Interestingly, I’ve done most of the things you’ve recommended here, with the exception of getting feedback from a writer-in-residence. The other thing I did was study a series of writers in depth (essayists in my case.) That turned into a yearlong series on my blog, which taught me a lot. (That project is also linked on my blog, in the sidebar.)

On my blog I write for parents, encouraging them to be writing mentors for their kids. I’m linking this post for them. Thanks for it!

I really like arts besides sciences. For MFA will just be complimentry to my science life. Meanwhile, by and by am getting mentors in arts. I get together with exprienced writers in my area, and most importantly I joined the Malawi Writers union which is a national body. It comprises all kinds of writers.

I also read extensively on books of writing, and I often visit our local libraries and at the end of the day I will have finish up my poetry book and novel. My novel project is scheduled to be completed in 4 years.

At the moment I am very much inspired and motivated with different blogs I read and follow and one of them is yours. You really teach me new lessons on writing. Another person is Lorrie Porter, quite a long list to mentioned!

Lastly, can I ask you one one thing? I am sourcing money to buy my personal computer, would you help me do that? I feel ashame, I call my self a writer but I type my work on pulic computers. I want to have mine. At the meantime I have solicited 250 dollars, but I need 1000 dollars for a laptop computer.

Thank you for the info so far and God bless you.

Thanks for such an inspiring post. I know how expensive it can be to attend college classes, as I have taken that route. Even though I studies for my MA in creative writing, I still found myself doing all the things you suggest, because you can never learn enough about writing if you’re serious about the craft. As to your mentoring question, there are editorial services which offer this – although they can be a bit expensive. Some competitions include mentoring as a prize, so that might be a good route to take. I’m actually thinking of going into mentoring myself. I run workshops on writing and really enjoy helping people grow on their writing journey. It never ceases to amaze me how kind and supportive the writing community is.