“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” These words by the great modern American novelist Ernest Hemingway may sound like a bit of creative exaggeration, but there is some truth buried in his symbolism. Only that which lives bleeds, and therefore, it is up to those who have lived to write. It is true that there are many young writers fresh out of university, and that the imagination can be as old and experienced as the writer encourages it to be. The problem is that some people who may have wanted to write when they were young, but rather got caught up in living life, feel that once those undergraduate days have faded into dusk; the chance to become a writer is forever lost.
You may have heard of great men and women, after having lived a lifetime worth of experience, sitting down to write their memoirs. But writing isn't all autobiography, and can be learned, honed and perfected at any stage of life. For this, there are many thriving writing programs offered in universities beyond the undergraduate and graduate degree programs. No matter how old you are, and what kind of life you have lived, and especially what kind of writing experience you have, if you have the desire to write, then a continuing education program is the best way to begin developing this creative skill.
There are two major advantages to pursuing a degree in writing in a continuing education program or as a mature student: the first has to do with experience, the second is related to working from home.
Continuing Education and Life Experience
Firstly, as stated above, once you have lived and worked and possibly engaged in family living, your repertoire of experience will be vastly wider than had you simply sat behind your computer screen. While some great works of writing do take place on alien planets or in ancient lands that no contemporary writer could possibly have lived, much fantastic prose and creative non-fiction is motivated by the world, its events, and its people and their relationships as we all know it today.
Distance Education and Working from Home
Secondly, many continuing education programs incorporate distance education into their programs—that is, working and studying from home. There is no better form of formal education than when the way you learn directly enforces what you are learning. A writer is a solitary profession, often working from home, at their own set hours, battling their own distractions, and setting their own deadlines. Taking an online program works much the same way, and so it immediately begins preparing writers for the kind of discipline required for achieving their goals.
Whether you are interested in detective or science fiction, creative essay writing or journalism, prose, poetry or screenplays, continuing education and distance education will not only give you the time and flexibility to write, but it will help you integrate the life you have lived with the work you will leave.
Visit Mohawk College for more information on online learning programs.
You may have heard of great men and women, after having lived a lifetime worth of experience, sitting down to write their memoirs. But writing isn't all autobiography, and can be learned, honed and perfected at any stage of life. For this, there are many thriving writing programs offered in universities beyond the undergraduate and graduate degree programs. No matter how old you are, and what kind of life you have lived, and especially what kind of writing experience you have, if you have the desire to write, then a continuing education program is the best way to begin developing this creative skill.
There are two major advantages to pursuing a degree in writing in a continuing education program or as a mature student: the first has to do with experience, the second is related to working from home.
Continuing Education and Life Experience
Firstly, as stated above, once you have lived and worked and possibly engaged in family living, your repertoire of experience will be vastly wider than had you simply sat behind your computer screen. While some great works of writing do take place on alien planets or in ancient lands that no contemporary writer could possibly have lived, much fantastic prose and creative non-fiction is motivated by the world, its events, and its people and their relationships as we all know it today.
Distance Education and Working from Home
Secondly, many continuing education programs incorporate distance education into their programs—that is, working and studying from home. There is no better form of formal education than when the way you learn directly enforces what you are learning. A writer is a solitary profession, often working from home, at their own set hours, battling their own distractions, and setting their own deadlines. Taking an online program works much the same way, and so it immediately begins preparing writers for the kind of discipline required for achieving their goals.
Whether you are interested in detective or science fiction, creative essay writing or journalism, prose, poetry or screenplays, continuing education and distance education will not only give you the time and flexibility to write, but it will help you integrate the life you have lived with the work you will leave.
Visit Mohawk College for more information on online learning programs.
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