Confessions of an Inner Writing Genie
Have you ever had to craft your own obituary?
When you go to school for a writing degree, sometimes you have to write the oddest things.
When I first started college at age 19, I majored in Communications so I took Newswriting and the required English composition. I also joined the campus newspaper for fun.
In Newswriting, it turned out we could get extra credit if we wrote pieces for the school paper. Score! I was already in. But turned out he didn't count feature writing, only black & white news reporting. I was bummed. But it didn't diminish the Chronicle beats I had, especially covering two soap opera stars appearing for a campus event!
In news class we eventually got to the dreaded topic of obits. I decided no way was I going to the Pearly Gates in a normal, ordinary fashion. I wasn't going to write my own fate with something that could really happen in everyday life. So, bouncing off my obsession with my dream place, Australia, I typed away at my demise--from a koala bear bite!
Now this didn't go over well with my straight-news-block-inverted-pyramid professor. And I felt bad for the poor guy sitting in front who read it aloud when we had to swap papers!
After scoring a C in this class, I later learned that my prof was a former magazine writer! What the what--No fair! That's creative feature writing right there, and what I kept trying to turn boring news blocks into.
When I returned to college recently in middle-age and was nominated for journalism by my English 102 professor, I was honored, but also on the fence. First, I made the cut into my goal program-- dental hygiene-- for the semester after next, and TWO, I was worried my creativity would get snuffed out by in those strait-laced news formats. But after talking to the journalism professor, who was my favorite from a previous summer English class, she assured me there was plenty of room for feature writing.
That last semester before dental began, the idea of taking a writing course sparked excitement. It hadn't occurred to me before that I could take creative writing for fun-- in college! I only had a computer pre-req that semester, so I weighed the idea of journalism vs creative writing and found myself drawn to the more freeing side. Turns out I found my word-genie mothership! Professor V and her writing prompts was so ingenious, while some were downright challenging. It was a place I felt at home.
I was sad when my pre-req path ended and my journey-- and whole purpose of going back to school in the first place-- was about to begin.
I also had to put away my spy romance, Behind Frenemy Lines. I'd been working on it between semester breaks since I started college in 2014. I had just tied up all the loose ends and wanted to dive into editing, revising, and detailing, I did not want to study teeth, even though I loved them too.
After a week in the dental hygiene program, my restless writing soul wanted to escape and so -- I did! But now what? All my hard work was wasted deep in science requirements! I considered my back up--Health Information Management which took all the same pre-requisites, but the medial billing program was completely online. Hmm, not my strong suit, but looking back, maybe I should've given it a go anyway. It did however spark a what if-- and it's blossomed into my newest rom-com, which is almost done. So, stay tuned for that!
Well, after meeting with advisors and musing over majors, I decided to let writing win. I landed back into Communications where I began some thirty years before. Now here I was again, at 53. That first semester, I took both journalism and creative writing 2. And Professor Goldstein kept her word. Journalism covered more than just those Whos, Wheres, Whats, Whens and Hows.
Magically, the Communications degree branched off into concentrations--and voila--I graduating in 2019 with a liberal arts degree in Professional Writing!
I even took Journalism 2, because it was an independent study and fit in with missing the first two weeks of class due to a rare cruise opportunity with Aunt Linda in 2018.
As a J2 student, I was assistant editor of the school paper and better yet, turned out there was a fun NYC media conference where we stayed in the posh Marquis hotel right on Times Square!
We had plenty of down time that long weekend so the editor Brianna, Prof Goldstein, her friend Sheila, and I went out to dinner one night, and climbed the spiraling stairs in awe of Strand Bookstore. The next day after seminars, Bri and I meandered to MOMA, on the way grabbing a slice of pizza, then happened upon NBC 30 Rock and Magnolia Bakery cupcakes. To further serendipity, Modern Museum of Art had the original Van Gogh's Starry Night (plus lots of famous works) and was FREE Friday! Oh, and Brianna just happened to be wearing her Starry Night socks!
Later that night, I saw the fabulous musical, Margaritaville, in our hotel for just $50.
(To my delight, it was equal parts dialogue.)
In a small way, this Big Apple weekend fulfilled another author fantasy-- a writer living large in NYC.
Oh, and my husband is thinking our next vacation might be Australia, once the world is back to normal again. I'm excited and a tad nervous--guess I better not pet any koalas.
