As quick as the class was, I believe I gained a decent amount of information on what to do after I graduate. Though, I didn't just learn about the types of professions in writing but also about my graduate school options as well. For one, I’ve learned that I can keep going with my writing academia if I choose to. Also, from what I hear, I might be able to get some of it paid for. As for the professional aspect of this class, I think I was able to get a better idea of where I would be headed if I stick with writing. There are many different paths I can take, I never wanted to be a novelist but the idea of being a columnist, critic, and editor greatly interest me. From Writing in the Professions, I was able to learn how to go about getting my name out there for writing employers.

From the guest speakers I learned that there are a lot of different ways I can go with writing. Mr.  Mangini told the class how he used to drive 40 minutes away just to write an article or column for a certain newspaper. The stories told by Mr. Mangini not only taught me that there were jobs for decent writers but also options. Now, I always knew I didn’t have to write a book to get noticed as a writer but it’s still nice to be reassured that there are different routes I can take with my profession.  The second guest speaker, Keith Dubarry, told the class a lot about what it takes to become a certain breed of writer, a novelist. He talked about characters, detail, and dialogue as well as social networking. He also reminded us that to go anywhere in the professional aspect of writing you need to get your name established. Keith even showed us a couple of sites like hub.com, in which you can write and publish your own articles for others to see. I’m not quite sure how that works since I assume the only people looking at your pieces are other aspiring writers. Though maybe professional writers use hub.com as well to learn of fresh talent? Overall, I think it’s a good idea. Just so prospective hirers have something to garner your writing merit on. Either way, since being in this class I believe I’ve gained a different outlook on what I can do after I graduate. 

There are so many things out there to fear when it comes to writing. Not only can it come from a personal perspective but it can also be conducted through others like hiring editors or publishing companies. The first couple of fears that pop into my mind when I think about becoming a writer is pacing myself and deadlines. I fear that the good ideas I may or may not have currently will start to evaporate over time. Meaning, after I write that first amazing article/book/short story my idea bank will go dry and I’ll fall into an everlasting “writers block”. My other fear is getting things done on time. I am a procrastinator; first and foremost, with pretty much everything I do in life. I don’t know why I’m like this, maybe it’s in my genes. My father and brother are both huge procrastinators, but always find a way to get the job done in the allotted time.  Since I seem to always put everything off until the last couple of days before a due date I worry that I may do the same with writing in the real world. Hopefully I’ll be able to “task manage” myself a little bit better when I become a professional….one can only hope though.

Besides these basic writing fears, another daunting common writers conundrum I have are “writing demons”. These little suckers are what keeps me procrastinating as I’ve stated above. When I’m online I can’t help but check my social media sites and look at some articles. Though this can be construed as a hindrance, I find looking at certain articles refreshing. It certainly helps me become a bit more articulate when I read something from a well-developed writers site. I think sometimes our inner “demons” can be seen in a favorable light. One should then start thinking about how they perceive these distractions and what exactly they can take away from them    

Who were the best professors I’ve ever had? Now that’s a tough question, there have been so many. One that really stuck in my head above any was my writers mind teacher. I don’t want to name drop so I’ll call him Prof. K. Well Prof. K was actually the toughest professor I’ve yet to come across. He made us write multiple drafts every week and we met twice a week to discuss and go over any editing mistakes we may have missed. It was hard getting up on the pedestal so to speak but Prof. K showed me it was actually needed for me to progress as a writer. He personally took me aside or had me come to his office to go over papers and tell me what I needed to work on and praising me for what I had done. He showed me how many drafts it could take just to produce a paper in a way we’d be personally proud of. The best paper I’ve ever written was also done in Prof. K’s class. It was a personal narrative; we were learning how to take out exposition in our writing as we observed a situation around us. The first draft was way off but after talking to Prof. K I was able to hone in on what needed to be done and nailed it. I cannot recall the actual words a professor or teacher or person who encouraged me to write but I do remember my High School English teacher telling me my strongest suit was writing and I should follow it. When I decided I wanted to go into writing I was an English major at Temple University. I thought the major was going to deal with writing and reading but mostly it just dealt with reading. I saw myself reading all these words and I felt lost. I wanted to be the one writing the words, not studying them. From there I began writing everyday and changed my major within the week of starting at temple. My mother and father have read my work as well and they’ve been extremely supportive and pushed me to go in a writing direction, and they still do everyday. Taking mostly English courses all my life and reading and writing everyday has prepared me for this “writers life” so to speak. I also wrote everyday since I was a kid to high school, so I’ve been able to hone in on my craft a bit.  Also I think being such a determined person has helped me succeed and push me further into the writing career. I’d like to think I’m prepared for what’s to come.

