Five thoughts on MFA theses:
-Find Other Thesis Friends
This seems fairly obvious, but I didn’t do it. When I worked on mine I wasn’t taking any other classes and was pretty disconnected from the Emerson community, so I wasn’t on friend-terms with anyone doing their thesis the same semester as me. This is a shame and if I had it to do over I would try to find as many people as I could. I would ask friends of friends if they know anyone. I would ask my advisor who his other thesis students are. I would put up hand-scrawled flyers all over the WLP offices. I would check my email archives for anyone who might still be in the program. If I had ever seen you around on the WLP floor or in the library or at one of those graduate readings, I would find you on Facebook and send you a message asking if you’re doing your thesis. Writing is lonely. You’ll need someone who’s jumping the same hurdles as you, someone who understands the same frustrations and has the same questions. At the very least, you’ll need someone to remind you about the thesis deadline.
-Do Not Give Up Your Life
During my thesis semester I cut back on working. I didn’t go out or do much else for months. Every day was the same—wake up, go to the library, write, come home, write some more, sleep. Some days I varied the libraries I went to, but for the most part that was my existence. It was pretty awful. The key here is balance—figuring out a way to juggle work, other classes (if you’re taking them), significant others, friends, and any other activities you used to enjoy before this. Do not spend these next couple of months holed up your apartment eating solely Easy-Mac and Ramen while looking forlornly out your window. Do not ignore the phone messages from your friends asking if you’ve died since they haven’t seen you since December. Go out once in awhile. Do other things. Have some semblance of a life.
-Make a Schedule
You’ll find, post-degree, that without the structure of class workshops to make you write, it becomes harder to self-motivate. I think part of why so many people quit writing after a degree program is that they never got used to incorporating writing in their life in the first place. Creating a schedule helps with that. I’ve long been horrible with schedules, but figured one out that has worked long-term (3-4 hours a day–anything longer and I drift and read blogs). Finding the time at first can be difficult, but practicing a schedule is one of the best and most important habits a writer can have. Whether two days a week or seven, stick to it.
-Do Not Wait Until the Deadline To Turn In Your Thesis
Right now, at this very moment, you should write down the deadline and put it somewhere (APRIL 27 BY FIVE O’CLOCK). Tape a poster of it to your wall. Tattoo it on your hand. Do what you need to do to remember. Make and print out a PDF of the two approval pages you will need your thesis advisor and your reader to sign and date, then head over to the Graduate Studies Office and ask them to look at it, especially the margins. The margins are the number one thing Emerson students screw up, and if you wait (like I did) until the last minute to try and turn in your thesis, having a messed up approval page is going to be the hardest problem to solve. By then professors may be gone, and if they’re gone, they can’t resign your forms, and if they can’t sign the forms, you can’t turn in the thesis. Yes, this happened to me, and no, you really don’t want it to happen to you.
-The Thesis Is Not the Be All and End All
You’ll put a lot of pressure on yourself to complete a masterwork. You’ll struggle and get frustrated that you’re not writing enough or that what you’ve written isn’t good enough. You’ll fill up with self-doubt and anxiety, and by the end you won’t be anywhere near having completed what you wanted at the start.
Don’t worry: none of this matters all that much. Yes, writing a thesis is exciting and you’ll think telling people that you’re working on your thesis sounds exciting, but really you’re just doing what you should have been doing throughout the 2-3 years you’ve been in the program, which is write.
If you’re still writing post-graduation, more than likely your thesis work won’t have ended. What you must remember is that, much like the degree itself, the work is not about the end result. It’s the process that matters, the day to day struggle as you learn more about your craft, and the people you meet along the way.
good advice, Tanya. thanks.