15 February 2008

Support group needed

Is it just me, or does the new NEA grant application require a computer science and/or accounting degree to figure out? Usually these things don't daunt me at all, but I'm about ready to give up. Anyone made it through yet?

10 comments:

Gary L. McDowell said...

No, I can't make it through either. I think I need to know C++ or Java Script or something. Maybe I should switch my Ph.D. concentration to Rocket Science, see if that helps.

Radish King said...

I wrote one.
ARGHHHHHHHHHHH! ARRRRRGHHHHHHH!
AAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

marybid said...

Thinking of how many poets don't even email, I think this is going to exclude a lot of folks.

Hell, I'm pretty tech savvy, and I'm about to throw my laptop out the window.

*sigh*

marybid said...

Okay, I totally figured it out, and it's not that bad.

You just have to follow the directions here:
http://www.nea.gov/grants/apply/Lit/How-G.g-poetry.html

The pdf form thinger is separate.

It will actually be better in some ways, since you don't have to make a zillion copies like you used to.

I still don't trust it, however.

Karen J. Weyant said...

Hi Mary,

I will be honest -- I don't know anything about NEA grants/fellowships, but the application I filled out last year for the New York Foundation for the Arts poetry fellowship was all online and drove me crazy. I had to print out the 20 some pages and read through every single line, highlighting important parts. However, almost everything is going online now -- I got some help from our college's grant office. Does your college have some kind of support?

Jeannine said...

I did it, but I got my husband to help, and I tried to do it from my old non-Vista desktop, since Vista kept sending me weird warning messages. The Word-to-pdf file thing was a pain...

Also, my dear, heard you sold out your book at this AWP too? Woot!

And, should I be concerned if I haven't gotten my BOR yet? I'm so looking forward to it!

Anne Haines said...

By my calculations I'm just barely eligible, so I decided to give it a pass this year. Everyone I know needs to get one this year and then *not* apply two years from now, so I have a chance in hell. ;)

The Indiana Arts Commission one is totally online now too, and it's complicated enough!

Oliver de la Paz said...

It takes awhile, but once you've figured it out, it's not that bad.

The pdf conversion thing drove me crazy. For some reason it was lining up my converted MS Word pages in the reverse order.

Neil Aitken said...

I'd like to apply (with my BS Computer Science + 5 years as a programmer, I should have been a shoe-in, right?), but alas the NEA is not welcoming to Canadians on student visas :(

marybid said...

Just sent it in! Glad that's over.

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