By Connie Pan and Rebecca Thomas

It wasn’t too long ago when we drove across the state line that boasted a “Wild and Wonderful” West Virginia. We were frightened, uprooted from California and Michigan, and had left everything we knew: family, friends, food. The separation pains were enough to send us spiraling into sweatpants, reruns of Friends, and bags of fun size candy bars, which at that volume aren’t very fun. But we found a reason to shed the sweats, power off the TV, put down the candy bars, and write. Our reason: the Third Years. For new First Years that are frightened to their cells, perspiring not just because of the broiling August heat, and choking back vomit, the Third Year MFA candidates can be the best prescription for all of your jitters. They are reservoirs of knowledge; they’ve been on that couch, maybe even with king sized candy bars, and they know how to get through it. Best of all, they were so ready to help all of us. Their advice made us survive our first year, and their writing inspired us to push on, type away, and know that theses can be written and written well.

POETRY

Tori Moore

Tori plans on going through all of this craziness again and is getting her Master’s in Elementary Education. Although she is excited about the next venture, she will miss, above all, the amazing friends she’s made here, ice skating rinks, and movie nights. She enjoyed working with Heather Frese at the Bolton Creative Writing Workshops. Tori’s biggest piece of advice for incoming MFAs is, “Don’t wish your time away. You’ll be done soon enough, and then it’s the real world. Which is highly overrated.”

Christina Rothenbeck

Christina loved the “positive, nurturing atmosphere of the program, and the close-knit community.” She enjoyed the MFA experience so much that she decided to get her PhD in poetry at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. While we’re excited for her to move on to Mississippi, we wonder if the Magnolia State has sparklers, a place like the deck of the Brew Pub, and the possibility of almost getting thrown out for being a fire hazard. She advises the first years to “take deep breaths and remind yourself you can do this.”

Danielle Ryle

No matter what, Danielle will keep on writing and this is “uplifting since [she has] no idea? where [she] will be next year.” She can handle it; after all, she’s learned how to balance writing and work through the “real world bootcamp” that is getting an MFA. Danielle will miss “having so many great writers right around the corner.” She encourages the first year to remember, “You’re here; you’re alive; write about it.”

CREATIVE NON-FICTION

Sarah Einstein

After graduation, Sarah will be relocating to one of our neighboring states to get a Ph.D. in Creative Nonfiction at Ohio University. While she’s excited about her next degree, she will miss the end-of-the-semester readings at Kevin Oderman and Sara Pritchard’s house and “the camaraderie and support. This is a very comfortable department, where we celebrate one another’s successes and, when a door opens for one of us, we work to hold it open for the rest. The community of writers is what makes this place so special.” Sarah advises new MFA candidates to “focus on your writing. The teaching, while important, can eat up every second of every day if you let it. Remember that you’re here to write, and that teaching is just your day job.”

FICTION

Alex Berge is heading east. Potential destinations: Boston, Philadelphia, or Bangor, ME. He wants to experience places other than Ohio, where he was born, and West Virginia. While he doesn’t know where he will end up, he knows he is going to write and write in a new place. Wherever he lands, he is certain that he will keep in contact with the invaluable friends that he made, the people who read his stories before and after workshop, “draft after draft.” Alex insists, “You’ll never please everyone, so don’t try. As you write, ask yourself, ‘Would I want to read this?’ As long as your answer is always yes, then you’re doing what you need to be doing. You’re here to be a writer, not a crowd pleaser.”

Heather Frese

Heather is going to stick around Morgantown for a year, potentially teaching part-time and working on sending her book out to the scary world of publishing. “After that, who knows? [She’s] open to suggestions.” It seems as if Heather is good at following her own advice. While here, she “listen[ed] to [her] intuition and start[ed] (and complet[ed]!) a project that was not at all what [she’d] planned on or imagined, getting bits of it published along the way, and also experimenting with form, structure, and point of view.” However, she’s good at giving advice, too. She recommends incoming MFAs to “leave yourself some room to play with whatever you’re working on, because the results can be surprising.”

Aaron Hoover

Aaron’s returning to his hometown, West Lafayette, Indiana. While his wife goes to school, he will work, send his novel out, and teach his children. He will miss the West Virginia scenery and wildlife that he observed on family walks along the rail trail as well as the writing community. Aaron urges first years to “be vigilant, even paranoid, about getting registered for 790, making sure you’re getting all the credits you need, getting paperwork filed on time and the rest of that bureaucratic crap. However distracting it is to make sure you get it right, it can be devastating if you don’t.”

Rebecca Schwab

Rebecca’s future holds novels, diner ownership, a small plot of grapes, and motherhood for rescued dogs. While she won’t miss the parking, the hills, and the traffic, she will miss the people. Rebecca recommends first years to “spend more time on your writing. For three years I have tried so hard to be a good comp teacher. But guess what? I don’t want to be a comp teacher when I grow up. I want to be a writer. So I wish I would have focused more energy on what I came here for. Also, take as many extra workshops as you can, like the Sturm and the WVWW and mini-workshops with visiting writers. Every comment helps. And, the sooner you revise and the more time you spend doing it, the easier it becomes. It’s a skill that takes practice.”

The thought of saying goodbye to the Third Years is enough to put us back in our sweats. Shoot, we’re in our sweats now, and there’s a bag of fun sized candy downstairs. But we will remember these wonderful Third Years, put on some pants, put down the candy, and be ready to attempt to be the pillar of strength and writing gurus that these third years have been for the incoming First Years. It won’t be easy. In fact, we think it might just be impossible, but we will try. Good luck, outgoing MFAs! Your writing is inspiring and your friendship has been priceless.