Two years ago I applied to creative writing MFA programs. I was three years into a career with a degree in library science and miserable with how little time I had to write. When I applied, my writing was rusty at best. I also couldn’t decide whether I should apply to fiction, poetry, or non-fiction programs. For reasons I still can’t comprehend, I applied to fiction having only written poetry and non-fiction in recent years. I was bold and confident without much to back it. My references were strong, but my stories were sloppily put together. I applied to four schools and considered one of them my “backup” school.