Designing Your Rebel MFA Curriculum

Why this part of the process is fun and inspiring

If you’re new to The Rebel MFA Way, welcome! This is an essay in my “Design Your Rebel MFA Degree” series where I break down what it means to create your own Rebel MFA Degree and why you would want to. Some of these essays, like this one, are part of a new experiment of writing my nonfiction book in real time. Thanks for reading!

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When you think about designing your own curriculum what emotions rise up within you first? Excitement? Fear? Overwhelm?

Whatever it is, its all welcome because the idea that you have complete freedom to build, mold, and shape your educational experience is a radical concept. Our entire lives, we’ve been conditioned to believe that our educational experience is shaped around what others tell us it should be. So of course when it’s time to sit down and really assess what it is we want our education to look and feel like, it’s bound to bring up some challenging moments for us.

Luckily, I’ve been through this part before. And I’ve devised some ways to help this part of the process. Because once we start to examine the deeper reasons behind why we are designing our curriculums in the first place and what we actually want to get out of them, it makes the designing part much easier and whole lot more fun.

If you’re willing to do the work of digging deeper, I promise you this part of the process becomes a welcome challenge.

Step One: Define Your Creative Goals and Aspirations

When I initially had the idea to design my own Rebel MFA Degree, it was simply because I craved the kind of curated education that one receives in a college or university setting. I was looking for writing or literature courses that had some sort of required reading as part of the curriculum plus an element of workshop.

What are your long-term creative objectives?

After I discovered that a whole world of these kind of courses existed outside of universities and colleges, an entirely new kind of opportunity opened up to me. I didn’t have to simply take classes. I could create and develop my own degree program. I could design my very own curriculum based on what I wanted to learn and what skills or specialities I wanted to develop, curate and enhance.

But because the options were so varied and wide-open, it was extremely overwhelming at first to decide where I wanted to start. What kind of writer did I want to become now that I had every option in the world open to me? That was the first question I really needed to think about and the first one you will need to think about, too.

What specific skills do you want to develop?

Another reason I wanted the curated courses was because I yearned to learn more about the specific skills I wanted to improve. During my undergrad years, we were only able to do so much in the foundational classes and my professors were only able to help me achieve so much during my time. I was desperate for more attention, more 1-1 instruction on the things I wanted to explore but couldn’t get help with. This is a major limitation within the higher education and MFA program structure, but it’s a blessing when designing your own MFA degree. That became the second question I had to explore in depth when designing my curriculum — what specific skills did I want to explore or develop more in depth? What was most important to me to focus on first?

What will creatively sustain you?

Lastly, I knew finding one or two courses wasn’t going to be enough learning for me. Those might have satiated the immediate desire for learning, but I wanted to be able to sustain the yearning on a long-term scale. The question then became — how do I do this? How do I ensure that I sustain the educational experience long term without losing motivation or burning out or going broke? That was another set of questions that had to be answered before I could move forward and it might be a question you have in mind as well.

Step One Questions to Consider

• What are your long-term creative objectives? Are you aiming to become a published author, a respected literary critic, or an innovative playwright? Do you want to make a living writing novels or do you want develop a writing practice so you can write as a hobby? Ultimately, having a clear “why” and a vision will guide your curriculum development.

• What specific skills do you want to develop? Do you wish to master the art of storytelling, improve your poetic techniques, or delve into experimental writing? Identifying these skills helps tailor your learning experiences.

• What will creatively sustain you? What does your educational threshold look like? One class at a time? Multiple? Do you want them to have thematic resonance or be taken in a certain structure? How will you keep your stamina?

Step Two: Identify Your Areas of Focus (Writing Genres, Craft and Technique, etc.)

During my undergrad, one of my favorite aspects of preparing for a new semester of classes was designing my class roster. I thought of it like a puzzle. I painstakingly arranged all the pieces together making sure that all the classes fit together just right.

