In high school, I often encountered this interrogation:
“Lacey, where are you going for college?”
“I don’t know.
“What is your major going to be?”
“I don’t know.”
“Oh, well, that’s ok. You still have plenty of time to figure it out.”
Teachers, family members, friends, guidance counselors, lunch ladies, everyone asked me the same questions. I
remember how relieved I felt when I informed my guidance counselor that I was going to Rowan University. While I still
didn’t know my major, I was at least able to tell people where I was going. And they would always say, “You have plenty of
time to figure it out.”
Well that was four years ago and now I feel as though the clock is ticking both faster and more violently.
I was very eager to take this class because I only have two semesters remaining and still no clue what I want to do
with my degree. I have realized this year that I am a competent writer and that writing is what really gets my blood flowing
more than anything else. But I had to figure out where I wanted to focus my abilities.
Unfortunately, the class is over and I still feel lost. I wanted to do my culminating project on writing children’s
stories but I thought that that was what Markirah and Casey were going to do so I had to choose again. It turns out that they
chose to do freelance writing so I was a little bummed that I didn’t go with my original idea. However, my research for being
a writing professor was not in vain. While I’m still unsure of what I want to do, the culminating project helped me consider
and weed out things that I don’t want to do. I don’t want to be a college professor. After my interview with Tweedie, I am
certain of that.
I am still unsure about grad school. I am interested in finding a focus and furthering my education in that area.
Also, I have come to love the workshopping process which is a huge part of grad school. However, I’m not interested in the
copious amount of work that is involved. That’s not to say that I’m a lazy person, I just hate being told what to write and
having the stress of a grade over my head. Also, the price of grad school is ridiculous.
I really enjoyed having Professor Mangini and Professor Jahn-clough speak to the class. Prof Mangini’s
enthusiasm made me really excited. I wanted to whip out a notebook and start writing in the middle of his presentation. And
Prof Jahn-clough was very insightful about the career of writing for children and young adults which is something that I’m
very interested in.
Dr. Giampalmi, however, was very intimidating because of how often he uttered “you have to be passionate. You
have to be PASSIONATE. YOU HAVE TO BE PASSIONATE ABOUT WRITING.” And all I could think was, “I am passionate.
But am I passionate enough?” Perhaps that is a good thing though. It is my understanding that you have to be confident and
aggressive to be a writer.
What I have taken away from this class is that my degree will provide me with many exciting career options. While I
do not want to pursue the one I researched, I have at least confirmed that I am in the correct major. I am passionate about
writing. I just need to decide in which way I will share that passion.