You know when you’re just meant to do something? You know when you may need some help to do the something you’re meant to do?

I have always loved the world of academia. I love being a writer, I love telling stories, and I already dreamed of grad school at the start of my senior year of undergrad. I knew where I wanted to go, who I wanted to be, and what I wanted to do. Unfortunately life doesn’t care what we want sometimes. Just two weeks into my senior year of undergrad, my mom died of alcoholism. I moved back to school the day after her funeral, finished my bachelor’s degree in 2012, graduated on the Dean’s List, and returned home with a void that was filled only with writing. Grad school suddenly became the farthest thing from me. 

Suddenly, it was 2021, and I moved five times, lost more family members, made it through a pandemic, and was in a stable job. Throughout all of this, I wrote. I wrote a book about my grandparents’ love letters during the second World War. I wrote my mom’s truth, that she was plagued with an illness so many people battle, but so few talk about. I wrote a memoir, short stories, essays, poems; I was published in a couple of small magazines and websites. I realized writing was the only thing that helped me heal over the last decade and I wanted to pursue it further, but I was also afraid of rejection, like I may have missed my prime, or that I was just too late for the rest of the world.

Then, last month, by almost complete chance, I saw an advertisement for the David Lynch MFA program in screenwriting.  I felt like I had to try (one of those, what are the chances moments), so I applied and wrote a full-length screenplay in three days. Along with some writing samples, one letter of recommendation, and an interview with a panel of four, I was selected to be a part of the DLMFA two-year, low residency program! I swear I’ve checked my email three dozen times to make sure I read it correctly. And I wasn’t wrong. After a decade, and a furiously-typed screenplay, I’ve finally been given the incredible opportunity to study for an MFA. 

It requires four, ten-day, in-person residencies in Iowa on the MIU campus which calls for round-trip flights, miscellaneous student resources, some food, possible transportation, as well as a fifth optional residency in LA that offers hands-on experience in the world of professional screenwriting. I have some paid time off from work and some financial aid, but if the help is there, why not ask right?

So, dear readers, here is the link to my GoFundMe. Share a fellow word nerd, donate if you can, or not. Thank you for reading my stories all these years, or months, or weeks – whenever you subscribed. I look forward to sharing more stories, and someday soon being a name that shares movies with you all.