Ralph's Writing Blog - Should Your Kid Major in Writing? (no knee news today)

Most of my readers have been following my Bad Knees Blog for the past 6 months or so, and I intend to add to that in the future. For now, the knee seems to be improving, and there's not much to say until I see the doctor in mid September.

So, I'm reverting to my original intent for this space. I'll signal the topics, so non knee news folks know what's not knee news and what is.

Writing

I'm beginning my twentieth academic year at Buffalo State next week. I've worn a lot of hats over that time, but I've always kept my teaching focus on some aspect of writing. It's shifted from freshman composition, to writing for teachers, to creative writing, and now I'm about to launch a program on professional/technical writing.

The one question that sticks in my mind is this: How practical is a degree in writing? I designed and ran the writing major here, so it's a relevant concern for me. Every semester we see more starry-eyed would-be authors who are captivated by poetry or who expect to be the next J.K. Rowling or Susan Collins. Many are convinced that writing is a path to riches. I do my best to inject some reality into their aspirations, but young people are going to act like young people, and that means they often blend dreams and reality. By the way, that's one of the things I like the best about my students.

I've published two books, numerous articles, and a lot of short fictions. The Tao of Writing has sold well by publishing industry standards and Kesh, despite winning a national prize for children's fiction, has not done particularly well. In addition, I've written many successful grants and proposals. I've got a lot of work out in search of publishers, and I send my newest manuscript to as many agents as I can from week to week. My belabored point here is that I and many more prolific and successful authors, do not make much money from our work. I tell students this, not to dissuade them from becoming writing majors, but to temper their expectations.

So why should someone get a degree in writing? First, people who write well tend to be good at organization, time management, accuracy, and critical thinking. Writing is hard work, and it takes initiative and stick-to-it-tivity to produce and market our words. These qualities are valuable in most jobs out there in the world. Some of our most important writers have been professional people: scientists, lawyers, physicians, and such. They wrote their fiction and poetry in their spare time. What's most important is that many, if not most, employers recognize the value of literate, thinking employees.

I also encourage students to explore professional and technical writing opportunities and to get, at least, some experience in writing grants and proposals, reports, formal letters, white papers, exective summaries, and the numerous other forms of tech writing. In addition, I try to help them understand how to use graphic and visual elements, statistics, web pages, blogs, and other tools of the trade. People use these skills in most work environments. In some cases they're lower level office skills, while in others they may be the key to office communication and marketing. For the most part, people who know how to use the written language have a leg up in the professional world.

So, as I go into the new semester I'm focusing on giving writers those professional tools. They're practical, they're powerful, and they give people a flexibility that is rare in the working world. Ultimately, individuals have to decide for themselves whether they want to pursue careers in the sciences, humanities, arts, technology, or skilled trades. It's naive to expect to get rich from that manuscript on your hard drive, so the key is being informed and realistic about your abilities, interests, and goals and being willing to work hard to get what you want.

Take care everyone. Be good and be happy.

Appropos of nothing: An old church around the corner is part of a city-wide fabric art installation. This is one more example of why I love living in Buffalo.