Creating a resume or online application takes a lot of work. Sometimes you have to go through your own memory to figure out what exactly you have to offer an employer. If I were to write an application essay, my opening line would probably say something along the lines of “Writing has been a part of my life since as far back as I can remember.” From there I would probably go on to talk about how I became connected to writing in my past and what I've done with it in the ways of school as well as personal life. The qualities that I think makes up an effective query letter is the way you word it, the presence you project of yourself, and of course the introduction of not only yourself but your book. It has to grasp the reader, pull them in almost, something that they will not be able to forget. Basically you’re story has to be different from the rest. I've only just started working on my resume so I can’t really put my finger on what exactly would make me stand out among others. But, if I had to guess I assume it would be what I did in school and my hands on experience with web designing as well as writing. I think that if I could not only write on a professional level as well as design my own website from scratch, employers would see that as a win-win. I have a lot of aspects I wish were better, for one I wish I had more “professional” type jobs, where I did more than stock shelves. Though to get those types of jobs I need experience, so how exactly does one get experience without having any previous forms of it? I believe I could get an entry level type of position if I provided all my experiences and web sites that I achieved through school. Talking myself up academically would probably help employers over look my lack of professional writing experience. If I sent out what I thought to be a well done resume only to have it ignored I would do what most people do and keep on trying. If I saw anything that looked somewhat questionable or unimportant I would take it out or reword it so employers could get a better grasp at what I was trying to show them. Having the resilience to keep trying and not give up is sometimes what makes a writer so special.  The hardest task when creating a resume or cover letter is figuring out what message you’re trying to produce about yourself. What exactly do you want these employers to know? What don’t I want them to know? Figuring out right from wrong isn't always as plain to see as one would think. The easiest task of making a resume is writing about the previous places you've been employed, it doesn't take much thinking. If there was one tip I would give a graduating senior about their personal statement for college apps it would be to beef themselves up and lie a little. NOT a lot, tell a white lie, something that’s true but maybe you’ve made it sound a little bit better than before. Make yourself stand out a little from the rest of the students who would be applying for that college. 

Google has really opened up our eyes in the last couple of years since it’s been established. Everyone goes through google these days, especially employers. It would not be surprising in the slightest to find out that an employer, especially one of a writing basis, would google a prospective employees name before hiring them. This can tell the magazine/website/blog proprietor exactly what they need to know about you and help them in the decision making process of hiring someone new. Social media can taken as such to be both a good starting point for a writer to jump from or a major hindrance in which makes the writer look silly or just plain unlikely for hire. If you are trying to get published, it’s always good to have some sort of social media that is professionally done and will make an employer understand what kind of writing and personality you will bring to the table. Right now if an employer saw the results of googling my name they would find my facebook and maybe even my twitter or weebly. While both my twitter and weebly were done in a scholastic/writer fashion, my facebook was not. It contains random thoughts and friends with whom I do not perceive in a professional frame of mind. Having my employer friend me on facebook would not be very beneficial, so I don’t think I’d ever click accept.

Trying to become self-published is another faucet of a more eager attitude towards writing. You’re trying to put yourself out there, and in doing so you’re also putting yourself on the line. Whether or not other established companies or writers will take notice to what you have published is another story. To have the best chances in being discovered and taken seriously one would have to establish some sort of connection with other writers to take basis off of. Personally, I would have to be pretty proud of my work to think I myself should publish it. I figure, if I have passed around a certain work I deemed appropriate for publication to my favorite media outlets, blogs, publishers, and magazines and they all declined, maybe I should take another look at where I am in writing. Maybe what I’m putting out there isn’t really what people are looking for right now and maybe I should head in a different direction.

