So, You Want To Be A Writer?

Today is such a wonderful time to be young, starting college, and wanting to be a writer.

There are so many resources for writers that have been created by the internet and today's technology. There are podcasts, forums, professional writers online doling out advice. You have conventions (okay, those were probably around when I was twenty, but I was not aware of them) where you can meet writers and see that they are real people just like you.  

To bad I am old.

Okay, not old, but older. 

I have no plans to go back to college and finishing my degree (English Major w/ Writing Option). In fact one of the best pieces of advice I've heard from writers about what you should study if you want to be a writer, is not to major in writing.

Duh.

It's not like you even need a degree to be a writer. Okay, maybe journalism, but not fiction.

If you want to write fiction you just write. If you want to go to college, great. Study something that will enhance your knowledge of the world, and keep writing. 

I've heard some of the most interesting interviews from writers that studied history, or anthropology.

There are scientists, and anesthesiologists. (Bryan Lincoln & Abigail Hilton, respectively)

There are others that didn't go to college, and instead traveled the world.

Living on houseboats in the caribbean. Tobias Buckell, that's just cool.

Yacht captains. Hugh Howey, that's awesome.

Defenders of freedom, thank you Myke Cole. 

Nathan Lowell has several degrees, and none are in writing. 

So, if you want to be a writer, LIVE, LOVE, LEARN, and keep writing.  That's what I'm going to do.

~MJB