The pay-off.

Everybody who plays the lottery or trains for the Olympics or plants a pumpkin seed in the backyard, expects something little (or big) in return. They want to see some results. If not today, then some day in the not too distant future.

Today was that day for me. The results. The pay-off. The dividends. The ever sweet cash-in-your-chips day after a year and a half of labor-intensive writing, applying, worrying, and hoping.

I was working from home this morning and I got a phone call from Goucher College in Baltimore. The school wanted me to know I got accepted into their Master’s of the Fine Arts (MFA) program in creative nonfiction.

In a now-very-cheesy Austin Powers imitation I’m saying, “Yee-ah, Baby!”

You’ve never heard of Goucher College probably and that’s OK. Neither had I, but in terms of low-residency (correspondence) programs it is highly selective. You can apply once a year for a handful of openings. You must submit a 25 page manuscript of your best writing, get 3 letters of recommendation, fill out an application talking about all the books you’ve read (or notable ones anyway) and write a personal statement explaining why you want to get your MFA in the first place.

Goucher was my top choice for schools for various reasons. One being, Lee Gutkind, The Godfather of Creative Nonfiction, is (or once was) on the board of directors for the program. Gutkind founded Creative Nonfiction literary journal and started the first creative nonfiction program at Pitt University in the 1970s.

Other reasons: the school requires (and helps you get) an internship with a publication. As an extra-curricular field trip activity the school introduces you to book publishers and literary agents in NYC. They help you produce a 175-page manuscript in the two years it takes to complete the program. And those are just the perks. The main reason I’m excited is because I believe Goucher can teach me to be a better writer. That’s the goal. That’s what all this is about. They think I can write and succeed at it; and that in and of itself is a huge confidence booster.

Do the thing you love. Be the person you’re made to be. That’s the payoff. That’s what makes all the hours over printer ink, postage, and revision after revision worth it.

Yeah, it was a good day. I hope tomorrow is as bright.

(Note: I have officially been accepted to Goucher, Goddard, and Seattle Pacific University. Three out of four applications lead to acceptance letters; that ain’t bad odds at all!)