Of the guest speakers we've had this semester (Prof. Mangini, Dr. Courtney, Dr. Giampalmi, Prof. Chudzik, & Prof. Jahn-Clough), which did you gain the most from and why?


First off, a bit of informal thanks to all the professors who came in to talk to us.  I know none of them will ever read this, but thanks for offering advice to a bunch of literary hopefuls!

I can say with confidence that I definitely gained the most from talking with Jahn-Clough, not only in class but also during the two-on-one interview between her, myself, and Markirah.  I'm stubborn as an old mule when it comes to my writing.  I write what I like--fiction, horror, fantasy, children's--and I'll be damned if that's not what I'm going to do with my life!  I feel as though Jahn-Clough opened a door for me when I took her Children Stories class two semesters ago, and every time I speak with her she's just inching that door open a little more.  Her advice about agents was invaluable.  If not for her, I don't think I would have considered the importance of an agent until much later.  I've already been "shopping" around for fun and there's a nearly inexhaustible supply of young agents out there eager for fresh manuscripts.  Several years ago I might have skimmed right over children's lit as a possible career, but I've really discovered a passion in well written books for young adults.  Reading every night shaped me into the writer I am today.  Redwall and Harry Potter beckoned me to explore new worlds and test the limits of my creativity and I think I'd like to give back to that community.
 
- Reflective Letter
- Statement of goals ... as a writer
- CV with skills
- Representative writing samples
     - one fiction piece (from one of many creative writing classes)
     - one nonfiction piece (either from Writer's Mind or Writing with Style)
- Others
     - query letter to an online publication or magazine
     - additional writing samples (I will most likely send out a piece in conjunction with the query letter)

Overall, I'd like my portfolio to really highlight my strengths as a fiction writer by posting pieces that vary in genre.  I may even end up using this site as my portfolio for the "real world" so I'll probably end up posting several samples.
 
Melissa Donovan's "20 Creative Writing Careers" revealed possible career paths that I had not yet considered, as well as a few I've had my heart set on.  My "top 5" would include, 

1. Novelist
2. Freelance Short Fiction Writer
3. Video Game Writer
4. Travel Writer
5. Article Writer

Something I did not see on that list but have always considered would be an editor of manuscripts, perhaps for a magazine or publication house.  I love to read as much as I love to write.  I also have a good eye for grammar.  The ultimate dream is to publish a novel (or two, or three...) but between school and my part-time job the time just isn't there.  So instead I've been focusing on short stories (some flash fiction, some lengthier pieces) and I've amassed a small collection of horror, fantasy, and the tiniest bit of scifi that I will soon be sending out to various publishers.  The pros?  Getting my name out there, even if I'm not being paid for it.  And it will be my name on my work, for all the world to see.  One thing I don't think I could ever do would be a ghost writer.  I'm far too selfish for that.  As for the cons, well... It's not exactly the most lucrative choice, but I think in the beginning it's more important to submit submit submit than think about the monetary consequences.  One option would be to work on my novel and freelance short fiction while simultaneously working as an editor.  I'll probably fry my brains sooner or later, but it's worth doing because I'll be writing, and writing is what I love.

I think it's about time to break out the ol' Writer's Market and see who's currently accepting...
 
I'm not planning on attending graduate school, so after summer 2012 I'm going to be thrust into the big bad world of the working adult.  It's hard for me to imagine where I'm going to be or what I'm going to do.  Ideally, I'd like to freelance--work on short stories or articles while simultaneously writing my novel.  However, I don't know where to break in.  There are thousands of magazines in circulation throughout America.  Which one is right for me?  Which one would accept my stories?  Am I going to make any money?  As far as the actual job market goes, I would love to edit work written and submitted by fellow writers; to be an editor at a magazine, a publishing house... even an office in need of someone to take a second look at their company's important newsletter.  While I have plenty of experience writing for school (and a plethora of courses to back me up) I don't have any real world experience outside of the few retail stores I've worked at part-time.  What would benefit me more--briefly listing the classes in which I was enrolled or revealing that I am at least trustworthy enough to be charged with the well being of the hundred-some-odd pets living at Petsmart?  I was in the 4-H program for many years as a child and teenager, and in 2007 I flew to Australia as part of the People to People Student Ambassador program, but will that impress a publishing house?  A zoo, maybe.  (Now there's an idea; think the Philadelphia Zoo needs a new creative mind behind the scenes?)  I suppose the accomplishments I'd like to focus on while writing my CV would include the People to People program, my contributions while in 4-H, the few stories I had published in Lit Mag, and the single piece I have published in Avant.  It's not much, but it's something.  I've just entered a few contests.  Maybe, with luck, I'll be able to add those to a CV as well.

