From the Twitterverse

NOTE: I don't know what the future holds for Twitter, but, despite how h3llish it's been for others, and I know, there have been many cr@ppy and horrific moments for me too, the platform has been a boon for my writing life, and in more recent years, my artwork. I met many individuals, coalitions, organizations, advocacy groups, and publishing industry pros I admire and respect. I also learned about and was able to support Black and brown creators and small businesses. I learned to online network more, how to be self-confident, and trust in my voice. Yes, a social media platform did that for me. 

Since I don't know what will happen, I'll be posting handfuls of some favorite tweets. 

Below are some posts from when I was in my MFA graduate program (links are still active):

This is my 2nd #PaulAuster - "Mr. Vertigo" is devilishly fun and feels like #RayBradbury on speed. #requiredreading #gradwork

1:37 PM · Feb 4, 2014

Opinion: I am a beneficiary of chain migration -

#immigration - This article written by a fellow #MFA alum! 

http://tallahassee.com/story/opinion/2018/01/19/opinion-am-beneficiary-chain-migration/1034370001/ (via @andrewjskerritt)

11:36 PM · Jan 19, 2018

D@mn, I found my #MFA #thesis! #furry

https://utampa.dspacedirect.org/handle/20.500.11868/77/browse?type=author&value=Welsh%2C+Carmen+K.+Jr.

9:53 PM · Aug 28, 2019

Why This #Poet Says There Is No 'Single Story Spun On A Single Tongue' - Poet Dr. #EricaDawson was the #director of my #MFA program when I graduated!! She was on the #PBSNewshour this Monday!! Sweeeeeet😍🤩💖 #StarstruckandProud #BlackWomen

pbs.org

Why this poet says there is no 'single story spun on a single tongue'

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/why-this-poet-says-there-is-no-single-story-spun-on-a-single-tongue?fbclid=IwAR1whxwpylvMCHvRZYzAWkmJZz1oiXw77Fm2QU6xynXpUIBvl4PLWXzwZ24

2:17 AM · Feb 16, 2019

Year of Champions: Thanks to #TinaIsaacs, local #writers know they are never alone - THIS IS ONE OF MY FRIENDS FROM MY #MFA #WRITING PROGRAM!! #Malaysia 

Read more at https://star2.com/topics/yearender-2017/2017/12/30/year-of-champions-thanks-to-tina-isaacs-local-writers-know-they-are-never-alone/#ZD3S2v1t7BvWlc58.99

https://star2.com/topics/yearender-2017/2017/12/30/year-of-champions-thanks-to-tina-isaacs-local-writers-know-they-are-never-alone/

9:35 PM · Jan 1, 2018

My MFA program officially 'closed its doors' this year

Months ago, my MFA program shut its figurative doors. And then a mentor from my program wrote a piece about the ending of the hybrid-residency... 

I read the article in my Poets&Writers(I'm a subscriber for years). As I posted to the mentor on Facebook, I will say that I didn't know how to describe the feelings while  reading. 

I only knew as someone who knew the mentor, that a known space suddenly gone felt surreal and dreamlike. 

My first Public Reading! Part 3

The following pictures show the reaction of the audience after our readings.

     Reactions to my reading was immediate and astounding. One of my fellow seniors, who also was in workshop with me once, told me how proud she was of how far I had taken the story since she first work-shopped it. The associate dean of our program, also one of the faculty, whispered to me that I had everyone eating out of the palm of my hand!

Photo courtesy of classmate/friend Shelia

Photo courtesy of classmate/friend Shelia

That same evening, while on an outing with some of the class, our program's acting-director patted me on the shoulder and expressed how I wowed the entire auditorium, including her. I felt humbled and thrilled.

The next three days, I received thumbs-ups and earlier-termers who approached me to say how excited they were about my story. I had at least three schoolmates (one first-termer and two long-time schoolmates) tell me I had opened their eyes to my genre. Our program's former director-now-faculty-member high-fived me when we met in an elevator!

It was an exhilarating experience and one this introvert does not take lightly.

