New Chapter

So the time has finally come. In a few weeks or even days for some of you, the gates to university shall clang shut, with the rest of ‘Real Life’ stretching out before you.

Scared?

Depressed?

Got a parent grabbing each foot trying to drag you back home? 

It’s not a positive time, on the whole. But just because it may feel like an immensely sad moment in life, that doesn’t mean you have it make it into one.

Instead of focusing on what you won’t be doing anymore, try thinking of what you have done; all the events and parties and memories you have experienced. Bear in mind that not everyone gets to go to university. Think how many people from school you remember seeing work in a shop whenever you went home at Christmas and Easter.  

Don’t think of graduating from university as ‘the end’.

Just think of it as a new chapter in your life.   

For one thing, you won’t be in education anymore. Let that sink in for a bit. No more homework. No more exams. No more long nights of revision with no-one for company but a can of energy drink.

The ‘no homework’ thing is certainly something to look forward to. This will vary in whatever profession you may choose, but there will come a time when you can return home, flick on the TV and not have the immediate guilt feeling of “I should be doing work.” Anyone who had a dissertation to do but happened to play video games a lot will know what this feeling is like. 

Don’t forget as well, after you’ve donned the robe and accepted your scroll, that you’re not leaving university into a life of working in a bus station or fast food restaurant. The last three, four or five years of your life will count for something, and provided you don’t wear flip flops to job interviews and actually show like you’re willing and able to work, you’ll land a job doing something that you enjoy.

This is a problem with the word ‘job’: the meanings and reaction tied to it. Some students hear the word “job” and think ‘boring’, ‘time-waster’ and picture themselves wearing a sandwich board. But you’ve got a degree now. If you’ve studied teaching or a science for three years, it’s now time to continue with that subject except you’ll actually be getting paid to do it (Student Loan didn’t count, by the way). Early starts, late finishes or having to commute won’t seem as difficult when you know you’re doing it for a career that you studied hard for, and therefore deserve, and are actually interested in doing. 

If, like me, you graduated with an artistic and/or creative degree, then your options are very much open. It doesn’t matter as much where you work so long as you have enough money to live, while in the background you can write your novel/paint/further your photography and whatever else. Yes, you can get a job in these types of industries, and that would be brilliant.

If you can’t at first, which unfortunately is quite likely because these industries are tough to get into and establish yourself, try not to lose hope. For the last few years, you were studying a topic you love, a freelance talent and hobby that can never be taken away from you. Now it’s time to use that talent, to show the world what you can do and what you are worth.

I’m ready to work in any kind of shop or restaurant, so long as I can write my novel in my spare time. Because who knows, the day may come when my writing income outweighs my employment income. And then the dream shall have been reached. 

For myself and the rest of you, that journey starts right now. To make our time at university worth it, and use all we learned to its full potential.

It’s an all-new chapter, after all.

Left vs. Right

I've been told in the past that I'm intelligent. Maybe that's true; or perhaps maybe it was before I went off for three years to study an art form.

When I started my Creative Writing degree, I knew what I was getting into. I knew that no-one can teach writing creatively; I knew there is no finite, objective way to become a fantastic writer and I knew that - despite people's scepticism - it wouldn't be easy.

It has been very tricky at times. Especially in Second Year, I found myself writing for some of my lecturers instead of myself. Self belief and integrity took a back seat for me to get a decent grade, which lead to a load of resentment and lack of enthusiasm for one class in particular.

But that isn't my chosen topic for today.

Because Creative Writing is an art form and entirely subjective and based on opinion, it is mind-destroyingly difficult to write critical essays. People studying academic subjects like Maths and Sciences have guidelines, there is very likely going to be a right and wrong answer.
Not with Creative Writing. There is an opinion, and there is evidence.

And that's where I fall down.

I have sat in embarrassed shame during many of my classes over the past three years. People around me read pieces of work and analyse it, with so many underlying metaphors and allegories and statements on the zeitgeist and criticisms and I just sit there like "Hmm, good story."

I've been like this since secondary school English Language. For an entire year, we argued exactly what points John Steinbeck was trying to get across in Of Mice and Men and I sat there, almost crying "But what if he didn't?! What if he just wanted to write a story about two men getting a job?"

It drives me insane. Why does everything have to have a second meaning, why can't you just take something and enjoy it? Go and see Shakespeare's The Tempest without constantly wondering what the good glorious fuck it does for modern society.

This also brings me onto a secondary point; and this ties into my lack of intelligence (which by now is probably sky-high and wearing high-visibility clothes). When quoting a text-book/peer-review/critical reading for an essay, why can't these people just use English?
I just found this on a critical reading of The Great Gastby:

"They have assumed skewed worldviews, mistakenly believing their survival lies in stratification and reinforcing social boundaries. They erroneously place their faith..."

Translation: They have poor outlooks on life, depending heavily on social values. They mistakenly put their faith in..." (Source)

(Yes I did have to look up "stratification". And obviously someone used a thesaurus so they wouldn't need 'mistakenly' again)

This way I don't have to re-read the same quote a dozen times with glossy eyes and still come out the other side with nothing sticking in my mind.
Then you go an visit a university lecturer for guidance, and it's incredible. University lecturers have this amazing ability to talk in riddles and use words specifically designed to melt from the mind within twenty minutes of hearing them.
You return home, switch the document with half of your essay on it and will contemplate suicide in the space of five minutes.

*

 

Okay, ranting, over-the-top, exaggerated drivel. But this is what some essays drive me to. I knew what I was getting into with Creative Writing, but I didn't expect this hardship of "Essays on Creative Writing."

 

If I disappear within the next few days I have face-desked myself to the point of concussion.

 

Hope Third Year goes well for the rest of you!