Iowa Young Writers' Studio

<p>Hahahahaha. Apparently my application hasn't been received yet- which I sent around 10 days ago. :O</p>

<p>I found out about IYWS about a week before the application had to be postmarked so I had to frantically scramble about getting my rec and my transcript and finding something half-way decent to fix up and send as my writing sample. And it wasn't until the Saturday before it was due that I actually asked my parents if I could go. xD</p>

<p>@ns2583-Did you sign up for a receipt service? I didn't, which was probably a mistake.</p>

<p>@ns2583-Did you sign up for a receipt service? I didn't, which was probably a mistake.</p>

<p>I'm wondering the same thing. I'm thinking about calling and seeing if mine made it.</p>

<p>And the waiting begins...damn it. :(</p>

<p>Um, how long were you guys's [or is it guys'? How come you never remember any of those obscure grammar rules they teach you in third grade...] statements of purpose? I couldn't figure out how to write one without unintentionally sounding braggy, so I kept it quick and short, about a page written. Any longer and I would have irritated myself to death...</p>

<p>Mine was about a page and a half. I wrote in mine about why I write, and how I'm bored at school since we, every year, cover subject and predicate and not much else and how I'm striving for a challenge and knowledge. :) I think it turned out good in the end. I'm fairly proud of it. I'm also about to apply to Kenyon Review. That one is going to be hard. 300 or less words and a teacher recomendation are ALL that determines acceptance. I'm screwed.</p>

<p>^1.5 pages. :( I'm nervous about getting in.</p>

<p>EDIT: I'm thinking of applying to Kenyon Review as another possibility. How difficult is it? As difficult as Iowa?</p>

<p>It has the same acceptance as Iowa I think.</p>

<p>I'd believe it to be harder since all you send in is your transcript, a teacher rec., a 300 words or less essay or story on why you want to go, and all the obvious. It's not like they sit and read through 10 pages of your writing, and get a feel for you. You have one shot to make or break it.</p>

<p>No! I didn't sign up for a delivery receipt, which I too regret. I emailed Mr. Lovely once about it maybe 5/6 days ago, and he said he hadn't received anything but my recommendation so far, and I hate to bug him again. Did anyone call? I should probably give them a call too.</p>

<p>And @ Rachael, mine was short, too. It was kind of fresh and quirky, imo, sort of reflecting my personality. I don't think mine was braggy; i talked about some of my achievements, but was honest thru the entire thing. I think it was quite good.</p>

<p>Haha, this is feeling like one of those "omigod, what did you answer for question 5?!??!" type discussions after a crucial test. :) :)</p>

<p>If anyone's curious... I called. They said a lot of applications aren't logged in the computer yet and I should call back at the end of the day and they'd have a better idea. However, I called internationally and we have basically opposite time zones and obviously i'm sleeping in tomorrow, soooooooooooooo... i guess i'll call on monday.</p>

<p>Speaking of calling internationally... i'm a total dumbass. I thought my family had a certain amount of free international calls as part of our plan or something, and turns out we DID... except i used the wrong dialling code. Ugh, screw- apparently the one i used is super expensive. >.></p>

<p>^ Oh wow. That sucks. What country are you in then? Ha, coming to the US to go to Iowa... That seems awefully boring for a trip. </p>

<p>I'm going to email and ask if they got mine. Or I could call tomorrow, but I hate talking on the phone. Writing is more my style (obviously).</p>

<p>Yeah, i'm extremely awkward on the phone, too. I live in Hong Kong. :) And ahaha, I plan to visit my grandparents and relatives in the California area if i get in since 2 weeks is sort of short for flying across the world.</p>

<p>Oh ok. I'm assuming you're American, although it's a stab in the dark.</p>

<p>Uhg. I'm so nervous. The week of April 1 is going to kill me. It's even worse since they're being sent April 1...can you say cruel April Fool's Day pranks?</p>

<p>Yeah, kind of. I'm Eurasisan. My Dad's American and my Mom's Chinese. Ah, i totally spaced out on April Fool's. :P Ugh. I'm so looking forward to this summer -- my workload is enormous! Omg. . Between school and extra-curriculars, I have nooooo free time. I barely get to have fun anymore; the most I can get by with is a freaking study session with friends. The only thing i have to look forward to right now is this Jason Mraz concert, and spring break which are both a month or more away </p>

<p>/rant</p>

<p>Oh wow.</p>

<p>Ok, I was kind of close. You didn't seem full fledge Asian. (Then again, what can a person really tell from an online forum :)) </p>

<p>Uhg. I really want to find out now if I made it. I'm kind of mad though, last night I "finished" one of my best pieces of writing I've done. I'm really proud of it, but I didn't get to send it in my portfolio. (I put finished in quotations, because in my oppinion writing should never be finished. :))</p>

<p>Oh dear, I'm sorry. That totally sucks, I'd be so bummed.
I actually sent in something unfinished along with my work, though.</p>

<p>Ha, so did I but I just called it an "excerpt". It was the beginning few paragraphs. It was a hard choice to put in there because it's very symbolic and since I couldn't put all I wanted it might be a bit hard, but I think it holds its own well enough...hopefully. :)</p>

<p>I called it a selectionā€¦ which now that I think about it, sounds slightly stupid. It sounds better in context, I assure you. Ahahahaha, I think weā€™re going to end up spending the next month picking apart our applications. :P</p>

<p>Oh, I know. I realized as soon as I sent mine and got back in the truck, I had three misspellings in my first piece I forgot to correct. That made me mad.</p>

<p>When I was in the Post Office, I thought back to my application and I was almost sure that Iā€™d make a grammar mistake in my statement of purpose. I was so scared I considering going home to fix it and print another copy, but I didnā€™tā€¦ Which is good. XD Cause it turns I was wrong about the mistake.</p>