Giving Props for My SC Acceptance

USC's PhD program for literature + creative writing is badass. It's so rad, in fact, that it makes me dizzy. On the fiction side (my side), you've got TC Boyle, Aimee Bender, Percival Everrett + Marianne Wiggins. On the poetry side you've got David St. John, Mark Irwin + Carol Muske-Dukes. USC's PhD program is basically artistic vertigo. But I digress.

After screaming out loud + crying in my girlfriend's neck, the first thing I did was write the people that helped me get into USC. You have to do that, thanking not just the creater/universe/whatever configuration you're into frankly for the privilege of being able to write, read + evolve, but also thanking all the people that helped you achieve that. These are people that pushed your potential art into kinetic art. They used their own energy to nurture and guide your writing.

So, I wrote letters to Valerie Sayers, my thesis adviser and friend from Notre Dame, and thanked her for guidance, widsom + perspective (after all, she helped me decide which writing sample to submit, not to mention she was the person who introduced me for my Sparks Reading, and called to accept me back in the spring of 2005, officially creating space for me in this world to be a writer). Then I wrote William O'Rourke and thanked him for accepting my conceptual story in the NDR, and for his help as an old skool critic. Apropos, he wrote one of the most flattering rec's I've ever read. Then, I wrote Steve Tomasula and thanked him for his mind, for his literary deviance, and above all, for his support, intelligence + enthusiasm. He told me he made we walk on water in his rec., and damn I needed a little Jesus in my application. I also wrote my friend and mentor, Jim Dorsey at Dartmouth College, who was a visiting professor at Yale for one of my classes when I was working on my first M.A. there. He has written no less than 10 rec.'s for me over the course of 10 years for a million different programs (and half-baked aspirations) at a long-list of schools (PhD, MFA), supporting me when I considered going straight academic (Berkeley, Stanford, U Dub), straight fine arts (Notre Dame + Indiana U), and now, a perfect hybrid of the two (SC + FSU).

Finally, I wrote Julianna Baggott, the assistant director at FSU. I know this year didn't have a normal fiscal pulse for Florida State, and I didn't want her to feel bad about not being able to accept me like she may have in a normal year. I know she respects me as a writer and likes me as a person, and had hoped that FSU financial situation would improve. It didn't, they accepted 2 fiction PhD's instead of 5-6, and that's not her fault. Anyway, here is the letter I wrote her:

Hey Julianna,

I'm sorry things didn't work out. Sort of feels like we broke up before we dated or something. . . Even so, I just wanted you to know that I really appreciated your support, honesty + compassion. I know you only had so much control over your budget, and the FL legislature, and that in another year things probably would have ended differently.

Even so, because I know you feel a little guilty about l'affaire FSU, even though it's clearly not your fault, or anyone else's for that matter, I thought it might assuage things a little bit to let you know that things ended up great for me anyway. I got into USC's PhD program for Lit + CW (fiction, obviously) and I'll be working with some cool writers (not to mention, I'll be an hour away from my mamma), so don't worry about me. I'm cool. And more importantly, happy I got to know you a little bit during this whole process.

I'm looking forward to running into you at a conference/residence in the future. Thanks again for the way you handled things and the grace with which you did them, and stay in touch.

Peace, Blessings,

--j1b

And here is her response:

USC is a great program! and personally i'd love to be only an hour from family. thanks so much for the updates. i don't consider us broken up! i'd love to hear what you're doing from time to time, if you don't mind jotting me little notes. i know you're going to have a long and splendid career! it'd be a pleasure to watch it unfold -- even from afar.

all my best,

jb

Accepted in USC's PhD Program in Literature + Creative Writing!

Two minutes ago, I got my acceptance letter today from (U)SC, and the first thing I did was hug my girlfriend and cry. Maybe it's the latent latino in me, maybe it was holding in four months of tension + uncertainty, but my god, I had to let out all that emotion somehow. At the very end, USC came through for me, and so did March. Ahumdulila. Seriously, that's my only response: Ahumdulila. Dear universe, buddhas, god, nature, whatever and wherever you are, thank you. I'd like to give props to the creator for this. I'm humbled and moved. I promise not to waste this enormous privilege.