I knew that I had to have a certain amount of mandatory classes mixed with my electives, but I also wanted to leverage those as much as I could by matching my interests with the instructors I knew I wanted to take classes with while also juggling my full-time work schedule. It was a lot! But I did it. And I also learned a valuable lesson in discerning what truly matters in what I want to learn.

And that’s what this step is all about.

Unlike being a undergrad, when you’re designing your own Rebel MFA Degree, you get to choose what it is you get to learn and yes, it’s overwhelming, but you also get to throw away anything deemed “mandatory.” If I’d have had that choice in my undergrad, it would have saved me a lot of frustration, headaches, and tears.

In this step, you get to tailor your learning to exactly what you want to improve on and here are some ways you can begin to figure out what that looks like.

Writing Genres

Start broad. What do you like to read? Are you a fan of memoirs? Nonfiction? Personal essays? Epic Fantasy? Romance? Genre Fiction? Poetry? What type of literature keep you reading late into the night? Which books have made you think, “this is what I want to write!” Maybe there are types of books that make you curious and have always been a source of fascination for you. These are all strong indicators to keep in mind when considering what direction you might go in when considering educational experiences.

When I began to narrow in on my experiences, I started a list of class titles that drew me in immediately like:

• Fairytale Heroines Seminar Series

• Magical Realism & Cultural Context

• Then There Were None: Mystery Writing

• Becoming Monsters: How to use horror, myth, and monsters to discover new ways to tell stories

• Horror Writing for Beginners

Craft and Technique

Writing craft and technique is nebulous, elusive and subjective. And yet, it’s also necessary. We all have different ways of interpreting what these things mean and what makes writing “good” or “well-written.” But more than that, as writers, we all have certain affinities for writing certain things.

Intuitively, as writers, we know whether we feel good writing certain things or not.

For example, you may know that you adore writing lush sensory based scenes and regardless of whether or not you think you’re good at them, it just feels good to write them. Chances are pretty good then that you are good at them. You can always be better. But perhaps you don’t necessarily need to spend as much time learning how to develop that skill.

Maybe you despise writing dialogue. It really takes it out of you and you feel like nothing you come up with is good at all. Again, regardless of if you think you write good or bad dialogue, it just feels terrible. This is an indication that you might want to improve in this area.

The way you FEEL about this area of craft is important and it determines where you want to spend your time learning about a particular area of your writing to not only improve but gain confidence. So finding an educational experience that supports this area will not only be helpful in this instance, it will also benefit your writing.

When I began to narrow in on my experiences, for this section, I started a list of craft elements I knew I wanted to improve on that included:

• Show, Don’t Tell: Enhancing Your Writing

• Deep Dive into Dialogue: A Masterclass on the Art of What People Say

• Setting the Scene: The Impact of Place on a Story

Interdisciplinary Studies

As much as I dislike the overall concept of what the liberal arts colleges have turned into, there is something to be said for interdisciplinary studies. Literature (as in life) does not exist inside a vacuum and art imitates life. One of the most important skills that a writer will ever possess is knowledge of life. So as important as it is to take control and reclaim our right over our educational experiences as it relates to writing — so is it to take control of our educational experiences in other areas.

I knew that I would want to weave in other classes outside of just writing within my educational experiences and if there were ones that combined both — even better! What I learned by doing this is that not only did my knowledge of the world, my experiences and my empathy grew stronger, but my writing in general became that much more interesting and curious. Just by allowing my curiosity and educational experiences to expand to other areas did I allow my writing practices to grow and strengthen as well.

This doesn’t have to look like subjects that are writing adjacent either, but of course, that also helps your writing if you do move in that direction. But these subjects can run the gamut from magical unicorns to cheese farmers in the Netherlands. Whatever your heart desires, friends.

Here are some of the classes that served me well in my writing educational experiences:

• Healing the Witch Wound

• Fighting Burnout: Skills for Self-Care

• Tarot for Hard Times

• Private Investigation 101

• Rock Tumbling from Digging to Polishing

Practical Skills

Lastly, the least sexy part of our educational experience is the most practical part. But perhaps you enjoy this part and it’s what you look forward to. Regardless of if you want to move on from your educational experiences in a “professional” capacity or not, the practicality step will help you assess where you want to go next.