Photo courtesy of classmate/friend Shelia 

My first Public Reading! Part 2

Photo courtesy of classmate/friend Tina

16 of us would be completing and going through commencement this term. The first eight went on June 20. The second group of eight (my team) would go on June 21. I was third in line and before we started, my fourth-term mentor (my professor during my thesis term) approached me and asked what I would be reading. I told her a scene from my second chapter. She wished me luck and went to her seat.

Photo courtesy of classmate/friend Tina

When it was my turn, I made sure my bookmarks were in place of where I would start and end. I had written my introduction and binder-clipped it to the front. I had practiced my ten minutes down to eight. This would give me enough time to ad-lib my thanks to my classmates and to the three mentors that were my instructors during my time in the program.

The lights were in my eyes but I decided to focus on my sheets of paper. At one point, the microphone went out -others told me they hadn't noticed and that my voice still carried to the back- and so I continued to read, making sure that my eye contact was for everyone. I had read the piece enough to smile and/or react as my characters would. I didn't mimic my two protagonists' accents or dialects but I retained their tonal inflections. 

When I ended with a 'thank you', the auditorium reacted in a way I didn't expect. There were woots, whistles and call-outs! When I returned to my seat, my fellow cohorts told me what a great job I did as well as fist-bumps and handshakes.
[Part Three in next post...]

My first Public Reading! Part 1

      As part of the requirement to complete my MFA, graduating cohorts have to do a public reading of their thesis. The program had changed the timing. With only 10 minutes, weeks before I traveled to Tampa for this last writing residency and my commencement, I practiced several pieces before deciding on one scene.

I worked out that I would dress up for this. I am a budding cosplayer (costume player at a scifi/fantasy/horror/comic/anime convention) and because this residency would be my last, I decided I would dress as the time period of my historical fiction, the early 1930s.

We were split into two teams of eight. I would be in the second team and the third in line. On Day 4 of the residency, June 21st, I did my first public reading.

Photo courtesy of friend/classmate Tina

Photo courtesy of classmate/friend Shelia

My costume consisted of clothing I already had in my closet. I wore a matching vest and slacks my mother had sewn for me several years before. I wore a pair of J.G. Hook shoes I had purchased many years ago. My dress shirt one of a set I bought from Steve and Barry's about six-seven years ago. Also, in honor of Father's Day, I wore one of my father's messenger caps, pin-striped as my outfit.

[Part Two in next post...]

I've been MFA'ed

So my hooding ceremony is done. The preparations for cap and gown is done. All my printouts were completed. All emails submitted. My requirements have been met. What is the next step? Tune in because this blog and my life as a writer and artist isn't done.

The THESIS Is Done... Well, to a certain degree. Rewrites will follow.

Yesterday morning, some time after 2:30 am, I completed my thesis and submitted 50 pages to mentor and 141 pages (that includes cover sheet, preface, revised prologue, abstract and lucky 13 chapters) to the university's BlackBoard. 

I had uploaded a draft version but panicked and officially submitted it. Any changes to be made, I will let the school deal with me being able to re-upload. 

This has been a struggle and has taken plenty out of me. How my favorite writers churn out books seems beyond my mortal ken. Just writing, rewriting, work-shopping and researching has done me in more than any other writing endeavor I've undertaken. No wonder I immediately gravitated towards short stories!  

My novel-in-progress has mutated in a wonderful way. It has metamorphosed from a half-eaten caterpillar to raggedy cocoon and finally a brightly-winged butterfly that is trying to get away from me. I wondered often why writing was likened to childbirth and child-raising and I have caught a glimpse, possibly a hairsbreath sliver of what mothers who have raised children must go through. To see a child one way and watch that child become a completely different individual than what the parent could have imagined.

This story has changed in gargantuan ways I didn't foresee. It has changed me in a shorter time as a writer than those sixteen years of professional writing I went through with my short fiction and handful of art. 

There can be no complete explanation of the changes that have also taken place within me. I feel more courageous, more daring and this contented introvert can risk humiliation knowing she has tried.   

And in the middle of what I coined "Thesis Mania", my writers' guild published a second guest post of mine. I will be uploading the link to my bibliography blog "The Angry Goblin". I completely forgot about this! Oh well. It's there and it does speak about my MFA experience and being an anthropomorphic writer.

