Dang!

Wish I’d heard about the Amtrak Residency for Writers earlier (though, indeed, I would not have been in a position to apply for it at the time).

What a neat opportunity!

(Genius marketing move, Amtrak!)

Something like 16,000 people applied for the residency, and 24 were selected. Well, 25, if you include the original writer-in-residence.

Would it have given me an edge if my dad is a railfan and I was the first child and was named after a railroad? (The Missouri-Kansas-Texas. The M-K-T. The Katy.)

Would it have given me an edge if I had applied to work for Amtrak out of Chicago during the summers when I was in college? (By the time they called me with a job offer, the semester had started again, and I had to decline.)

In any case, the program will give me some reading material, as I peruse the writings of the chosen writers-in-residence.