The end of something can feel just as (if not more) overwhelming than the beginning of something. In truth, that’s because it really is just another beginning. At this stage, you’re entering another pivotal moment and it’s time to make some decisions. Where do you want to go next?

There are so many options! But as we know already, knowledge is power. Instead of making a decision, I encourage knowledge instead.

Get curious and start learning more about your options. I am not a great example of following this process in the order presented. I became a published author BEFORE I designed my Rebel MFA Degree. But, the advice I give to you now is to consider classes around:

• Self editing

• Professional editing

• Self Publishing vs Traditional publishing options

• Marketing

• Navigating a writing career

Step Two Questions to Consider

• Writing Genres: Decide which genres you want to explore and consider writing in. Whether it's fiction, poetry, nonfiction, or a combination, knowing your preferred genres will help you choose relevant courses and projects.

• Craft and Technique: Identify the writing craft and techniques you want to develop. This might include narrative structure, character development, dialogue, or experimental forms. Often, when we feel “weak” in a writing area, it’s an indication that we simply need more knowledge and education on that topic.

• Interdisciplinary Studies: Consider incorporating elements from other disciplines that can enhance your writing. For example, studying psychology can deepen character development, while history can provide rich contexts for your stories.

• Practical Skills: Don’t forget practical aspects such as editing, publishing, and marketing. Learning these skills will equip you to navigate the professional side of your writing career should you choose to move in that direction.

Step Three: Set Realistic Timelines and Milestones

There’s benefits and drawbacks to the traditional MFA programs timeline. Knowing that you can complete a program in a set amount of time can be both motivating and defeating. The same can be said for the Rebel MFA Degree. Over the years, I’ve found that the concept of timelines and milestones is a slippery topic and dependent on the person holding the concept in their hands and where they’re at in life.

Even for me, personally, it has changed and evolved multiple times in my life. I think though, that’s the benefit of the Rebel MFA Degree — that it can change and evolve alongside of you.

When I first envisioned my Rebel MFA Degree, I believed that I would start and finish it fairly quickly. Maybe a year or two. But then again, I hadn’t really nailed down a lot of the specifics. It still felt wobbly in terms of structure and I hadn’t done nearly the work around it that I’ve done now. About nine months in, I had a freak out that maybe this was a degree that actually was never going to be finished. Maybe it wasn’t something that could be finished because we never actually stop learning and growing and taking classes. But that also didn’t quite feel right.

I didn’t have an answer per se, and I still don’t but instead, I decided to focus on some smaller, more manageable ways to think about how to quantify our time within the Rebel MFA Degree experience.

We don’t have to know our complete end goal to start working toward it. We just have to know enough into the future to get us going. I recommend thinking a year out. What would you like to accomplish in a years time? What would feel really really great to learn within a year? Now, let’s move backward from there.

One-Year Educational Experience Goal

As you’re just starting out with your Rebel MFA Degree, it can be tempting to want to choose a few different goals or one big mammoth goal but believe me when I say that a lot can happen in a year. And the more flexible you allow your goal to be, the more surprised and delighted you will be! Remember, this whole damn thing is yours for the taking, so allow it unfold and unravel beneath the magic of the universe instead of what you think it should be. That’s the old paradigm. This is the new way. Give yourself permission to be surprised and for pivots and changes to happen. And the only way to allow that is to choose a goal that allows fluidity and flexibility.

My one-year educational experience goal was quite simple and was as follows:

I wanted to experiment with taking as many interesting writing class workshops as I could within the year and generate new fiction.

Short-Term Goals

Once your “One-Year Goal” is determined, it makes it much easier to break it down into manageable shorter term goals. So in my case, since I knew I wanted to take writing class workshops, my next step was to actually FIND those classes, and decide how many I needed to take to “fulfill” my goal of generating new fiction. Did that mean taking a class once a month? Once a quarter? Every week? Did I want to generate new fiction in the form of a short story? A novel? I needed to get more specific.

