Nick Ostdick (Southern Illinois University, 2012)

Morning all--or at least at morning where I'm typing from. I have arrived! It's a feeling that's slowly been sinking in ever since I accepted SIU's offer, one that in the coming days will cement even more in my head that I am an MFA candidate, with all the heartache and triumph and mystique that will inevitably come with it. I am so happy to be joining this blog, and want to thank Jonterri for kicking this thing up--a wonderful idea to be sure.

My name is Nick Ostdick and I'll be starting my MFA in fiction at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale in the coming weeks. I'm starting straight out of undergrad which at once has me terrified and at once might lend me some perspective when it comes to teaching. I've from the suburbs of Chicago, went to undergrad just outside Milwaukee, and am currently residing in Murphysboro, a small if not quaint town just outside of Carbondale. So yeah, I'm a Midwestern kid, that's for sure.

I chose SIU for a number of reasons, the first of which being funding. They offered me a kick-ass package in exchange for teaching comp--another strong selling point, especially since I want to teach. The lit journal Crab Orchard Review is based here and I'm hoping to land a reading spot on their staff. I love COR and have dreamed of being published there for a long time, but I would gladly settle for just being on staff. Lastly, yet not least importantly, Ben Percy did his MFA at Southern and he's been a HUGE influence on my writing. If I had to offer one piece of advice to anyone thinking of getting an MFA and is having a hard time choosing schools: read the bio's on the backs of books you like. Odds are nowadays the author got an MFA from somewhere. Check out that program. It always sounded a bit strange to me, but I'm glad I did it that way and I couldn't be happier about being at SIU for three years. The faculty, the campus, and I've been meeting with fellow classmates to get to know each other and they all rock it--I direct you to an earlier post by one Katie Darby, a classmate and, as it turns out, a neighbor of mine. Does it get any better than that?

In the interest of time, I will digress into a list format now, perhaps something akin to Match.com but for writers.

Hobbies: playing guitar, the study of rock and pop music, driving around aimlessly.
Music: Wilco, Andrew Bird, Josh Ritter, The Decemberists.
Books: Nine Stories, Drown, The Coast of Chicago, Winesburg, Ohio, Bluebirds Used to Croon in The Choir, The Night in Question and Other Stories.
Favorite word: Necking. A verb, a noun, multi-functional.
Least favorite word: adequate.
Most pretentious, writerly thing I do: I have a hat, something like Woody Guthrie would've worn, wide-brimmed, perfect for dustbowl conditions. I wear it when I need to feel cool, when I need to feel like I'm doing something important, that the words I put down on the page will someday matter to somebody, anybody, even me. I have a love-hate relationship with this hat. I try to wear it as little as possible.

If you're so inclined, check out my blog at www.inthenickoftime.wordpress.com.

I haven't posted on it in some time, but I'm hoping to change that soon. And hey, as long as you're at it, add me on Facebook and Twitter too--I hate saying things like that, but welcome to the twenty-first century, right? Population: Me.

Thanks!