Mission Statement

When you set out to write that poem, story, essay, or novel, do you ever feel like the adventurer in this photograph? A lone traveler in a barren wilderness? Well, that's where CWM fits in. Our mission is to foster community among the authors gathered in Ames to pursue their MFA. As students in Creative Writing and Environment, we aim to create our own artistic milieu within the University: a forum in which to share resources and knowledge particular to our craft. We hold meetings to plan events (new-student orientation, guest speakers, group trips); we sponsor faculty information sessions, which cover important aspects of the "writing life" (from organizing one's time, to submitting for publication, to utilizing the MFA in the job market); and, if all else fails, we commune over beer, to offer peer support or simply to kick back and whine about other people's success. In the end, we hope that CWM will serve as a base camp for the writers in our MFA: a place to return to when the weather turns, and the going gets too tough to brave alone (cue emotive score).

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