Although, there have been cases were certain authors were put down by many publishers and decided to go about the process themselves and became famous for it. Dave Lieber seems to have the right personality for self-publishing, being that it’s what actually made him successful. His, to me, seems like a big medal for Mr. Lieber. It tells about all the awards he’s won, it shows all of his columns that he’s done in the past, it even has a eulogy written by himself about his father. Basically its Mr. Lieber’s personal page to show off how established he’s become in writing.

Personally, I think any person’s work has a much higher chance of being read if it’s published online. For instance, though it’s not published site, I could not figure out how to go about having strangers read my work until I made a online blog. Even when I first made my blog I was skeptical of whether or not anyone but friends and family would read it. Eventually, after making social “hashtags” and links at the bottom of each blog post people started visiting my page. After time other writers, bloggers, random viewers would actually make comments about my writing. These both good and bad criticisms actually helped mold my writing into what it is today. I was able to take what they said, after having viewed and read my sometimes-incoherent ramblings (like this one you’re reading now) and use it to my advantage of bettering my own writing.

With all this talk of self-publishing and and googling ones own name I have decided to use brandyourself.com to help establish myself a bit more. Using this site I have connected two blogs/information websites I did for Rowan University in the past. I’m hoping that by connecting them to the “brandyourself” website they will retain a higher place when googling my name. Right now when I google myself the only thing that comes up that is actually me is my facebook. Through “brandyourself” I have established which links are not me or have anything to do with me and posted more websites that do. I can only hope that after time the websites I want people to see get moved up to a point where potential employers could see them if they googled my name.

      Social networking always seemed like a good idea for an up and coming writer like myself. Having free, easy to use social network sites like Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, etc are all great ways to get yourself out there. The whole reason behind this, I think, is expansion. At first I didn’t think social media sites would do much for a new writer. It’s just your own personal friends and family, how exactly are you going to get your work out there if people you already know are the only ones looking at your stuff? Well it’s about making a grapevine for one person to pass on a writing piece they enjoyed to another. 
      In my case, I would shove my own articles/essays/stories down a certain group of friend’s eye sockets. From there I would persist that they share it with their own friends and family (people I do not know) in hopes that they will eventually do the same. Now if I’m not entirely sure that my friends will do that on their own I may have to try expanding my social circle to let in friends who are willing. Adding friends that were once in my classes here at Rowan is another great way to get my self onto the radar of other writers like myself. Having another writer who takes interest in me could be mutually beneficial. They could show it to their “writer friends” who could already be editors, journalists, freelancers, etc, and maybe upon seeing my drafts they could help point me into the way of a job pertaining my set of skills. Thus, I would do the same for a fellow student writer who sent me some of their work. I’m beginning to learn that writing is really all about getting yourself out there and networking. Whether it be socially or educationally.

When did you decide that writing was what you wanted to do for the rest of your life? What made you want to make a career out of writing?

Did getting an MA really help you find other jobs in writing? More specifically, is an MA compared to a BA in writing something all hiring companies look for? Would I be able to make it with just a BA or should I stick it out at school for a couple more years?

Can a writer survive in todays economy? Or will there always be multiple side-jobs for todays every day writer?

Out of all the writing jobs you've had, which one did you enjoy the most, which one did you dislike the most? Why?

Can you see yourself writing for the rest of your life? Would you write even if you weren't getting paid for it? For instance, after your retired (if writers can retire and still survive that is) will you still write for fun?

In the event that I do not become a critical success or master novelist, I need to have a back up plan. My back up plan, though not ideal, would probably not have anything to do with writing. If I cannot find myself in some sort of writing field I hope to make it in the liquor industry, that's right, alcohol. Does that sound childish to you? It might, but the money, I assure you, is not. I have a way in to the career, I could become a salesmen eventually after being a merchandiser for a certain amount of time. Though, after becoming a merchandiser, I hope to move onto something else in the career. A lot of companies hire freelance writers to make ads or write columns on wine's/liquors/and beer. I find that I could probably handle both sides of this career as I am a somewhat avid drinker and writer. This would really be ideal for me, as I would still be using a degree that I paid all this money for.

