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.