This is a debate that won’t go away but is at least somewhat different from the “to MFA or to not MFA” debate.

When I made the decision that I wanted to go back to school, I looked at MA programs versus MFA and what held me back from the MA programs (besides taking the GRE) was the thought of going back into writing papers on topics I wasn’t particularly interested in.  I also wasn’t sure if I wanted to be in a classroom setting day in and day out for 2-3 years.

So I went MFA to focus on writing and I still had to write a few papers but there is still part of me that is drawn to doing a PhD or an MA in literature. Why?  Not because I just like school.  But because I am interested in the scholarly side of literature in writing.  But am I interested enough?

I had lunch with someone I have known since we were both 13.  We were both good students (she far exceeding me though!) and we both ended up being English majors and poets.  I went the route of work and then an MFA while she went the route of MA and then PhD.  And, I can see how much she loves to research and study which I also enjoy, but do I enjoy it enough to dedicate another 2-4 years?

I don’t think I have it in, but boy do I honor the people who go through and get a PhD who deserve to be called Doctors because they took the time to become specialists in their fields.  I just don’t quite have the drive, even if I could move and do a Creative Writing PhD because while I like to read on my own and think about reading and writing on my own, I’m more interested in the writing itself instead of writing about the act of writing.

Run on sentences. Run on!