All of these ideas sound wonderful! One thing I've done that's pretty cheap is rent space at a church camp in the off-season. When I went, there was only one other person there, so no food service was available. But, I was just a few minutes from town, plus they had a fridge in the lodge so I was able to bring stuff. It was great. I could sit and look at the lake, take walks, and write in various locations where I was not responsible for laundry or cleaning or tidying up.
Thank you so much for this generous post. One question comes to mind. You addressed this briefly in the post, but I just want to clarify. Some residencies (MacDowell, for instance) say explicitly that they prefer a writing sample drawn from whatever project you're proposing to work on during your stay. I've always wondered if this is something that "insiders" (i.e. people with some access to institutional knowledge) take with a grain of salt. At face value, a stated preference like this would seem to imply that they don't want perfectly polished work for a sample; they prefer a work-in-progress. And I assume they're looking for the artist statement to explain how the writing sample fits into a larger project (?).
What is your strategy, in this case? Is everyone who knows how these things work just ignoring this and sending polished work, while writing an artist statement that refers to a completely different project? Or do you just wait until your WIP is pretty close to done before you apply? Do people just fudge it, sending polished work and pretending it's not "done"? (I am constitutionally incapable of knowingly fudging, so I hope not! On the other hand: I've never written anything that I couldn't conceivably continue to revise ad infinitum.)
I don't want to get in trouble with my answer here, but... I'll just say that everywhere I've been, they absolutely don't care what you end up working on because they understand that things change all the time. Audrey Niffenegger went to Ragdale for paper arts and decided to try writing fiction and began what would be The Time-Traveler's Wife. Or someone just gets a different idea for where to take a project.
That said, if they're specifically asking for what you'll work on, I would not send anything that's been PUBLISHED. (Some places specify unpublished work because they want to know it's you who's brilliant, not just your editor.) And if your work sample and your work plan align, that's probably a more compelling reason to take you--like, here is the brilliant opening of the memoir that you need time and space to complete--but I've never heard of anyone checking on what you actually produce.
Whatever you do send (say, a chapter from a half-written novel), it should of course be polished within an inch of its life. A file reader is trying to get through a zillion applications, and an awkward sentence or two is enough reason to put a low score on it and click on to the next one.
If I were applying somewhere right now, I'd spend a week or two polishing the opening chapters of my WIP and send those--and I'd talk about them in my work. plan. But I'm sure there are people out there doing things differently, especially if the guidelines don't specify.
AH, your France retreat looks delightful! And these lists of other opportunities are so helpful. Thank you. I am definitely thinking this through and hope to be able to participate.
I may have to share "If your 16-year-old has a crisis while you’re away, the odds are much higher that it involves risky behavior, mental health, grades that matter, and/or some asshole lacrosse player named Aidan." with Frank Bruni, for his best sentences of the week.
All of these ideas sound wonderful! One thing I've done that's pretty cheap is rent space at a church camp in the off-season. When I went, there was only one other person there, so no food service was available. But, I was just a few minutes from town, plus they had a fridge in the lodge so I was able to bring stuff. It was great. I could sit and look at the lake, take walks, and write in various locations where I was not responsible for laundry or cleaning or tidying up.
Thank you so much for this generous post. One question comes to mind. You addressed this briefly in the post, but I just want to clarify. Some residencies (MacDowell, for instance) say explicitly that they prefer a writing sample drawn from whatever project you're proposing to work on during your stay. I've always wondered if this is something that "insiders" (i.e. people with some access to institutional knowledge) take with a grain of salt. At face value, a stated preference like this would seem to imply that they don't want perfectly polished work for a sample; they prefer a work-in-progress. And I assume they're looking for the artist statement to explain how the writing sample fits into a larger project (?).
What is your strategy, in this case? Is everyone who knows how these things work just ignoring this and sending polished work, while writing an artist statement that refers to a completely different project? Or do you just wait until your WIP is pretty close to done before you apply? Do people just fudge it, sending polished work and pretending it's not "done"? (I am constitutionally incapable of knowingly fudging, so I hope not! On the other hand: I've never written anything that I couldn't conceivably continue to revise ad infinitum.)
Hope this makes sense. Thank you so much!
I don't want to get in trouble with my answer here, but... I'll just say that everywhere I've been, they absolutely don't care what you end up working on because they understand that things change all the time. Audrey Niffenegger went to Ragdale for paper arts and decided to try writing fiction and began what would be The Time-Traveler's Wife. Or someone just gets a different idea for where to take a project.
That said, if they're specifically asking for what you'll work on, I would not send anything that's been PUBLISHED. (Some places specify unpublished work because they want to know it's you who's brilliant, not just your editor.) And if your work sample and your work plan align, that's probably a more compelling reason to take you--like, here is the brilliant opening of the memoir that you need time and space to complete--but I've never heard of anyone checking on what you actually produce.
Whatever you do send (say, a chapter from a half-written novel), it should of course be polished within an inch of its life. A file reader is trying to get through a zillion applications, and an awkward sentence or two is enough reason to put a low score on it and click on to the next one.
If I were applying somewhere right now, I'd spend a week or two polishing the opening chapters of my WIP and send those--and I'd talk about them in my work. plan. But I'm sure there are people out there doing things differently, especially if the guidelines don't specify.
This is super helpful. Thank you so much!
AH, your France retreat looks delightful! And these lists of other opportunities are so helpful. Thank you. I am definitely thinking this through and hope to be able to participate.
So very helpful. Thank you.
I may have to share "If your 16-year-old has a crisis while you’re away, the odds are much higher that it involves risky behavior, mental health, grades that matter, and/or some asshole lacrosse player named Aidan." with Frank Bruni, for his best sentences of the week.
If I don’t have to fly, and I can bring my Golden SD, I’m in.