By Chris Stewart I was recently asked to speak about this topic at the reunion of nonfiction MFAs at Goucher College in Baltimore and thought this information would be great to share here at The Writer's Edge, as well. Once you recover from graduating from a MFA program and discover that you need to make your peace with the void it leaves, and that you are now your own keeper/disciplinarian, the big question hits you: What do I do now? My philosophy on this has TWO POINTS: 1) Try everything you can handle in terms of your time and energy. Just give it a go, even if you're not sure it's for you (as long as it's not a big financial commitment like an expensive class or conference. You should really want to participate in those before plunking down the credit card). You'll stir things up. You'll meet people. You'll discover important strengths, weaknesses, passions. Other things will start to show up for you. 2) Based on what shows up - do what's in fron...