Have you ever thought about writing a book?
Crazy? Or intriguing?
If you have a serious interest in creative writing, and genre writing in particular (think Harry Potter, Game of Thrones or The Notebook), let me deliver a shameless plug for my alma mater, Seton Hill University (SHU).
Still with me?
Good. I’m not one to deliver free advertising, so believe me, if you give this a whirl, I promise it’s worth it.
In a small town in Western Pennsylvania, a motivated group of writers converges twice a year at a small Catholic school, SHU. These aren’t literary writers or those interested in journalism. While those fields are highly valuable, these writers come together to learn something rather untraditional: the craft of writing a book of popular fiction.
SHU may not seem a likely setting: a small Catholic university known more for athletics and its focus on the medical field. But tucked away in a corner of St. Joseph’s Hall (professor offices) are the pillars of an exceptional English department with professors who are authors of romance, urban fantasy, mysteries, thrillers and horror fictions.
Oh, and they like veterans. Like really. In fact, a few of them are veterans, too, and they mostly like themselves. (Look, we all have issues.)
A historic and beautiful school, it is a unique and perfect setting. With the already veteran friendly atmosphere of SHU, the Master’s of Fine Arts, Writing Popular Fiction program welcomes the veteran community and their authorial perspective. In fact, the veteran perspective does much to enrich the SHU writing community. At SHU, we are not only welcomed as members of some lost tribe, but respected sources of knowledge.
The MFA WPF program features a low-residency format. That means twice a year, students of the program are required to attend a five-day residency at the school. The rest of the curriculum is done online.
The goal is writing a book, so the low-residency makes sense since most of your time will be devoted to the art of writing. Students of the program fly in from all over the U.S., some from overseas as well, to attend. Residencies include guest speakers from the popular fiction field, from agents and editors to writers. (Some recents: N.K. Jemisin, Chuck Wendig and Eloisa James.)
SHU as an institution is dedicated to supporting their student veterans. Their registrar and account department directly handle GI Bill and VocRehab student accounts, reporting directly to the VA. Rare issues are handled immediately and if any delay in payment from the VA occurs, SHU veteran students will not find their enrollment is affected. As you can expect, they are among the schools included in G.I. Jobs’ Military Friendly® Schools List.
So, I gotta ask again: Have you ever thought about writing a book?
Great. Here’s a way to get started – Seton Hill University.
