Damn, Autumn! I love this post, and learning more of your backstory. Your advice is spot on. Really though, I'm so in awe of all your achievements and bravery. As tough as you had it, you accomplished extraordinary things. You just picked up and moved to London and then NY?? Seriously inspirational. Many people (me) would've been way too scared to do that. I'm sorry NY was so traumatic and you were forced into horrible living situations (I lol'd at the bit about finding a roommate on Craig's List because you were trying to get murdered in your sleep) and the debt became a suffocating albatross. I'm glad you're in a different place now and I hope to hear more about your London and NY adventures here.
Thanks, Hilary for your kind and generous words! I think I was scared but also I had been taught from a young age to do the things I was afraid of. I'll make certain to incorporate more of those stories into my posts. I do have much more. I had some good and bad times in both cities. London was more good though there were plenty of bad as well. Appreciate your support very much!
It seems that debt from education in the US is crippling. Many Americans come to Ireland to study where, even with the fees and cost of living, it's cheaper. We have a system where low income mature students get fees paid all the way to PhD.
As Autumn knows, I've been an independent artist all my adult life. For a long time, I cherished the notion that if I learned from my mistakes I wouldn't have to repeat them. Then I learned we never get the opportunity to make the same mistake twice. Life offered me - as it offers all of us - opportunities for endlessly varied mistakes. But here's the thing I finally, FINALLY, learned in what many people would call the autumn of my career: some of the things I thought were horrible mistakes or unforeseen catastrophes ended up being miracles of good luck. Was I just making a tasty tea out of Life's lemons? Or were those dark events and periods really miracles masquerading as mayhem? A. Maybe. B. Yes and Yes. C. Who cares? What matters, in the end, is that I can put this on my gravestone: "You said I couldn't do it. You were wrong, you bastards."
That's definitely one way to look at it. All of life offers us an endless variety of mistakes. Certainly, as I hit middle age I've become much more wary of all the mistakes I'm currently making. More so than I was when I was young.
I love your writing style, so easy to read ... I hope/ suspect you'll tell more of your story. What might have you done differently, had you to do it over again? Where would you have sought to hone your craft, and would you have stuck with it? I hated my graduate school experience, which wasn't as much a waste of money as It was a public university, as a major detour in time and a huge emotional strain - but I often appreciate it because it led to some opportunities that I later realized came from almost entirely from being so profoundly unsuited to the task...
Thank you so much, Ethan! Such a good question. I have some answers but I actually want to think a bit more on it before I respond and I may turn it into an article once I'm ready. As for my NYU graduate experience...there were two sides to this, the practice based classes were actually quite good but the critical theory that I was learning wasn't so good. I was at odds with it because my family's economic background. My learned experiences didn't line up with what the majority of my peers felt was the norm. I wasn't the only person who felt this way about it either. I've spoken with others from it that have absolutely felt very unhappy with the experiences they had with it. It did make me feel like I didn't want to do a PhD. But I ended up getting another graduate degree several years later that was in creative writing. That program was fully funded and at a state school. The experience there was infinitely better for me. The emotional strain is really felt I think at the PhD level for many.
Will you write about your experiences learning creative writing in a formal setting, I hope? Do you believe some aspects of writing can be taught, while others are intrinsic? What authors have influenced you the most?
Good questions. As someone who has taught both composition classes and creative writing courses, I do think techniques can be taught. And I do believe that people are born with natural abilities too. But I think that with enough practice anyone can become quite skilled as a writer.
Will they be genius level writers? Virtuosos? No. Those people are inherently talented and their talents have been noticed at a young age so that they have probably been given the opportunities to get better at their craft.
Damn, Autumn! I love this post, and learning more of your backstory. Your advice is spot on. Really though, I'm so in awe of all your achievements and bravery. As tough as you had it, you accomplished extraordinary things. You just picked up and moved to London and then NY?? Seriously inspirational. Many people (me) would've been way too scared to do that. I'm sorry NY was so traumatic and you were forced into horrible living situations (I lol'd at the bit about finding a roommate on Craig's List because you were trying to get murdered in your sleep) and the debt became a suffocating albatross. I'm glad you're in a different place now and I hope to hear more about your London and NY adventures here.
Thanks, Hilary for your kind and generous words! I think I was scared but also I had been taught from a young age to do the things I was afraid of. I'll make certain to incorporate more of those stories into my posts. I do have much more. I had some good and bad times in both cities. London was more good though there were plenty of bad as well. Appreciate your support very much!
It seems that debt from education in the US is crippling. Many Americans come to Ireland to study where, even with the fees and cost of living, it's cheaper. We have a system where low income mature students get fees paid all the way to PhD.
It really is. So many people are highly educated and locked into huge debt here.
As Autumn knows, I've been an independent artist all my adult life. For a long time, I cherished the notion that if I learned from my mistakes I wouldn't have to repeat them. Then I learned we never get the opportunity to make the same mistake twice. Life offered me - as it offers all of us - opportunities for endlessly varied mistakes. But here's the thing I finally, FINALLY, learned in what many people would call the autumn of my career: some of the things I thought were horrible mistakes or unforeseen catastrophes ended up being miracles of good luck. Was I just making a tasty tea out of Life's lemons? Or were those dark events and periods really miracles masquerading as mayhem? A. Maybe. B. Yes and Yes. C. Who cares? What matters, in the end, is that I can put this on my gravestone: "You said I couldn't do it. You were wrong, you bastards."
That's definitely one way to look at it. All of life offers us an endless variety of mistakes. Certainly, as I hit middle age I've become much more wary of all the mistakes I'm currently making. More so than I was when I was young.
Solid advice and very nicely written.
Thank you so much! I appreciate your support and enjoy your writing as well!
I love your writing style, so easy to read ... I hope/ suspect you'll tell more of your story. What might have you done differently, had you to do it over again? Where would you have sought to hone your craft, and would you have stuck with it? I hated my graduate school experience, which wasn't as much a waste of money as It was a public university, as a major detour in time and a huge emotional strain - but I often appreciate it because it led to some opportunities that I later realized came from almost entirely from being so profoundly unsuited to the task...
Thank you so much, Ethan! Such a good question. I have some answers but I actually want to think a bit more on it before I respond and I may turn it into an article once I'm ready. As for my NYU graduate experience...there were two sides to this, the practice based classes were actually quite good but the critical theory that I was learning wasn't so good. I was at odds with it because my family's economic background. My learned experiences didn't line up with what the majority of my peers felt was the norm. I wasn't the only person who felt this way about it either. I've spoken with others from it that have absolutely felt very unhappy with the experiences they had with it. It did make me feel like I didn't want to do a PhD. But I ended up getting another graduate degree several years later that was in creative writing. That program was fully funded and at a state school. The experience there was infinitely better for me. The emotional strain is really felt I think at the PhD level for many.
Will you write about your experiences learning creative writing in a formal setting, I hope? Do you believe some aspects of writing can be taught, while others are intrinsic? What authors have influenced you the most?
Good questions. As someone who has taught both composition classes and creative writing courses, I do think techniques can be taught. And I do believe that people are born with natural abilities too. But I think that with enough practice anyone can become quite skilled as a writer.
Will they be genius level writers? Virtuosos? No. Those people are inherently talented and their talents have been noticed at a young age so that they have probably been given the opportunities to get better at their craft.