Sam Boyer is an Indonesian-American writer who won the Nicholl Fellowship in 2022, was featured on the 2023 Black List, was a 2020 CAPE New Writers Fellow, and has twice been featured on the Black List's CAPE List. He earned his MFA from UT Austin’s Michener Center for Writers and his BA from USC's film school. In this episode, Sam dives into his process in landing a spot in each of these programs, how to face and overcome rejection, tips for making time and space to write, and why his hypothetical presidential platform would include free chips & salsa at every restaurant.  BREAKDOWN: 3:35 - Getting on the Black List 7:24 - Black List 2023 script - “Foragers” 14:00 - Getting the NIcholl Fellowship 25:25 - CAPE Writers Program 31:17 - Getting into Michener  at UT Austin 36:09 - Becoming an Academy Gold member 40:05 - Balancing work when you start out with a day job, making time to write, getting past writers’ block 50:57 - Tips for general meetings 55:43 - Getting initially rejected from SCA 1:00:26 - Rejection is normal 1:09:55 - Personal connection to stories 1:12:33 - Navigating management / reps 1:19:25 - Advice for people starting out / pivoting 1:26:39 - How he persevered through hard times 1:32:27 - The myth of the Overnight Success 1:34:19 - TIME CAPSULE CONNECT WITH SAM:  IG @samboyer  CONNECT WITH THE SHOW:  All platforms @NoSetPathShow  bio.site/nosetpath www.nosetpathshow.com --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rebecca-doyle3/support