CLASS SCOOP
/Lis Mesa, Writing Class Radio podcast student, on the write path...
Through my early 20s, I was terrified to "give in" and write. I knew the life of an artist was challenging--for many reasons--so I did sensible things like get a Master's in Management and work 60 hours a week in an upper management position in the healthcare industry. At 28, I had become so physically and mentally burned out that I had to set on hold the life I worked so hard to build.
I couldn't continue to repress my desire to write. The words burned my insides and seeped from my pores. On the morning of my 29th birthday--exactly one year ago--I signed up for a writing workshop. Since then, I've taken classes and workshops and worked with other writers. The results have been an evolving body of work that I'm extremely proud off.
I just turned 30, and this is where I need to be. This place as a writer. Just writing. It took me so long to give myself permission to write. And now I got accepted to The University of Edinburgh to study creative writing. I'm hoping this program will offer space to write, communion with other writers and the time to improve my craft.
This summer, Lis was invited to study with Emily Witt at the 2017 Tin House Summer Workshop.
In the Fall, Lis is going to The University of Edinburgh's one-year, full-time program, which offers students the opportunity to focus in depth on their own practice of poetry or fiction and develop both creative and critical skills through a combination of weekly workshops and seminars.
P.S....
Andrea Askowitz of gets published in The Manifest-Station....
Click here to read andrea's full essay, Born To Run.
