Busking & Book Sales: Creative Ways To Fund Creativity
Contributed by Caitlyn M.S. Buxbaum
My name is Caitlin Buxbaum, and I need your help!
If you’re a regular Make-A-Scene reader, you’ve probably seen my poems appear in these pages. You may know I’m the president of Alaska Writers Guild, and the owner of Red Sweater Press (a small publishing company, through which I’ve published eight books of my own poetry, prose, and photography). I’m also a lifelong Alaskan, a former Frontiersman reporter, and I’ve been teaching or substitute teaching in the Mat-Su Borough since 2016.
Now, I’m working to further my writing and publishing career with a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Antioch University in LA. It’s a low-residency program, meaning most of the work is completed remotely, but in collaboration with high-caliber faculty and professional writers from across the country. It’s the only MFA program I found that allows students to “genre jump” and graduate with a dual concentration in, say, Poetry and Screenwriting or Fiction and Translation. Opportunities abound, and I’m hoping to take you on this journey with me.
Right now, each semester will cost me just over $9,000, after my $1,000/semester scholarship is subtracted. Each year, two 10-day residencies occur on campus in LA, which will cost me about $2,500 in terms of plane tickets, lodging, transportation, and food (and that’s a low estimate). I’m heading out for my first residency this week!
To focus on my writing and education and get the most out of this program, it is necessary for me to leave my full-time teaching job, which means the flow of income will be scarcer in the next couple of years. I had enough money saved up to pay for the first semester out of pocket, but that doesn’t leave much for my monthly expenses. So, I’m hoping to raise at least one semester’s worth of financial support to pursue my passion at Antioch, starting this summer.
One way I’m raising money is by putting myself out there as a musician. I’ve been playing guitar and piano for half my life, and I picked up the ukulele a couple of years ago; I’ve done my fair share of open mics, but never a solo show. While I won’t technically be playing on street corners around the Valley, I do have my first gig booked at Black Birch Books on July 21, from 6 to 7 p.m. If you like pop/rock/indie music by US and UK artists from the last six or seven decades (or you just like me) please come and enjoy an hour of guitar and ukulele covers (and maybe even an original song or two)!
Another way I’m hoping to raise money is through the sale of antique and special edition books from the personal library of the late James A. Misko, Alaskan author and founder of Alaska Writers Guild. I haven’t re-listed many titles for auction since ebay changed their policies and updated their website a couple years ago, but I will be doing so throughout the summer, and you can get a preview of some of the books available on my blog at caitbuxbaum.com (Search for “Rare Book Liquidation Sale”). If this is something you’re interested in, you can find and follow me on ebay at ebay.com/usr/cmsbuxbaum, or simply send me an email through my website if you see something you like.
The last way you can help me raise tuition money (aside from donating directly through PayPal or Venmo; email me for the info) is simply by purchasing copies of the books I’ve written from local bookstores or my publishing website. You can find all of my books at Black Birch Books in Wasilla and online at redsweaterpress.com/store, and select titles at Fireside Books in Palmer and The Writer’s Block in Anchorage.
So, what do you say? Want to help me achieve my writerly dreams? Have other ideas on how I can raise money and be creative at the same time? Let me know! Every little bit helps.
