The time is drawing near where I will leave my job and enter the world of full-time student again. It’s been 15 years since I’ve been on the student-side of the desk. I much prefer the business-side where I am the teacher. I set the rules. I teach the material. I am in control. I loved stimulating my students and thinking of different ways to engage them. I know what I put in to the job and hope to experience the same thing. This whole being the student thing again – I’m not sure what that’s all about. I do know that I can’t wait to find out.
This caused me to think about my About page. When I started this blog, I wanted the About to be quirky and catchy and convey a certain amount of irreverence for me as a writer. Me – a writer. Too weird for me to handle at the time. Between doing The Artists Way and the positive feedback from writing on this site, I am more comfortable with the writer title. I think it would be fair to call myself that honorable name. After all it is shared with some pretty fantastic people. It wouldn’t be the company I’d keep that would keep me from being a writer that is for sure. It would be my About. It would be me being unable to take the role seriously.
Image by ian koss via Flickr
How dare I include being called a writer in my About ! What have I done or achieved that gives me the right to claim that title ? Well here it is: I show up at the page. Every day I write something. It could be with my fountain pen in my dysfunction journal. It could be with my multi-colored gel pens in my work books. It could be an entry here. It could be a poem, a reflection, an amusing anecdote: something made out of letters that form in to words that express something creative leave my brain and fingers every day through keyboard or ink. It doesn’t matter how it gets there. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t get read. It just matters that it’s there. It just matters that I find something to write about.
So I’ve changed my About. As I wrote that, a thought occurred. I really have changed my About. By going back to school, I am going to change a lot about my About. I am going to expand my knowledge base again. I am going to make connections to other creative people who will hopefully help me to become a better writer. By taking control of my future and my career I am giving myself and my family a chance at a better About. That is a very empowering choice and one that I am glad I’ve made.
While I’m not a big fan of the unknown, going to college and being a “mature” student is not foreign territory to me. Having said that my About has changed remarkably since the last time I was a student. I am excited by the prospect of experiencing college with this new About. How will this effect my point of view ? I can’t wait to find out !
I’m so incredibly excited for you! The course catalog for my second year at school went up a couple days ago, and I was literally drooling reading all about the courses. I want to take all of them, and I have to narrow it down to three courses, possibly two if I get an internship. Learning is amazing. Being a full-time student is amazing. If I could get paid for doing it, I’d do it for my entire life and just keep learning and studying and learning.
What are you going to be studying when you start school?
You’re a writer. Most definitely a writer. You come here and post, you have a writing style unique to you, and you clearly enjoy it. There is no doubt in my mind (nor has there ever been since beginning to read your blog) that you’re a writer.
Hi Ilana: another learning enthusiast, I love it ! I have been a learner all my life and read like a crazy person. I start quite a few sentences with, “I was just reading a book about…”. I am very excited to go back to school and will be taking Corporate Communications. Hopefully I will get paid to write and be creative. That is the goal. What are you studying ? I have to laugh as my “peer mentor” is about your age and I felt like a positive granny when she called. As this is my third go at college, I almost offered to support her if she needed it :). Being a mature (???) student should be interesting this time. Hope you are well.