The Arkansas Writers MFA Workshop was founded in 2012 on the concept that with a curriculum centered on publishing and pedagogy—as well as courses like The MFA Experience, directed studies, and internships with magazines like the Oxford American—each student can create an MFA experience that is uniquely theirs and speaks to their own creative passions.

As a result, we’re proud to say our alumni continue the paths they’ve begun in our program into a diverse range of creative careers as not only writers but also as literary agents, university and secondary teachers, health care narrators, advertising copywriters, arts advocates, and museum educators. In fact, one has even established himself in the world of tabletop gaming with publisher Lucky Duck Games. We asked Devon Norris, MFA ’17, to tell us more about his journey.

Can you tell us where you are now in life, in addition to your current position?

Currently, I live in Little Rock, Arkansas with my wife and three children. My wife works at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences academic hospital, and I work remotely as the marketing specialist for Lucky Duck Games. I have an office and studio that I use at home for work, and then I travel numerous times throughout the year to both B2C and B2B trade shows to represent Lucky Duck.

What is daily life at Lucky Duck Games like?

My day-to-day work bounces between a lot of different activities. Within my role, I function as the community manager, content creator, media contact, marketing lead, and several other positions all wrapped up into one. On a weekly basis, I communicate with the other members of the US team (the sales director, the events manager, and our team lead), as well as members of other departments (logistics, studio, and other marketing leads). If I’m attending a show, then my day-to-day work morphs into helping manage the booth, running whatever special events are happening, and communicating with members of the media.

What was your journey after the MFA program to this position?

After graduating from the MFA program at UCA, my wife and I moved to Fort Worth, Texas for her family medicine medical residency. For the first two years that we were there, I used my undergraduate education degree and my MFA writing degree to teach middle school English and writing. My education career was rewarding in one sense and excruciating in another, so once our daughter was born, I decided to stay home with her while pursuing a new profession. After some email exchanges, I started to write for a website called GameTyrant, creating both news and opinion pieces on video games and pop culture. For a short span of time, I also did some list writing on TheGamer, but that fizzled out quickly when I bounced off of the work and pay models that were present.

I transitioned into writing tabletop content for GameTyrant, which enabled me to establish relationships with publishers and other content creators in the industry, which led to me leaving GameTyrant and working for a popular YouTuber. The next eighteen months or so involved me coordinating communication and logistics for that YouTube channel while also starting my own channel as a content creator in the tabletop community. That work provided the opportunity to take on a project management and marketing role at a fledgling board game publisher for a little over half a year, which was yet another step further into the industry.

The real progress behind the scenes, however, occurred when I started attending board game conventions, helping out publishers at their booths, and meeting more people who worked in board games full time. The relationships I developed eventually led to my current position with an international company employing approximately sixty people. It’s been an unexpected but wholly fulfilling journey from where I started in Texas to where I am now here in Arkansas.

Did anything about your experience at the MFA program prepare you for what you’re doing now? Habits of mind? Practices? 

The MFA program helped sharpen my creativity, which I use in my marketing job on a weekly, if not daily, basis. The years I spent with my classmates and professors also strengthened my communication skills, which are pivotal to my work. It was also the first time in my educational experience where I doggedly pursued what I was passionate about, and I think that reflects in my journey with board games—I have done what I love until it evolved into the chance to work in the tabletop industry professionally. Also, I am the sole writer for a lore book that was released alongside a tabletop game (Veiled Fate from IV Studio), and I don’t think I would have so confidently engaged in that if I didn’t have the writing experience from my graduate program.

Is there anything else you would like tell me about your journey?

I think that in the academic setting, students can sometimes feel that there are two paths ahead of them—continuing education and a PhD leading toward professorships or some higher-educational position, OR the pursuit of writing as a creative endeavor with the hopes of being published somehow and somewhere. That could have just been my perception and other graduates don’t have that same narrow lens, but my experience in board games has shown me all the unorthodox ways that my education and my writing can manifest. If you think of your years in the MFA as an edifying and growing experience, it can allow you to pursue what you want and lean on the habits and lessons you’ve learned, no matter where your job takes you.