Write a Collection of Short Stories. Check.

Collection Title: The Milk Tree.

Last night, I stayed up until 3:00 to finish my creative thesis. Now I am one step closer to completing my MFA from Sewanee University's School of Letters. I read through the 144 page document in its entirety from 10 until 3, and now it has been sent to my advisor and I am done. For now. Hopefully, this body of work will be in print one day. That's the goal. But for now, I am just so happy it is written. 48,982 words. Over 200,000 characters.

In case you are wondering what a creative thesis is and what goes into it, here's some info:

In our School of Letters Catalogue, this is how the thesis is described:

"All M.F.A. students must complete a thesis. This is a substantial creative

manuscript: a novel or sustained nonfiction narrative, a collection of short stories

or essays, or a collection of poems. Length for the M.F.A. thesis may be anywhere

from 80 to 200 pages of prose or 40 to 50 pages of poetry.

Work on the thesis for either program may begin at any time after required

course work has been completed. The thesis is written under the supervision of an

advisor, chosen by the candidate, who may be any willing member of the School of

Letters faculty. As the project nears completion, a second reader will be appointed

by the Director of the School of Letters. When the thesis has been completed and

conditionally approved, the candidate for the degree will submit to a one-hour oral

examination conducted by the advisor and second reader."

In real life, that looks like this:

• 1-2 marathon writing sessions every weekend at Panera (literally, 4 hours!) from October to March.
• Writing after school most days (1-2 hours). I gave up working out this year.
• Writing before school (wake up - 5am) when I could wake up.
• Writing at night (after the kids when to bed) when I could stay awake.
• Writing A LOT on holidays (mini-break, Christmas break, Thanksgiving break). Panera was empty with out the UF students, and I would spend 5-7 hours writing there or at school.
• Lots of coffee (at Panera and at school)!
• Endless preoccupation with characters, their problems, their struggles, their successes, their conversations, and story titles.
• Editing, revising, and cutting. I literally halved a story from its first submission to now.

And somehow, I got it done despite my adorable children, 80 students and a full workday, SGA events, family, friends, and GOLD. Family and friends, thank you for your support. Thank you, readers! Actually, writing a book is a lot like raising a child. It takes a village. It drained me. It exhilarated me. And even sleep-deprived, I loved every. single. second.