What to do with an English degree

noir_blood

So I really want to be a writer. I mean, if I would be completely happy if I could just write for the rest of my life. Obviously as far as professions go, writer isn't necessarily the most secured one, which is why I'm still going to College. I'm actually in the final year or so before I finish college, and for the longest time I thought of going into teaching while pursuing writing. The thing is that I'm not THAT attracted to the idea of teaching, I see it more as a thing to last me until I can get enough writing out there ot make a living out of that. So I figured I would post here and see if anyone has any job recommendations I might have not thought about, something that would have to do with writing or an English degree. Journalism I think I'm too late for, as that has always struck me as something you have to begin with early on in your school life.

deadonthestreet

Law school.

Brodo Faggins

If you've been taking any foreign language courses, teaching English in that language's country of origin usually pays handsomely. Of course, you have to be living there, but who knows, you might get more ideas for your writing when you're in another country.

Vincent Grayson

deadonthestreet wrote:

Law school.

Isn't there an unspoken rule that you should never ever go to law school just for the fuck of it?

noir_blood

Vincent Grayson wrote:

deadonthestreet wrote:

Law school.

Isn't there an unspoken rule that you should never ever go to law school just for the fuck of it?

Yea, I should have mentioned this before, I'm not really big into school. I can pass all my classes with no problem without very little actual study, but I can't see myself dedicated enough for law school. I'm looking more if anyone has had experience with being a proofreader, that sort of thing.

TroubledTom

noir_blood wrote:

So I really want to be a writer. I mean, if I would be completely happy if I could just write for the rest of my life. Obviously as far as professions go, writer isn't necessarily the most secured one, which is why I'm still going to College. I'm actually in the final year or so before I finish college, and for the longest time I thought of going into teaching while pursuing writing. The thing is that I'm not THAT attracted to the idea of teaching, I see it more as a thing to last me until I can get enough writing out there ot make a living out of that. So I figured I would post here and see if anyone has any job recommendations I might have not thought about, something that would have to do with writing or an English degree. Journalism I think I'm too late for, as that has always struck me as something you have to begin with early on in your school life.

Don't rule out teaching. It's much, much more pleasant than I thought it would be before I did it, and I'm a shy, withdrawn person. Go for your MA or MFA in English. While you're doing this, they'll likely give you a job teaching composition. A wider array of jobs is available upon graduation to graduates of technical or professional writing programs than fiction, poetry, or literature programs, but you can't really do professional writing AND fiction or poetry. Also, being in a school environment helps most fiction/poetry writers I know to work harder and write more.

For the Future

Go to the Writer's Block forum there are real writers there, many who have published many books.

virgilsamms

noir_blood wrote:

Journalism I think I'm too late for, as that has always struck me as something you have to begin with early on in your school life.

Seriously there are few things you can't switch to late in life simply because you want to. Most people change careers a few times these days. If you want to do it, do it, theres nothing stopping you.

My suggestion is to get your degree and then go teaching english overseas. You'll get some great life experiences (which they say is important if you want to be a writer), and the teaching isn't as full on as actually teaching english as a subject. JET (Japan) springs to mind.

bsjezz

Keep your eyes open for 'Staff Writer' positions at magazines etc. I thought a job like that was a bit of a pipe-dream but they come up surprisingly often and as long as you get your application in on time and have a few good reviews or mock-articles to send in with it you've got a really good chance of getting an interview. You have to always be on the look out though, and you have to take the chances when they come up, because you're not exactly going to find a column of 'Writer' positions in the classifieds. They do exist though, and if you can write well, you can get a job writing.