For you, these decisions can be worked through or determined by many factors. Perhaps you have set aside a particular set of criteria such as:

• Time

• Finances

• Energy

• Emotional Capacity

These will automatically help you narrow down how you situate your short-term goals.

In my case, I ended up taking the amount of financial investment + the top courses I was interested in + the start dates + length of the classes + the time investment of the workshops and ended up working from that.

What I ended up with was very much like my puzzle pieces undergrad semester schedule. I knew which classes I was taking, what “type” of learning I was in for, what kind of “work” I was going to have to do and how that related to my overall schedule in life.

Mid-Term Milestones/Milemarkers

I’m not a fan of standardized testing or group projects or any of the other bullshit that society has constructed to make us “prove” that we have somehow reached a level of acceptable progress. It’s all subjective anyway. The only progress that matters is whether or not YOU think you’ve progressed and whether you care or not.

I like the words milestone/milemarker because it indicates that there is a marker of something significant but it doesn’t indicate what the marker is or who it is a marker for. That is for YOU to determine. And so this part of the process is completely optional. I bring it into the equation for those of you who enjoy milestones/milemarkers. I am someone who does.

You can make this fairly simple or a little more complicated. Up to you. Think of this as the midpoint of your One-Year Educational Experience Goal. Do you feel like you are on your way to achieving your goal? Have you made progress?

Yes — Huzzah!

No — Damn, but keep going!

Want more substance than that?

How about a mid-term writing exercise like a blog post or a journaling entry or a reflection paper? Something that “marks” this moment in time of being mid-way through your educational experience is a great way to “check-in” with yourself.

Long-Term Goals

Your long-term goals should ideally align with the the very first step in this whole process. But now is a great time to reassess what you’ve uncovered and unearthed since then. Go back to what you brainstormed in that step. Are your creative objectives still the same? Do you still want to pursue learning the same skills or techniques? Have you figured out what kind of educational experiences will sustain you throughout this process?

When you get to the one-year mark, it’s time to start re-evaluating where you’re at with these questions and deciding if it’s time to refresh and update your answers. It’s okay to change and evolve. That’s the entire point of a Rebel MFA Degree — it’s fluid and flexible — just like life is!

Step Three Questions to Consider

• One-Year Educational Experience Goal: What would you like to accomplish in a years time? What would feel really really great to learn within a year?

• Short-Term Goals: Break down your larger objectives into manageable short-term goals. Does this mean taking a course/workshop once a month? Once a quarter? Maybe you want to develop a writing practice that means writing at least once a week.

• Mid-Term Milestones: Set mid-term milestones to track your progress if you feel compelled. Do you feel like you’re progressing? Great!

• Long-Term Goals: Re-evaluate if you’re still aligned with your overall creative goals. Is it time to pivot? Or time to double down on what you initially brainstormed?

Step Four: Create a Personalized Curriculum Tailored to Your Goals

Start with a Vision Statement

I know it sounds kind of lame, but trust me, it actually helps keep you on track when you’re filtering through hundreds and hundreds of online course catalogues to find the right course fit. It doesn’t have to be fancy or complicated. It can be super simple or short and sweet. My vision statement looked like this:

I will take writing courses and workshops that will support my desire to improve my storytelling and writing skills.

Basically, you can use your vision statement as a qualifier to which you stack potential courses/classes up against. It’s your first line of defense.

Does this course/workshop fulfill the purpose of my vision statement?

If it does, it can move on to the core competencies, if not, you can delete it from your options.

Map Out Your Core Competencies

This part seems more complicated then it actually is. But I like to think of it as “criteria” that a course or workshop must have to be included as a potential contender for my class list.

Almost like a home or car buying checklist, this list of criteria outlines what must be present in order for a course/workshop to be “worthy” of investment of time or money. This is essentially what the “competencies” cover.

An example would be if your goal is to write a novel. And you want to take a class called: Writing a Novel for Beginners.

