm getting more focused all the time. This is a good thing. It's like deciding what you want to be when you grow up. I'm not sure I'm ready to make that decision yet. (Neither is Michelle Obama. I heard her say that in a video the other day.)

Well, BTW. (Back to writing.)