Objective statement draft:
 
Careers in Writing Arts Self Evaluation

1.  List your personal strengths and weaknesses (responsible, procrastinator, creative, etc.).

       Weaknesses: Procrastinator, easily stressed or distracted
       Strengths: Creative, imaginative, open minded, observant, persistent.

2.  List important or related courses you have taken.

       College Composition (I and II)
       Creative Writing (I and II)
       Introduction to Writing Arts
       Fiction Writing
       Writing Children’s Stories
       The Writer’s Mind
       Linguistics
       Communication Theory
       Journalistic Writing
       Magazine Article Writing
       Writing, Research, and Technology
       Evaluating Writing (in progress)
       Writing with Style (in progress)
       Special Topic: Careers in Writing Arts (in progress)
       American English Grammar (summer 2012)

3. What is your major and specialization? What is your overall cumulative GPA? In your major? How many credits have you taken in your major?

     Major: Writing Arts with a concentration in Creative Writing
     GPA: 3.444
     Credits: 101 completed, 19 currently in progress for both the spring and summer 2012 semesters.

4. Do you have a minor or coordinate major? Explain.
       Nope!

5. List hobbies, activities, interests, especially those related to your major.

     I am an avid reader and something of a bibliophile.  For every book I finish reading I’ll buy 2 or 3 more.  I will probably never finish reading every book in my collection, as the odds are stacked against me.  Though I am generally interested in any sort of well-crafted, inventive novel (outside of romance and westerns) I have a special place in my heart for fantasy, science fiction, and horror.  I have a soft spot for nature, especially animals, and I try to learn something new about the world every day—did you know that polydactyl cats (or cats with more than 18 toes) were nicknamed ‘Hemingway Cats’ after the author’s fondness for them?  His former home in Florida is now a museum and a refuge for the descendants of his beloved double-pawed cats.  I am awed by the ocean.  The summers of my youth were spent on a 25 foot Bayliner called the C Ottor, on which I learned the wonders of the nautical world and the joys of seafaring.  I am always inventing, and consider myself a literary alchemist.  Though I’m not exactly an artist, I often doodle monsters in class and I’m really not half bad.  I have an unhealthy obsession with all scaly creatures, from milk snakes and leopard geckos to dinosaurs and dragons.

6. List all the offices you have held in clubs or writing associations.

     In high school I was a member of the literary magazine, Lit Mag… inspired, I know.

7. Do you hold any special licenses?

     I hold a boater’s license and can successfully captain small yachts and dinghies without sinking.

8. List special skills. Have you served in the military? Have you ever published? What computer programs are you skilled in?

     Several stories of mine were published in “Lit Mag,” including Normandy, Molly Maiden Name, Deep Subject, and aEYE, the last of which won the Reader’s Choice Award for best prose piece of Lit Mag 2008.  Saturday Night Special was published in the spring 2011 issue of Avant.

9. List the types of writing you do the most.

     Mostly short stories, along with a few flash fiction pieces.  I am currently collecting information for a novel I plan on writing in the near future, though the task is daunting and my time is limited.  My short prose almost always leans toward horror or the grotesque, while the few novels I have rotting on my hard drive are fantasy and scifi for young adults.  I prefer to write about the impossible, the improbable, and the downright bizarre.

10. List awards, honors, academic or otherwise.

     National Honors Society in high school.  Dean’s List through several semesters of college.

11. List special programs in which you have participated.

     From third to tenth grade I was an avid member of the 4-H Small Animal Club, which met at a friend’s house every Tuesday evening.  We would learn and teach each other all that we knew about pets, ranging from small farm animals, to reptiles, to cats and dogs.  Much of what I now know about taking care of animals comes from this club.  Because of 4-H, I can successfully raise (and teach others how to raise) cats, geckos, snakes, frogs, toads, rats, gerbils, bearded dragons, a large variety of fish, some small parrots, finches, chickens, ferrets, cavies, and rabbits.

     In 2007 I was selected to be part of the People to People Student Ambassador program, along with forty-something other outstanding high school students from around southern New Jersey.  Our adventure took us to the eastern coast of Australia, where my fellow delegates and I traveled south from Cairns to Sydney on a three week educational excursion on which we learned about the founding of Australia, the history of the Aborigines, and all about the flora and fauna unique to the country.