There are certain “competencies” that this course/workshop should cover like:

• What is a novel and how does it differentiate between a novella, short story, etc?

• Character development

• Plot structure

• Setting

• Dialogue

Basically, you want to know what criteria is important to you to have in a course/workshop before you invest your time, energy and money into it. So have a good idea of what your expectations are before you start compiling your course list.

Choosing Courses

Now that you have your long-term and short-term goals aligned, and you know what core competencies you’re looking for, it’s time for the most enjoyable part of this process (besides the actual learning) in my opinion. Choosing your courses!

You will want to select courses that offer the depth and breadth you need, of course, but also courses that look and sound exciting and FUN!

This might include university courses, MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), workshops, and seminars. Look for courses that provide practical assignments and opportunities for feedback as well as an opportunity for peer discussion.

One of the most exciting advantages of online or virtual classes is that instructors are able to teach in unique and unorthodox ways more than ever before. We are no longer relegated to broad or vague classes like: 19th Century British Literature. Nor are we expected to wade through class after class simply trying to find representation of ourselves. There are instructors who prominently market their classes to those who may find themselves within marginalized or othered communities like:

• Gay Bones: Writing the Queer Body

• Not Another Angry Black Woman: Writing Rage and Blackness

• My Grandmother’s Hut: Writing from Ancestral Roots

The point is: the possibilities are now more open and accessible than ever before and this is beautiful and brilliant and exciting! This means that not only are more of us able to access learning in a more tangible way, but it means that our ability to design our own educational experiences is more of a reality than trying to attend a traditional MFA program with all it’s gatekeeping and inaccessible means. Not to mention the lack of representation or innovation in courses.

*Balancing Formats

This section comes with a caveat because it is fully dependent on your situation. Some of us do not have the means, health, or circumstances to diversify our educational experience formats. Many of us will have to choose one or the other. And that’s okay. We may have to choose one or the other for now and switch again. Whatever you can manage to do at this point in your life is what you can do.

Remember, the whole point of designing your Rebel MFA Degree is flexibility, fluidity and a paradigm that WORKS FOR YOU.

We’re going against the grain, folks. And that means we’re not pandering to the status quo or the theory that “what works for everyone” must work for you.

So take this section with a grain of salt. (Actually, in truth, take EVERYTHING I’m saying with a grain of salt!).

It’s my personal experience that if you can, and if you desire to, having a mixture of online and offline courses and workshops is beneficial.

While I love online courses and truly believe they can provide immense educational experiences, there is something uniquely special about being in-person and surrounded by your peers and an instructor who are as hyped up and excited about learning as you are.

There are some organizations who offer both online and in-person courses and workshops and my favorite personal example of this is Writing Workshops. They are hands down my favorite online platform to take writing courses and workshop from, but I also applied to and was accepted into their in-person Writing Workshop in Dublin, Ireland in 2023. And it was one of the most impactful workshops of my entire life.

Now, that was the only in-person workshop I took in all of 2023 and I saved for that trip the entire year. So that was the trade off I made.

But I do think it made a huge difference in the value of my educational experiences that year.

So it’s something I recommend you think about when you’re putting together your course list for the year.

Step Four Questions to Consider

• Start with a Vision Statement: Write a personal vision statement that encapsulates your creative goals. This statement will serve as a guiding principle for your curriculum design.

• Map Out Core Competencies: Identify the core competencies you need to develop to achieve your goals. For example, if your goal is to write a novel, your competencies might include plot development, character creation, and dialogue writing.

• Choosing Courses: Select courses that offer the depth and breadth you need. This might include university courses, MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), workshops, and seminars. Look for courses that provide practical assignments and opportunities for feedback.

• *Balancing Formats: If you can and have a desire to, mix online and offline resources to get a well-rounded education. Online resources offer flexibility, while offline resources, such as local writing groups or workshops, provide valuable in-person interactions.

