Writing and Working beyond the MFA: A Conversation with Angie Cruz, William Lychack and Michael Meyer

There's now a recording on our Google Drive site of Friday's conversation with Angie Cruz, Bill Lychack and Michael Meyer about writing, publishing, and working beyond the MFA. If you are a member of the Pitt community, you have access to this recording. Please e-mail Ryan McDermott if you're having trouble getting access.






Here are some highlights:

Angie's List: Angie Cruz talks through a number of online resources for writers, and shares a cover letter template:

Download the doc here.

Bill Lychack with his stack of "all the crap that I've done . . . I can't think of a writing job that I've ever said, 'No,' to." Writing a corporate history of cement on contract was "the best thing I've done in my life, in many ways." Here he holds a clutch of Guidepost Magazines. You can hear his story about his job as a ghost writer for Guidepost on This American Life.

Michael Meyer talks about how to reach out to writers and learn how to make a living. "If you ask anybody, 'How did you get into doing what you do? How are you successful?', they usually love to tell their story." He also talks from experience about the small-business side of freelancing, and the deep bites that self-employment taxes and fringes like health insurance take out of freelance income and book advances (more on this in Michael's NYTimes piece on advances).

Michael's object lessons: