A day in the life

Focusing on the craft of writing

In 2006, Shashi Bhat was an English major and doing pre-med at Cornell University. Preparing for the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT), she suddenly got cold feet. “I’d just paid $1,500 to take the MCAT training—but I realized I was enjoying writing my statement of purpose for the application much more than I was expecting to enjoy med school,” she laughs.

While at Cornell, Ms. Bhat took creative writing classes. Some of the stories she wrote became part of her application to the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland. “The encouragement of my professors at Cornell was one of the main reasons I ended up considering creative writing as a viable career option,” she says.

In August 2010, Ms. Bhat moved to Halifax to take a position in Dalhousie’s creative writing program. She teaches three classes: the Creative Process, the Advanced Fiction workshop, and a first-year English class.

Though the workshop’s main focus is reading and critiquing students’ stories, Ms. Bhat also incorporates writing exercises and presentations. “Usually I’ll come up with an exercise that stems from issues I see in students’ writing,” she explains.

She recommends that anyone, not just English majors, take a creative writing workshop. “Many students in the classes I taught at Johns Hopkins were in science or medicine. They really enjoyed it—many of them found a talent they didn’t know they had.”

And she encourages students to take advantage of the writer in residence. Last year, the English Department invited Antigonish-based poet and novelist, Anne Simpson. “Having Anne there provided additional workshops for students. It was so great!” Ms. Bhat says. “She was so involved—she went out of her way to make herself available, offering to speak in any English class.”

Students can also ask Ms. Bhat about the life of a writer: her first novel, The Family Took Shape, has been accepted for publication with Toronto-based Cormorant Books. As well, several of her short stories have appeared in Canadian and American journals.

“I’d still teach workshops even if my novel sells a million copies,” Ms. Bhat says. “Reading students’ stories-in-progress just makes me feel like writing. I always tell students to focus on the craft, not publishing—it’s good to remind myself of that.”