Got to love this! Love the spirit in you Jim! And I love the commitment. Not easy I know but as you do as well - I'm not exactly fond of the alternative.
Jim, I envy how far you've gone, how you churn out not just memoir but also quality poetry and now fiction. My writing passion started with the notion back in high school that I could turn my love of sports into a career as a sportswriter, and when my journalism teacher gave me the senior award saying it goes "to the best journalist in Marshall High School," despite so many other excellent students in that class, it was the impetus I used to make a newspaper career happen. I continue to love nonfiction writing, but I know that if I enjoyed reading poetry and fiction more, it would help refine my writing craft and, like you, branch out. Keep up the good work, my friend!
I enjoyed reading about your writing life. I found it amusing that you think about maybe having been an English major. Haha. I was an English and drama major and always think that maybe it would have been better if I had studied science. I guess we'll always wonder about the roads we didn't take.
That's interesting. It's funny where we end up. I started college with computer science as a major. After I bombed my first math class, I switched it to anthropology, then added geography as a double major. Oddly enough I ended up in mapping which was largely dealing with computers/computing. Full circle. Now I write. What did you end up in as a career with English/Drama?
I became a teacher—mostly of English literature and composition, but then English as a second language. It’s funny because I started out as a journalism major, realized I was too shy to interview people, so thought I’d switch to English. Part of the requirement was to learn a foreign language which I was sure I could never do, so I swapped again to theater though couldn’t stay out of the English department and nearly had a double major. Of course, later I learned French and then moved to Italy and had to learn Italian—so. Funny how we sort of swim around and find our way.
Proud of you for always pursuing your passions. 💜
Got to love this! Love the spirit in you Jim! And I love the commitment. Not easy I know but as you do as well - I'm not exactly fond of the alternative.
Thank you. I can't imagine doing it any different had I to do it again. It was an organic growth and passion.
Jim, I envy how far you've gone, how you churn out not just memoir but also quality poetry and now fiction. My writing passion started with the notion back in high school that I could turn my love of sports into a career as a sportswriter, and when my journalism teacher gave me the senior award saying it goes "to the best journalist in Marshall High School," despite so many other excellent students in that class, it was the impetus I used to make a newspaper career happen. I continue to love nonfiction writing, but I know that if I enjoyed reading poetry and fiction more, it would help refine my writing craft and, like you, branch out. Keep up the good work, my friend!
Thanks Greg. That means a lot. I'm winging it, TBH.
I enjoyed reading about your writing life. I found it amusing that you think about maybe having been an English major. Haha. I was an English and drama major and always think that maybe it would have been better if I had studied science. I guess we'll always wonder about the roads we didn't take.
That's interesting. It's funny where we end up. I started college with computer science as a major. After I bombed my first math class, I switched it to anthropology, then added geography as a double major. Oddly enough I ended up in mapping which was largely dealing with computers/computing. Full circle. Now I write. What did you end up in as a career with English/Drama?
I became a teacher—mostly of English literature and composition, but then English as a second language. It’s funny because I started out as a journalism major, realized I was too shy to interview people, so thought I’d switch to English. Part of the requirement was to learn a foreign language which I was sure I could never do, so I swapped again to theater though couldn’t stay out of the English department and nearly had a double major. Of course, later I learned French and then moved to Italy and had to learn Italian—so. Funny how we sort of swim around and find our way.
A zig zaggy path indeed. Sometimes it takes a few false starts. We’re a fickle bunch, us humans.