12. List charity work.

     My 4-H club would volunteer at the Farm Fair in Lumberton for four days each summer.  We also brought our pets to visit the elderly in nursing homes.  Just this past September I was a foster parent for the Animal Sanctuary Society after dozens of kittens were rescued from a hoarder house.  I had the kittens for about a month—the smelliest most poop-filled month of my life—and I wouldn’t change a thing.  All four kittens were successfully adopted out to loving homes.

13. List any scholarships you have received.

14. List key projects and roles you have played in them.

     4-H involved several community projects, namely helping to set up for the Farm Fair every summer.  From setup to take down, I would normally put in about 50-60 hours of work each Fair.

15. List all jobs you have had (dates, length if employment, promotions, responsibilities, title, etc.) Note: it’s okay to say “Summer 2010” and not list specific dates.

     Worked at a Gamestop from November 2006 to April of 2011.  Currently working at Petsmart in the Pet Care department, where I am responsible for the well-being of all of our animals.

16. Describe the kinds of employment you seek (rank order of your top three job goals)

     a. Fiction writer
             i.  Novelist
             ii.  Freelance writer of short stories
     b. Editor of both fiction and nonfiction for magazines, publication houses, etc.
     c. Reviews for books, movies, or locations

17. List three people who can recommend you and how you have been associated with them.

     a.  Jennifer Pudlo, a close friend and former boss.
     b.  Cheryl Otto; my mother, my biggest fan, my worst critic.
     c.  Lisa Jahn-Clough, professor at Rowan University and author/illustrator of books for children and young adults.

 
Writing is the craft I've stuck with the longest.  When I was a child, the first thing I wanted to be when I grew up was a farmer.  What better life than to wake when dawn opens its sleepy yellow eye and sends the roosters into song?  Why, I could have horses, cows, pigs, chickens, goats, dogs, cats, sheep... "And you can butcher 'em too, kid."  Words of wisdom from my Uncle Greg.  Quick as that, the dream went up in smoke.  What about a veterinarian, then?  I still get to work with animals, but this time I get to cure them.  Ah, but that dream was short lived as well.  How many years of college?  Math, you say?  Sorry, numbers and I just don't add up.  I started writing shortly after that--picture books at first--and it was like I had finally found a set of clothes that fit me instead of riding up in all of the most tender places.  Since then I've always envisioned myself a writer, my own projections for my future not far from Thomas Turner's The Writer's Life.  My ideal writer's life involves a modest home with nature as my neighbors; a house stacked from floor to ceiling with hundreds and hundreds of books... my own titles among them.  I want to write a great fantasy series, a scifi epic for teens, an anthology of horror that would curl your toenails.  I have never been a great public speaker.  My words come much more easily when there's a pen and paper in front of me, when I have that extra moment to articulate my thoughts into something more than just, "Uhh, well, you see..."  Writing is a way for me to be heard without ever having to open my mouth.  I want to share.  There are so many ideas shoving about in this head of mine that it would be selfish to keep them there.  In five years, I want a *published* novel under my belt, not just one I've written and let rot in the confines of my hard drive.  In ten years, maybe three.  In twenty years... well, it's hard for me to think that far ahead, honestly.  I have already sampled rejection and the taste is bittersweet.  On one hand, it made me feel like I took my first tentative steps into the world of real writers.  Some of the responses were even hopeful: "We like your writing, however [Title] is not really suited for [Magazine].  Please try us again!"  Others left something to be desired: "This didn't really work for me."  But I take every rejection in stride knowing that one day I'll receive an emphatic yes instead of a no and I will begin my ascent up that tricky writer's ladder into the world of publication.  It will be hard--really hard--but since when is anything ever worth having easy? 
 
I am a velociraptor.

No, actually that is a lie.  Sorry to disappoint.  I know how excited you were to hear about a word slinging dinosaur.  In actuality, I am a human (damn!) with a certain affinity for the written word.  I'm also terrible when writing under pressure or given a time limit so this might not be the best representation of me.  Oh, well.  While my interests lean towards science fiction, fantasy, and horror, I will read anything with a solid, unique storyline and up-to-snuff writing.  I am eternally in awe of published authors such as Stephen King and J.K. Rowling and hope to one day join the ranks of the literary aficionados.  Until then, feel free to immerse yourself in my own mental musings... just promise not to turn tail when what you find there scares you.

Happy reading!