All this maternal imagery and changes? Just in time for Mother's Day! :)

Ahead of the Game

Ok. Working on this thesis. But had to get a four-book annotation out of the way. Just used my work lunchtime to continue to add, omit and edit my dummy 'curriculum' I'm suppose to teach as a graduating student in the summer term. Can't wait!

Still in Thesis *Crisis* Mode

I'm not making excuses, but last night's packet had already been ready for weeks. Everything was in order until I changed my annotation plans. Absolutely ridiculous. I had two chapters already ready and my annotations set up. Then I changed my theme. *Gag*
My thesis chapters are already lined up (for creative portion) and the next packets will be annotated by three books each. That is all.

A Quick Note--

Let me just say that I am still working feverishly. This is my final term. I'm both frightened and excited. There are many things to put in place. Many side projects to work on and possibly submit. I know that after commencement, I can settle down. But let's get the tasks lists in place. So many goals to accomplish and so much to do. Let's wait and see! I hope you'll still be with me and bring more friends and readers this 2015!

I'm in my FOURTH term!!!

Well. This is it. I am in my fourth term in my MFA program and very excited.

In spite of the early mornings, the commando-style seminars, and the copious amounts of handouts, duo-tang folders and exercises, there have been exhilarating moments and being in the company of what one cohort said "my tribe".

Now my draft has crystallized into a different beast all together. It has been encouraged to stretch and morph. It has been overhauled and redecorated. Now I am in that mode where I will try out the ideas suggested to see if this will lead to a final product to springboard into a final draft.

Yikes, now I am sounding more academic because as I type this, I am in seminar, but I want to have more entries on this blog before this month concludes. There are too many distractions and asides to concentrate on. I am also concentrating on my future before I graduate next term (June). There needs to be self-evaluating even while I don't want to self-evaluate.

Eventually, this will end and I will miss it.

It is a New Year!

Original date in journal 11/2/14

While reading Scott McCloud's "Making Comics" on page 232, McCloud speaks about artists basing 'his or her comics around [a]...'collection of values. ..'

And as I do readily subscribe to one of these values, the other three aren't far from my thoughts. I do want to tell the best story I can, but I want to strive for excellence, experiment and test the boundaries of my skills.

One day, my supervisor and I discussed my novel-in-progress, and I gave updates about my latest feedback. I mentioned I may be the only anthropomorphic writer in the writing program, but I also explained there were other MFA programs that did separate by genre. My supervisor immediately disregarded that idea, for though she is a genre fan buff too, she told me it was better for me to be in the present program since I'm exposed to other genres at once. She even pointed out all the topics and variety of issues I pinpoint in the story: romance, historical, sociology, anthropology, economics, racism, segregation, crime, politics etc.

That was important for me to know and understand. I also want to create lasting art. Art that endures.

Now, to continue getting ready: new goals, more writing and packing for residency next week!

I continue to plug away

Currently using my novel draft as my project for the duration of this MFA program.

The previous packet involved a difficult subplot that, had I not pushed through it, would not have made sense to work on the rest of the book.

It involved the female protagonist's early months in Harlem, thrown into the middle of all the music, politics, sex, bootlegging, gangster-tied and gangster-owned businesses, legit and illegitimate, and how she is trying to survive her time just to live in a decent apartment. Her fight to live her life as comfortably as possible 'morally compromises her' (mentor's words, not mine) and forces her into things she would not have done had she still been home in rural Tennessee. However, she is smart and capable, and though naive and not as worldly as her counterparts, she easily wades into the corruption that threatens to drown her.

When I first came up with the idea for this novel, I never dreamed nor expected it to grow in the ways it has. Each term grows stronger with my confidence to this book. It has stretched my writing muscles and my research skills. When I run up against a wall, I am able to bounce back in quicker than before. Now that I got through this chapter, -- my mentor enjoyed it, loved the new character I introduced who will serve for most of the book, but was pleased that I strengthened my female protagonist to the point she blazes across the pages -- and with only structural and transitional issues to go over and edit, I think I got off easy.

