College...career?

Lady Venom · Unread post by **Lady Venom** » Sun Feb 14, 2010 10:20 am

DS, have you contemplated not so much looking into writing for college, but a local writing group?

I use to go to one twice a month (I was the only one who hadn't published a novel and was below the age of forty, but they were all amazing people), and it was amazing. It was a much healthier learning center I found, since we would all have a chance to critique and help others improve.

We did a few public readings and even created a post card book (two of my pieces were in it I think...it's been so long I can't remember anymore!)

So..go for open houses, some college's and Uni's allow you to sit in on a class for a day to see what going through the motions would be like. Then you could discuss what the entire class is like with the professors and whatnot.

You understand that writing for the sake of a living isn't steady, but it is if you do it on the side, (which is why I suggest googling and researching for local writers groups) and then finding another passion of yours that would bring in the money.

Like Nurann said, research, research, research!

Good luck!

Darkshadow14 · Sun Feb 14, 2010 11:29 am

Thank you, LV!

I actually have never thought of that, I am going to check into that! Because that sounds like something I'd really enjoy, and it would help me become a better writer, and it just sounds fun!!

Thanks again for suggesting that. Hopefully I'll find something nearby.

Unread post by **Starath** » Sun Feb 14, 2010 1:59 pm

Hey Darkshadow,

I just wanna say, if you want to get into writing, go for it. That's exactly what I did. I didn't find a career in it, but I'm content to say I haven't yet. I knew finding a job with a writing degree would be hard, but I did it anyway because I LOVED it. Besides, employers always want people with good writing skills. It doesn't matter what you specialize in, so long as you can write intelligently. Granted, I've decided to pursue a teaching degree now, but my previous education in creative writing will still come in handy.

You can look into what I failed to do: The Twin Cities have the biggest non-profit publishing houses in the Midwest. We're in a good position to look into those places because other publishing houses are all on the east coast. Greywolf Press and Milkweed Editions are just two of many. I wanted to get into the publishing industry by working my way up in those places, but I didn't get my ducks in a row fast enough. Ideally you should have some education first before going there, but you never know what you might find!

Since we both live in the same state, I can talk to you about your options for a college career. I'm betting the places I attended are open for you as well. Don't worry about money-- that's what Financial Aid is for. That's the only reason I can go to college in the first place. If anything, you can start somewhere and take general credits (you'll have to anyway) and something may catch your interest. Let me know if you wanna talk about this, okay? It's kinda scary, but it'll be fun once the ball bearing starts rolling.

Darkshadow14 · Unread post by **Darkshadow14** » Sun Feb 14, 2010 2:08 pm

For sure Starath I need help with looking into everything. I'm going on a tour at Rasmussen on Thursday, in Eagan. Well see how that goes, for digital design and animation. Because, I want to do writing, yes, but would love to do something with movies too.

Would love to do special effects, and maybe if I do really well, and network enough, write on the side.

I will never give up on my writing dream! My mom was talking about maybe just take writing classes in the summer, still while attending college for something else.

Unread post by **Starath** » Sun Feb 14, 2010 2:41 pm

Thattagirl, Dark!

I hope that tour goes well. One thing you might want to look into is screenwriting. That way, if you learn animation and all that fancy stuff, you can write scripts for your own movies! I loved screenwriting myself, heehee.

Lady Venom · Unread post by **Lady Venom** » Sun Feb 14, 2010 5:13 pm

No problem DS! In today's economy, sometimes going for what you love will leave you poor.

That's why you should go for something that has an actual paycheck and future. Writing is amazing and fun. But currently, there's only a possibility for it on the side.

Cause yanno, College and Uni debt will only get you so far. ^.~

Darkshadow14 · Unread post by **Darkshadow14** » Sun Feb 14, 2010 7:23 pm

I hope that tour goes well. One thing you might want to look into is screenwriting. That way, if you learn animation and all that fancy stuff, you can write scripts for your own movies! I loved screenwriting myself, heehee.

I will check it out for sure and ask about it, when I go on my tour! I still gotta look into more, college's because my GPA is not high at all.

Hopefully everything will go good for Thursday! I have never really been excited about school, and I'm super pumped.

No problem DS! In today's economy, sometimes going for what you love will leave you poor.

That's why you should go for something that has an actual paycheck and future. Writing is amazing and fun. But currently, there's only a possibility for it on the side.

Agreed, LV. It'll still be apart of my life, it'll just be on the side for the mean time.