By Tiffany Sowa
I came to the Ivory Tower Boiler Room writing group through a friend…who I’ve never actually met in real life. But hey, it’s the internet and things happen sometimes.
I had just finished my MFA. Mary and I were classmates, and she was also finishing her degree while working on her thesis (book), just like me, so we bonded over shared misery and fantasies about graduating. Right after graduation I managed to find a teaching job and an agent in short order, but nothing much happened after that. Nothing much is still happening, except that I’ve found a delightful group of people who I feel closer to than some family members. In fact, I’m going to ask them to write me letters of reference for my next gig because I don’t have anyone else to ask. Sad, isn’t it? Not really. But these people have been my north star for several months and even though I don’t get to join every day, I am positively giddy when I do get the chance.
I’m currently starting a new writing project, Adam and Andrew have given me the opportunity to blog some articles for this endeavor, and I’m starting my doctorate in the Fall. I’m also teaching part-time for a community college as well as for my alma mater, and I’ve applied for a faculty position at the community college. I have this really bad habit of piling too much on my plate. All. The. Time. I’m working on that.
In the meantime, I’ll write about books, education, job seeking in the age of pandemics and variants, books made into movies and TV shows (the book is usually always better), and any other salty things that come to mind. I hope you’ll stick around and enjoy the ITBR blog as much as I enjoy the people writing for it.