Last month, and even in July, I did not think I would pull this chapter off. Even before the day of the deadline, when I sent it in, I was lamenting that it wouldn't fly: it was rough and coarse. Shoddy, it wasn't my best work. But it did work. And according to those in my life that know this story from its inception until now, structure issues are easier to deal with than the idea and imagination used. In other words, the fundamental core of the story is left intact and my feedback included adjectives on how I handled scenes and description, which are some of my strengths. Now, to work more on transition and structure. And get my tools ready for the next chapter, and more on that third-term essay!

If you feel this is for you, then do that MFA. But, also look for the right one for you, even if it takes a while. Like I did.

The Long & Short of It

How about reading for pleasure? Again? In the midst of trying to tie down the novel-in-progress, I've noticed that the imagination is being fired in other directions.
I will be changing my job-schedule dramatically this semester. Not only to have more time and concentrate on the grad work and keep on deadline but to evaluate where I want my writing career to go.
After all the hooplah of beginning an MFA program, I find myself already in my third term -- two more terms! -- before I graduate. This has posed a new dilemma for me: do I begin a career hunt or do I step up what I am doing now or do I veer off the beaten path to continue seeking different writing adventures? I'm kind of leaning on the first and third scenarios. There are projects I MUST work on, ideas that have come to fruition, and a community of like-minded people that I can lean on and count on to keep me on the straight and narrow.
Let's see what adventures lie ahead!

The Art of Plugging Away - New Edition

"There comes a time in everyone's life...." Blah blah blah. No, I will give it to you straight - have been back from residency and didn't think it was possible.
I realized I was burned out last term (Jan 2014) and needed to recuperate. Then I read an article in Poets&Writers magazine about 'post residency stress'.
I brought it up with a poet cohort of mine (we are divided into three groups: poetry, nonfiction and fiction (my group), and he told me that it was a true condition! So that's probably why I am dragging and yet have momentary bursts of energy. And according to the author of that article, it affects everyone in different ways. For her, it affected her mood, emotions, and at some point, her circadian rhythm.
For me, it's making me itchy and tense. I feel I have to burn the midnight oil, drop into bed so late that I'm only getting a few hours sleep. This isn't good. And now I need to get back into my groove, which is proving elusive.
Well, one, no, a couple good things out of this mania: I'm getting work done.
I'm putting my research together for my third term critical essay.
I already put together/organized my folders from school on my desk.
Sent some important emails (have two more left) and I am getting my books a month in advance for the rest of this year's packets. Whew.
Let the Games Begin!

Still plugging away

So, it's getting closer to residency, and this month (May) has got to be one of the worst for me!

It's not only in the middle of a college semester, so I'm not getting paid, but I have three deadlines to keep up with!

One was for the first of May: the 20 page (if poet) or 25 page (if fiction or nonfiction) submission to workshop while we are attending the June Residency.

I am now in the first week back at work and have the packet deadline, my last for this term (May 15). This will be the shortest one I do! I am so exhausted! 

Another character...

Ok, so here's the BIG secret, although, if you're following me on social media, you may have already guessed it: I GOT INTO GRAD SCHOOL! Why is this important? Well, it's in Creative Writing, and since I get to submit drafts, read tons of stories, and rewrite projects I'm currently working on, this degree program is right up my alley!

Now, on with the show...

My male protagonist's father.
Like all else with this story, I am trying to multi-fold each character with a history, and not just for background sake, but with the intent that we are all woven into a fabric, and that each life is part of a tapestry.

"Antonio Di Castellan" by Carmen K. Welsh (c)

Take, for instance, Antonio's story - a native Italian, born ethnically a Gypsy, who later takes his inheritance to travel to the New World. His story is like millions, and this immigrant experience continues, wonderfully, to this day.

The history books gloss over things once a person steps off the boat, the ship, or the plane. Yet, luckily for writers, the story does not end there.

Here, I had creased the paper, to find it quickly in the sketchbook, and looking at the sketch, I now realize it almost resembles an Ellis Island photograph, so I'll keep the crease there.
This is a sketch that I will hopefully revise soon. I also studied Ellis Island pictures so that I could get the sense of what a man, recently from Italy, in the 1890s - 1900s, would wear.

I also added the earring because many Romany men do wear jewelry proudly.