Apply, Submit... Wait

It's been a busy few months of form filling. I'm applying to do a practice-led Ph D, and for the funding that would make it possible. It's also the season of the Cecil Day Lewis award application, the Dublin City Council application, the new Maeve Binchy Travel Award (for registered UCD Arts and Humanities students), and there may have been a couple of others. My success rate for form filling isn't great, so it can feel like a time-consuming and disheartening occupation, taking from the actual writing. Yet it is a necessary part of being a writer.

I did manage a few submissions too, and now it's time to sit back and wait for the outcomes of all of the above.

Luckily, the wait will be sped along by the ongoing editing for my MFA thesis, and the welcome distraction of the Dublin Writers Festival. The programme of events was launched last Thursday and there's some exciting stuff in there. I have my name down for The Library of Korean Literature, New German Writing, Javier Cercas, and Siri Hustvedt -- because I have a lot to learn about all of the above.