Step Five: Incorporate Feedback Mechanisms

One of my favorite things about designing my own Rebel MFA Degree was the feedback loop opportunities. In a traditional MFA program, your feedback is contained to your instructors and your peers and while those are helpful, they are limited. But when your courses and workshops are open to so many different kinds of instructors and peers, the perspectives change wildly. I have learned more from these small groups of people than I ever did in ANY higher education setting.

In fact, this is one of the pieces of the Rebel MFA Degree that gets me so fired up because I don’t believe that an instructor needs to have an MFA degree to BE a good instructor. My horror instructor at Autocrit has been instrumental in my development as a horror writer and he does not have an MFA. (I talk more about him in a different section of this book, actually).

Being able to get feedback on your work whether or not you decide to move forward with it in a professional capacity is not only beneficial for you in your educational growth, but it’s also one of those “milestone” or “milemarkers” we touched on earlier. It gives you an indication of where you’re at and where you’re going.

Here are some forms of feedback you can consider:

Workshops

Some of the courses you may take will have built in workshops. This means that as part of your course, you may submit your materials to your instructor and/or peers for feedback. This is a great place to start. Now, I have a lot of thoughts on traditional workshop style feedback, as there are dangers to this type of feedback, but for the most part, it is a good first step in getting your feet wet.

I can’t tell you how many workshops I’ve been part of at this point in my writing/educational career and the single best piece of advice I can give you is this:

Take what works and what feels good and leave the rest.

Peer Critique Groups

Peer Critique Groups can be some of the most nourishing and sustaining connections you’ll ever make. I’ve had several throughout my writing career and I’m still good friends with several of the writers that I connected with in those groups. Many have gone to become published writers and I’m so proud of the hard work and dedication they’ve put into their writing careers.

Typically, these groups are made up of writers that you have connected with in various ways and have decided to meet with on a regular or semi-regular basis with the intention of exchanging your written material for feedback.

Again, there is danger in this type of group. Because so much of the feedback is dependent on the level of safety, understanding, empathy and knowledge of the group — there’s a risk of damaging egos, friendships, and creating writing wounds within if not carefully curated and maintained.

The secret to great peer critique groups is curating writers who are roughly at the same level of writing and who have similar educational experiences and who want roughly the same things. This levels the playing field. This is not to say that you want writers who are the same though. Not at all. But you want writers who have similar writing goals. This helps keep you all aligned on your north stars but also allows for support, nurturing and understanding while you’re in the trenches together.

Mentorship Feedback

I will admit that the one advantage that traditional MFA programs have over designing your Rebel MFA Degree is the access to mentors. It’s much harder to find and attain a mentor when you are alone in the big wide world without any connections. In the insular academic world where connections are key — it is, indeed, much easier. But it’s not impossible.

And in fact, it’s becoming easier and easier as more and more writers, book coaches, and authors are stepping into the role of mentoring.

In 2023, I applied for and was accepted in PocketMFA’s Mentorship Program where I was mentored by Francesca Lia Block. It was an opportunity to get that 1-1 attention from an author who has successfully navigated the trenches of the publishing and academic world and wanted to give back to other writers. It was invaluable to have her time, energy, and attention and be able to ask questions and get personalized feedback on my work as well as guidance on moving forward in my writing career.

So again, finding mentors is difficult, but it’s not impossible. This is a service that I have begun offering myself and find so much joy and reward in being able to guide aspiring writers in their journeys.

Mentorship is not just answering writing questions though. It’s a wholly encompassing thing — it’s taking someone under your care and helping them find their way in this confusing, overwhelming and often painful world of writing AND life.

Mentoring is an opportunity to give back to someone what I wish I had when I was in college and what I wish I had when I started designing my own Rebel MFA Degree.

Professional Critiques

There may come a point during your Rebel MFA Degree process where you feel like you’re ready to get some professional feedback. But maybe you’re not ready to go ALL IN. That’s okay! There’s so many baby steps you can take first!

Remember — you can date before you marry ;)

The online world is bursting with opportunities for writers right now. If you took to Google right now, you’d find thousands of challenges, competitions, and contests going on where you can submit your written work. Some come with prizes, rewards, publication, etc.

