Update on school and writing.

 

A little over a year ago, I decided to go back to school. For years, I’d talked myself out of the idea. I have a full-time job in a call center. You ever hear that saying, get a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life? Well, I’ve worked every day at this job for almost twenty-five years. I want to write books and to see my characters come to life. Would a degree really help me with writing fiction? Does anyone buy a book based on the education of the author?

Growing up, I struggled in school, and to a great degree, it was because I was expected to fail. I certainly wasn’t encouraged, and if I struggled in a subject, I didn’t get the help I needed. I gave up on trying at a fairly early age. Part of me wanted to go back just for the sake of achieving. Plus, I never bothered to walk the stage when I received my high school or associate’s degree. I didn’t think anyone cared. In retrospect, I feel confident I was correct. Nobody in my family even bothered to ask me if I wanted to walk the stage, nor had there been any real acknowledgment of having graduated. But it would be silly to go back to school just for the chance to walk across the stage, right? I needed to believe I’d get something out of it. A new career.

I’m lucky enough to work in a job that has a program to pay for my college, so it wasn’t the money. But it was a huge investment of time and effort. Was it worth it? Or was I just looking to stroke my ego?

It occurred to me; besides writing, I have given workshops on things such as Dialogue, Characters, and Common Mistakes Authors Make. I also run a critique group, although we haven’t been meeting since the beginning of the pandemic.

Maybe I could earn a degree, including a master’s, and then learn to teach it.

So, I enrolled online with Southern New Hampshire University. The downside has been less and less time to focus on my writing, something I hope to remedy. I have two books in progress, a sequel to plot and plan, and a few ideas on deck for my next novel. Over the next couple of weeks, look for blog posts on what’s being worked on, and what may be to come.

The upside is, when I put my mind to it, I found out that I’m not a bad student at all. The classes have been challenging, but after just finishing my 10^th class, I have a 3.967 average. I was also invited to join Sigma Tua Delta, the International English Honor Society.

Now, I’m starting to question if teaching creative writing is a smart career choice, but I have time to make my decision there. I might throw out my thoughts in a post as well. I will graduate SNHU with a bachelor’s in English with a concentration in Creative Writing, but as I have 11 electives to fill, I plan to use those to explore another option.

In closing, going back to school was the right choice for me. I do feel a sense of pride that I haven’t before. But it is time for me to try and find more of a balance so that I don’t have so many characters sitting around, waiting on me.