From Wait List to Rejected List at FSU

Here's the gracious rejection email that Julianna Baggott at FSU sent me, one of the final emails in a series of conversations we had:

Jackson,

It's a combination. We usually overbook, meaning we usually accept more people than we actually expect to accept. We're trying to hit a target -- if we go over, well, we go over. But this year there was no margin to go over. At all. We could only accept as many as we had spots for. So it was tighter than usual. And then I was told one fewer and other wrenches. We had to wait. And wait. And now more folks -- from that tight offer batch -- have said yes than expected. So that's where we are.

The top seven-ten in both the PhD and MFA file in fiction, I felt like I would be honored to teach any of those students. Honored. The work was really stunning. Yours included. From there, it's a group decision. And it was painful for all of us. The work was really strong -- and varied. And the decision-making was so hard. You are hugely talented. You'll do great things. And I don't say any of this to make this easier.

All my best,

j.

The Waiting Game

Everything in the literary world is behind schedule: that short story I submitted a year and a half ago to Zoetrope, the literary agents that placed my manuscript in the sludge pile after telling me they'll read my partial, one of my stories I gave William O'Rourke to publish in the Notre Dame Review more than a year ago, the Kenyon Review's online version of my short story "Cowboys of the Heart: the 6-DVD Boxset", Stand Magazine's Winter issue that "Nimble Calligraphy" will be published in + of course, the 2 PhD programs I applied to, none of which have responded yet. I expect some uncertainty + delay. Actually, a lot. But I what I don't expect, is uncertainty + waiting across the board.

My bad.

2 PhD Applications Finished + Submitted

Well, after several months of working on 2 PhD applications, writing a bunch of personal statements, revising a critical essay, obsessing about 1-3 creative writing samples, requesting transcripts from 5 schools, shepherding 5 separate recommendations from faculty in Chicago, South Bend, Notre Dame and Tokyo, + taking the GRE in Buenos Aires, I am finally done with all my applications. In case you're curious I finally decided to apply to:

1. FSU (PhD program in Literature + Creative Writing)
2. USC (PhD program in Literature + Creative Writing)

Now, maybe some of you are asking me: you already have a M.F.A., why the fuck do you need another degree in creative writing? The answer is simple: I don't. But what I do need, is more time to write and publish. And it's not going to happen by teaching English in Buenos Aires and running all over the city like an amateur speedwalker. By the time I get home, I'm exhausted. Another thing: I picked Notre Dame to get my M.F.A. because I really liked Valerie Sayers, Steve Tomasula + Frances Sherwood, not to mention it was closer to Chicago, which ended up being the best choice for me, even though I really like and admire Indiana University's MFA program very much. Tony Ardizzone seemed like an awesome guy too.

This time, I'd really love to work with Robert Olen Butler, Julianna Baggott, Suzanne Stuckey-French, TC Boyle + Aimee Bender, so really, any of the above mentioned programs would do for me. Also, this time: Florida or LA will work just fine for me. More than anything, I just want to write, learn from the best writers in the world, read 200 amazing novels, and flourish. I've got the talent, the persistence and the devotion, I just want more time to become the next big thing, and maybe expand my network in the process. Holla!

TC Boyle Responds to Email

I could pretty much drool all over myself at the prospect of studying with TC Boyle (not to mention Aimee Bender), both of whom are at USC, but I wanted to know whether I'd actually be able to actually study with him if I got in, so I sent him a quick email yesterday that went like this:

Dear TC Boyle,

Hi + greetings. I'm kinda amazed they actually list your email address in the USC website. Pleasantly surprised. Anyway, I have one question for you: I'm in the process of applying to USC's PhD in creative writing program, but I wanted to know whether I'd actually be able to work with you (in some capacity) assuming I was accepted? I know you're a busy man and a prodigious writer so I don't have delusions. But it would be nice to know ahead of time what I might be potentially diving into: are you and the other USC fiction rockstars available, and willing, to interact with the doctoral students, assuming they don't annoy the shit out of you, or are you guys way too busy for that kind of thing?

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I think "After the Plague" is fantastic, by the way. I'd like to see more literary fiction writers embrace futuristic landscapes like that.

Peace, Blessings,

--Jackson Bliss

And goddamit, he responded in less than 24 hours:

Dear Jackson:

That's a resounding yes. I teach the fall workshop each year so that incoming students, if they're so inclined, can begin with my class. And we work closely together. You've also got Marianne Wiggins, Aimee Bender and Percival Everett to work with subsequently. Not too shabby, I'd say.

Cheers,

TCB

::

I don't know what I find cooler, getting my first email from TC Boyle, or knowing that if I manage to get into USC's program, I'd be able to work with the man who practically redefined the contemporary short story.