Many of these contests, competitions, or contests vary in their level of pressure. Some are very high-pressure and require a lot of work to get involved. Some are quite low-pressure and might be the exact kind of nudge you need to submit a piece you’ve got tucked away.

One of my favorite places to submit and get feedback from is Autocrit. They often do short story challenges or courses that incorporate workshops with feedback. Their instructors and community include some of the kindest and smartest writers I’ve been around. They are always helpful and never rude or mean or dismissive. They are a great place to start with submitting your material if you want a low-pressure way to get feedback on your work. And they have software that will help you improve your writing as well (we’ll talk about that next).

Self-Assessment

With the advancement in technology we now have more opportunities than ever to use it to our advantage when it comes to self-assessment. Now, this is a touchy subject for a lot of people since Ai has exploded on the scene. So if you are Anti-Ai, you may want to skip this section because I will be talking about how useful it can be for self-assessing your work.

While I don’t think Ai or technology is at the point (or will it ever) to be able to objectively tell us whether a piece of writing is “good” or “bad” or “worthy” or whatever, I do think it can help us determine A LOT of things. Let’s start with the basics.

Writing software programs that have existed for quite a while like ProwritingAid or Grammarly already do a lot for us. They tell us how we’re doing in terms of technical writing. Spelling, grammar, context. That alone can give you a self-assessment on where you’re at with your writing. Are you always misspelling a certain word? Are comma splices a problem for you?

Then we move into more complex writing software programs like Autocrit, which I’ve already mentioned. Now, I happen to ADORE Autocrit’s software program. Not only has it been an incredibly helpful resource in learning about my writing weaknesses and crutches, but it also helps me understand the nuances and context within certain genres. With some of their newer updates, it’s also helped immensely with parts of the writing process that I struggle with often, like plot.

But a great example I can give you from Autocrit for self-assessment is this:

Recently, I uploaded an entire novel into the program. This is a novel that I’m about to revise before I send it to my editor. While going through the analysis report that Autocrit spit out, I realized that in the span of ONE chapter, I used the word “felt” 32 times.

That’s lazy writing on my part. Plain and simple.

Would my editor have caught that? Absolutely. But I caught it first. Or rather, Autocrit caught it first. And it saved me a few hours of time because Autocrit found it, then I was able to clean it up on my own and now my editor won’t have to spend the extra time highlighting all of them and writing me a note about it.

Ai and technology as a way of self-assessment is not bad, you guys. It can be used for good and not evil!

We can get even more nuanced and deeper into the trenches with using Ai and technology for self-assessment but I fear it would turn into a rabbit hole of despair, so I’ll save it for another day, perhaps. The point is, that the power of technology is based on whose hands it is in and how those hands decide to wield it.

I choose to wield it wisely and for self-growth. But you do you.

Step Six Questions to Consider

• Workshops: Utilize courses that have built in workshops to get your feet wet with instructor and peer feedback.

• Peer Review Groups: Join or form peer review groups where you can share your work and receive feedback from fellow writers.

• Mentorship Feedback: Seek out mentorship opportunities or programs that offer this type of mentoring relationship. Research authors, writers or former professors who are offering mentoring as part of their services.

• Professional Critiques: Consider submitting to challenges, competitions, or contests to get feedback on your written work.

• Self-Assessment: Develop a habit of self-assessment. Leverage the power of technology and Ai (if you want) to help you assess your progress and learn from your mistakes.

There you have it folks! The six step process to designing your curriculum for your Rebel MFA Degree. It seems like a lot… and well… it IS a lot. But with determination, a little bit of grit, and a whole lot of perseverance, you can build the educational experience of your dream because the world is literally open to you at this point. You are not beholden to anyone or anything because you are free to learn in the way that makes sense to you in a timeframe and structure that is tailored who you are.

Don’t wait for someone to give you permission to reclaim your education. Take it for yourself. You deserve every bit of it.