I posted this comment to this post in Silliman's Blog this morning:

"The young person here seems confused about what and why s/he wants to write. You don't go to Graduate School to find this out; you use School to help you achieve your aims.

I was also confused by what s/he was saying: there are no other Gay or Lesbian writers? The other pool of "peers" are too young but, s/he is 27?! Isn't everyone in grad school 27? (except for ones who are 26 or 28). The other writers are in another tax bracket? So is this a wealthy person who can't relate to poor people or a working class person who can't relate to middle-class people, or what? S/he was "encouraged to write fiction"; is that what s/he wants to write?

What kind of advice does Mr./Ms. Anonymous want from RS? How to have a community when you don't want to form a community? How to be Emily Dickinson? I'm not trying to be mean, but my advice would be to decide what it is you really want to do. Then the "how to" will fall more easily into place."