Or, if that doesn't really work out and the companies I apply to already have writers and have no need of my "expertise" in the area I could do a writing gig on the side. Since I have an associates in web design and I am a huge fan of both films and music I think I could find myself writing for a publication and critiquing certain albums and/or films. My main hopes would be to get into the music-media site called pitchfork. Most of the new music I listen to comes from here so getting a job as a critical writer there would be perfect. I could listen to all the new music I want to and then write about what I've found in my musings. I pretty much do that on an almost regular basis as is, with telling my friends about a new album that just released or a new EP that they should really check out. Usually my critiques go over well with my friends. Even when I trash the work of a particular artist, the reader usually can find some sort of humor to find themselves wrapped up in between the harsher critique.

The act of becoming a successful and published writer is slowly becoming more clear to me that it’s not exactly easy to do. Reading these articles, which tell about how certain writers have had to overcome hardships, adversity, within even themselves and family/friends, to publish something meaningful to both them and their respective editors/publishers has shown me something. What that is exactly has become more apparent as I read each article. That “thing” that I’ve been shown is determination and even more importantly, time. 

In one article a woman talks about how she wrote for 8 hours everyday, being a stay at home mom I’m sure that meant she had to conduct her free time wisely. She stated something along the lines of making her husband do the grocery shopping and picking up the kids from school and/or other afterschool activities.

Now, first off, I would like to state, I’m not trying to be sexist or biased about stay-at-home mothers (or I’d at least like to think I’m not). Though, we all don’t have time or luxury to do what she did to become published. I can’t just decide to up and quit my job and start writing from home for 8 hours a day, every day, even as much as I would love to. I have to work; I need money, so my free time is few and far between, and would continue to be even if I weren’t attending college. That’s not to say what she did did not require determination and an impeccable amount of personal will power. Just the act of keeping myself away from screwing around between facebook and other social outlets found online is hard to do. So, I do have a lot of respect for these writers who actually made it to the "big times" and finally got published.  It’s just I don’t have the time or money to go away to a retreat in Colorado every weekend to look at a woods and ponder different ideas for my writing.

Another writer I read about in the articles was actually in a hospital for most of his days while he wrote. This guy actually had his idea come to him through his own physical trauma while in a hospital bed with Crohns Disease. So he spent his days and nights absorbing the people and personal problems around him so he could have a fresh account of ideas to take into his non-fiction piece. This is probably the only way I would be able to have the time to dedicate myself to my writing and making it good enough for publication.

Which has got me thinking. Maybe I should throw myself down a flight of stairs, “accidentally” of course, I bet that would make for a pretty interesting piece, wouldn’t it? So, from this point forward, I’ll be on the lookout for the next time I’m laid up for awhile with an exorbitant amount of free time. Hopefully I wont be in too much pain to spend some time with my lap top.

While reading for the class, professions in writing, I found that one reading really stuck out for me more than the other three. That certain reading was written by Steve Salerno, in which it discussed ten different writing situations that college does not prepare for you. Upon reading this I was sort of flabbergasted by what I wasn't thinking about as I spent these past few years in college for writing arts. It basically gave me a realistic idea of what it was going to be like trying to get a job in a writing career after I graduate. I knew it would be hard, but I didn't know it would be quite like this. Steve spoke about how when you grab a magazine or journal, you see a very select few people listed under the title of "writer". Most, in fact, are editors and by being an editor for x amount of year, you may manage to find your into that company. Though even that seems like a big break for such a common goal of a writer.

Besides that Steve talked about how trying to get something, really anything, published was a writers best bet at having a career in the field. You need to get your work out there, as I knew, just not to the degree he spoke of. I haven't even managed to have one piece of my writing published, nor have I even tried. This kind of makes me worry that I should be jumping into trying to get into the school newspaper or maybe some freelancing gig for a website or something of that sort. I also learned that being a writer does not mean you'll like what you're writing about. Often times writers have to pretend to be interested in what they're writing. Thankfully, I am good at the art of BS, so even if I landed a job at a hospital journal as an editor (like one of my friends currently is) I would be deeply grateful for it. All this talk about writing and careers makes me really want to get more involved with my writing. I need to take the time to write some well thought out pieces, that or find a new career path.