Do you need a college education to become a writer?

Recently I wrote a blog about the long ridge writer's group, but something else has been on my mind recently, college writing courses. I am currently in college studying liberal arts. I've taken a few writing classes along the way and know that I have many more to take along the way, but do I need these classes? To go into my chosen profession I will, but to be an actual writer I will not. While my dream is to be a writer, I have chosen to go to school and study journalism. Both jobs involve writing, but I only need a degree for one. I don't believe you need to go to college to write a book, as long as you know enough about grammar and spelling and you have natural talent. There are lots of authors who didn't go to college, some of which have made their way to the best seller's list. The few college classes on writing that I did take only served to heighten my confidence. There was one class I took where the teacher had us read boring short stories instead of writing. I honestly don't think that class helped me at all. College writing classes may help some, but you don't have to attend them to write a book. It's easier now with self publishing.

Long Ridge Writer's Group

I've seen a lot of blogs, articles, and comments on the internet about the long ridge writer's group. It's an online class that's supposed to earn you a few college credits. A lot of the reviews I've read say this school is a scam and to stay away from it. I don't know if that's true, but I would like to share my own experience with the school. I sent off for their test in 2009, and they told me that I had potential and sent me information about the school. They even showed me who my teacher would be. It was a romance author that I'd never heard of. I'm not sure how they picked her for me, but after taking the course they switched me to another teacher who had only written articles, not books. I enjoyed the class anyway. It wasn't like a regular class. The due dates weren't as strict. It worked for me, since I was working two jobs at the time. Do I think the classes actually helped me? Yes, they brought to my attention some things that I was doing wrong. The writer's group actually helped me more than the class I took at a community college, but I will go into that in another post. I do think there are better classes out there, but long ridge isn't all bad. Very few of the assignments were specific, most just included adding on to what was already written. I think the program did work for me, but it may not work for everyone.

Casual Friday: Small Book Haul

I took advantage of the black Friday sale at bookoutlet.com, which is pretty much my favorite place to buy books. I didn't buy much, what I did buy is pictured above. I haven't been posting as much as I would like, or editing for that matter. It's almost like I've given up, but I haven't. This is my dream. I'm just struggling to find balance. I suppose we all go through that phase and our lives. There are a million things to do and such limited time to do them in. I'll figure something out.

Building my audience

I haven't been doing enough to build a following lately. Most of my time has been spent at work or school. I do know that I need to get back to that, just like I need to get back to editing. I was on the right track to publish and then I let myself lose track of everything. It's easy to do, but disappointing. This is my dream, I can't allow it to slip away. Anyway, I knew there would be a time when I would have to do this. I made myself a facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/jademcc120/ Please follow me.

Book Covers

I just wanted to use this post to spread the word about an artist who is willing to do book covers for self published authors. I think it's important for everyone to follow their dreams, so please check him out on facebook!

Reading Challenge

When I was younger my mom used to bring me to the library at least once a week. During the summer there was a summer reading program where you read books and you got a prize. I think I even won a prize before. It used to be really fun to see how many books I could read, since I usually filled up the paper that I was given. I found a 2015 reading challenge online. You don't get a prize for completing it, but it did look really fun and I think I will do it. Click this link to see the challenge

Building Character

Recently I stumbled upon a blog written by a woman who was a single mother. Her blog was supposed to be about issues that she couldn't talk to her young son about. It seemed like a pretty good idea, until I actually read the blog. It seemed as if the woman's entire identity was that of a single woman. It was very important for her to express how happy she was to be alone and how much she didn't need a man. Every post, other than one on recent events was about her as a single woman. I felt like she only had one layer to her. I thought about what it would be like to write a character like that, and at first I thought it wouldn't be very useful to write a character like that. It probably wouldn't be much fun either, however, sometimes you need to write a character who is only made up of one layer. Sometimes you need to add a character who just has one mission, or mindset. Maybe it's the post man who delivers a life-changing letter, or maybe it's a cashier who warns someone of a person following them. I could go on and on, but I think anyone reading this would understand. Sometimes it's useful to have those single layer characters around, as long as they serve a purpose.