What dreams have come true for you?
When you go to school for a writing degree, sometimes you have to write the oddest things.
When I first started college at age 19, I majored in Communications so I took Newswriting and the required English composition. I also joined the campus newspaper for fun.
In Newswriting, it turned out we could get extra credit if we wrote pieces for the school paper. Score! I was already in. But turned out he didn't count feature writing, only black & white news reporting. I was bummed. But it didn't diminish the Chronicle beats I had, especially covering two soap opera stars appearing for a campus event!
In news class we eventually got to the dreaded topic of obits. I decided no way was I going to the Pearly Gates in a normal, ordinary fashion. I wasn't going to write my own fate with something that could really happen in everyday life. So, bouncing off my obsession with my dream place, Australia, I typed away at my demise--from a koala bear bite!
Now this didn't go over well with my straight-news-block-inverted-pyramid professor. And I felt bad for the poor guy sitting in front who read it aloud when we had to swap papers!
After scoring a C in this class, I later learned that my prof was a former magazine writer! What the what--No fair! That's creative feature writing right there, and what I kept trying to turn boring news blocks into.
When I returned to college recently in middle-age and was nominated for journalism by my English 102 professor, I was honored, but also on the fence. First, I made the cut into my goal program-- dental hygiene-- for the semester after next, and TWO, I was worried my creativity would get snuffed out by in those strait-laced news formats. But after talking to the journalism professor, who was my favorite from a previous summer English class, she assured me there was plenty of room for feature writing.
That last semester before dental began, the idea of taking a writing course sparked excitement. It hadn't occurred to me before that I could take creative writing for fun-- in college! I only had a computer pre-req that semester, so I weighed the idea of journalism vs creative writing and found myself drawn to the more freeing side. Turns out I found my word-genie mothership! Professor V and her writing prompts was so ingenious, while some were downright challenging. It was a place I felt at home.
I was sad when my pre-req path ended and my journey-- and whole purpose of going back to school in the first place-- was about to begin.
I also had to put away my spy romance, Behind Frenemy Lines. I'd been working on it between semester breaks since I started college in 2014. I had just tied up all the loose ends and wanted to dive into editing, revising, and detailing, I did not want to study teeth, even though I loved them too.
After a week in the dental hygiene program, my restless writing soul wanted to escape and so -- I did! But now what? All my hard work was wasted deep in science requirements! I considered my back up--Health Information Management which took all the same pre-requisites, but the medial billing program was completely online. Hmm, not my strong suit, but looking back, maybe I should've given it a go anyway. It did however spark a what if-- and it's blossomed into my newest rom-com, which is almost done. So, stay tuned for that!
Well, after meeting with advisors and musing over majors, I decided to let writing win. I landed back into Communications where I began some thirty years before. Now here I was again, at 53. That first semester, I took both journalism and creative writing 2. And Professor Goldstein kept her word. Journalism covered more than just those Whos, Wheres, Whats, Whens and Hows.
Magically, the Communications degree branched off into concentrations--and voila--I graduating in 2019 with a liberal arts degree in Professional Writing!
I even took Journalism 2, because it was an independent study and fit in with missing the first two weeks of class due to a rare cruise opportunity with Aunt Linda in 2018.
As a J2 student, I was assistant editor of the school paper and better yet, turned out there was a fun NYC media conference where we stayed in the posh Marquis hotel right on Times Square!
We had plenty of down time that long weekend so the editor Brianna, Prof Goldstein, her friend Sheila, and I went out to dinner one night, and climbed the spiraling stairs in awe of Strand Bookstore. The next day after seminars, Bri and I meandered to MOMA, on the way grabbing a slice of pizza, then happened upon NBC 30 Rock and Magnolia Bakery cupcakes. To further serendipity, Modern Museum of Art had the original Van Gogh's Starry Night (plus lots of famous works) and was FREE Friday! Oh, and Brianna just happened to be wearing her Starry Night socks!
Later that night, I saw the fabulous musical, Margaritaville, in our hotel for just $50.
(To my delight, it was equal parts dialogue.)
In a small way, this Big Apple weekend fulfilled another author fantasy-- a writer living large in NYC.
Oh, and my husband is thinking our next vacation might be Australia, once the world is back to normal again. I'm excited and a tad nervous--guess I better not pet any koalas.
What dreams have come true for you?
No comments have been added yet.
