Today the A to Z Challenge continues! I’ll be posting about one letter/word on every weekday in April. Don’t want the barrage of posts? Sign up for my newsletter and I’ll let you know when I start doing new stuff next month!
U is for University.
As I’m sure some of you are aware, I did not actually attend university and I don’t have any plans to attend university in the near future. I’ve spent far too many years reading the life stories of successful authors who didn’t attend any kind of post secondary education and many, many authors who recommended staying away from going to university for creative writing.
My interest in writing led me to a marketing internship with Musa Publishing and from there it became clear that social media marketing was the perfect companion career to writing novels. For one thing, I make my own hours 95% of the time. For another, everything I learn from every job can be put to use when it comes time to market my fiction–a time which might come as soon as this time next year.
Post secondary institutions have started offering social media programs but many of these schools still don’t really know how to teach it. A traditional marketing degree might have helped me get a full time job, but not having one isn’t much of a barrier to finding decent freelance work. And right now is the best time to be a self made social media marketer, when the field is so new that everyone is still feeling their way along.
So I decided to use the money another person would spend on university on living an adventurous life. I used the money set aside for my post secondary education to go an an incredible adventure to Scotland with my aunt(who was kind enough to actually give me this option). I’ve spent a lot of money on musicals and concerts in the last couple of years, going a little bit into debt to see acts that might not be around much longer. Each of these experiences enriches my life and my writing. It feels arrogant to say I’m in the school of life, but that’s the path I’ve chosen for myself.
Did you go to university/are you in university right now? Why/why not? Let me know in the comments section below!