Back to School...

In 2006, I got my bachelor's degree. In 2008, I finished my master's. Two-thousand and nine? Spent three months in an alternative teaching certification course. And now in 2010, I'm thinking I went about this whole education thing the wrong way and need even more school.

To be fair, I don't think any of my degrees, or classes, have been useless. I believe ultimately they will all play a role in what I do long-term in life and each class was training to help me succeed. But I also feel like none of it has geared me for what I really want to do... especially since I'm feeling a little confused on that myself.

Right now I'm on the fence about going after my MFA in Creative Writing or not. If you asked me what I wanted to be when I was five-year-old, I probably would have said Anne of Green Gables. Something about red hair, green-grey eyes, and being a quirky Canadian sounded ideal to me. I no longer want to be Anne--or at least not literally.

I've always wanted to be a writer. As a child, that translated to author. In high school, I got introduced to the idea of journalism. And that sounded like a much more achievable profession, especially since some writers never become published authors until they are old, or dead. So, I got my bachelor's and master's in journalism. And I enjoyed it--a lot. But I'm not sure if I love it.

I mean, I dream about being the next Chimamanda Adichie so much more than I do the next Nick Kristof or Christiane Amanpour.

And while I work towards that aspiration, I could at least teach creative writing... something I can't do without an MFA. (I can teach journalism in community colleges with my master's, but definitely don't want to do that.)

If I do choose to do the MFA, I wouldn't start until next fall so I'm still kind of exploring my options and stuff BUT I do want to take some creative writing classes to kind of "get my butt in gear." Unfortunately I came to this conclusion a little late, and most continuing education classes have already started at all the community colleges around here. But I've found three possibilities, which I'm excited about. And then there are online classes, too! And online there are grant writing classes, creating K-12 educational materials, non-profit management, publishing courses, photography... oh, the places I could go!

 Maybe I should attempt to be a professional student?