Are there any writers, authors, or journalists on this site? I have always been interested in this field but I don’t really know what classes to take in college, or if getting a degree in this field would be worth it. Also, what is your daily life like? I hear that journalists are constantly busy, and I wouldn’t want this to take away time from God or my prayer life.
I studied writing in college, but don’t do it professionally (except for a small freelance job doing copy for a website).
Different colleges are going to call the classes different things. My alma mater called writing classes “Rhetoric”. Others use other names. I took several creative writing courses, persuasive writing courses, and English courses. Oddly enough, the one thing that was
not required was a grammar course.
That’s one thing I wish I would have taken. Even though writing was one of my majors, the last time I had grammar was freshman year of high school.
Nowadays, I think it would be helpful to be familiar with html and some basic website editing as so much writing is web-based now. Those skills would be a great asset.
Journalism is much more focused, and probably more marketable in terms of finding a job post-graduation. It may depend on the place how busy the schedule is. A lot of journalists are freelance, so you could be as busy as you want to be (provided you can find wok).
I do think it takes a bit of determination and the ability to set your own deadlines. If you want to succeed, you have to keep at it and know that it may take some time to actually earn a living with it (and have a backup plan in the meantime). I would suggest starting a blog and just start writing about what interests you. It will give you practice in developing your writing skills, finding an audience, building your portfolio of writing samples, etc. Plus, if you manage to get a good following, it will make you that much more attractive to a potential employer. Writing is one of those professions where your name is your “brand” and building your brand is what will eventually earn you money.
To the above, I would also add that it’s necessary to study
other things that interest you in addition to writing (which is why I did a double major). You want to have things to write
about. It’s hard to do that if you’re not expanding your knowledge in other areas.
Best of luck to you! I’ll say a prayer for your discernment.
