Career Research Paper

Brianna

4th ela

May, 23, 2013

Writer

Have you ever thought about your future? You probably wanted a big house, a family, pets, etc. Though it sounds nice, a future life, you are going to need a career to pay for such a thing. For a career, I thought being a writer would suit me the best. I love to write, ever since I was little. Writing is not as easy as it sounds, especially career wise. I would want to take classes to get better knowledge on being a writer. After achieving this, preferably at Calvin College, I will enter writing contests, submit my writing to advertisers, to get my name out there; I will probably contact several agents to look at my writing. The question I ask myself? Is it worth it?

I wanted to go to a big fancy office when I was little. I had thought I was going to be famous like, for example J.K Rolling. I would always have this inspiration, and ideas that spread like a wild fire. I thought I was going to easily start big. But of course, this was just a small dream of mine. Writing is so much more than just pencil to paper, fingers to keys, its so much more than just words. It is just exciting expressing ideas into other characters, creating new worlds, that thrills me. Being a writer, you will mostly work alone, with either paper and pencil, or some type of technology (Writer [Online]). I like this because I find it easier to work by myself and use my own ideas, instead of juggling with other ideas as well. Writers basically create the written word, from cereal boxes, to posters, to books, even road signs (Writer [Online]).

By now, someone might question what a writer really is. It took me a while to find out, but now I know. I will probably work with more texts than actual people, as I stated in the last paragraph. This basically means that you have to be up to working alone, by yourself for long periods of time. My choice for free time writing is fiction, but because its hard to publish a book, I will probably have to work as a non-fiction writer. With that I need skills. To learn these skills, I will most likely need a good education.

A good education means high school and college. Those are where you really start getting into a career. It's good to start looking for a career early, so to get the right classes in; do the right training required for basically any career. For writing, I will take some classes that would be classified as training. "A broad liberal arts education, including courses in philosophy, anthropology, art, history, and other classical subjects, is useful since it gives the writer a wide knowledge base" ("Writer" [Online]) . I'm pretty sure our high school has all those classes, since it is rather large. This is all training.

Training is brutal, you have to keep up with society's interests as well as new techniques. This all really begins during high school and college. It looks better if you have a degree when applying for a job. That would be training towards being a writer, all the way until applying for a job as an official writer, whatever that may begin with. "People take different pathways through their careers, but no one starts at the top" ("Writer" [Online]). This means that you have to start out small to get big. Going to Calvin College will take steps.

To get to Calvin College as a nonfiction writer, I will probably need a background on school grades and records. This means that throughout high school and college I have got to keep my grade up, and my behavior. Hard, but with a lot of effort and work I can do it. I will probably work with other publishers and professions, so this means I will have to use the knowledge of high school and college, hard work and discipline, at all times. Though education is not required for a writer, by this I mean degrees and diplomas, a better education helps you better understand things you will need in life.

Education is a necessary, but it's pretty expensive for just a year, especially bigger and smarter colleges. Through my research, colleges can reach up to 100000. That's definitely a lot of money. One of the easiest ways to get the money is a scholarship. In this cases, I would want a scholar ship in writing, maybe a competition. This means that I will have to start writing early, which again will, probably take place in high school. Hard work pays off, if I work hard, pass high school, pass college, I will most likely get a good paying job.

So how much money does a writer make? "In general, writers and authors usually earn somewhere between $28,000 to $106,000 a year. The median income for all writers and authors is about $54,000 a year" ("Writer" [Online]). This is a pretty decent pay, enough to pay several bills, gas, groceries, etc. I may need day jobs, like babysitting or car washing, just to earn several dollars for vacations, possible spending money for holidays, and just for the fact of having a little more than you think you need. You never know about medical situations, insurance, etc. Bit to even get the pay, like I have mentioned before, I need to work my way up.

I always like to know how to get to my goal with steps. It's easier to look back at steps instead of forgetting them. Its like a "How to____, For Dummies", it just gets easier. For writing fiction , like fairy tails or anything that's not a true story, if you want to be in that profession, enter contests for writing; For writing novels ( being a novelist), you may want to study the industry , and contact suggested people until you get an agent (Writer [Online]). All of this will lead up to getting a job, which may seem like the last step, but its not. Afterwards, I will have to work my way up from where I started. No one starts at the top. Some may not even try climbing the ladder to success. "What has caused this epidemic of joblessness" ("Generation Jobless; Youth unemployment")? In my opinion, its the lack of effort.

So yeah, having a successful life is harder than you think. I have made my point on that. And I truly love to write, for once I won't lie. Writing does take a lot of effort, training, practicing, always trying to find new ideas. "Avoid Couch-Potato Syndrome" ("12 ways to prepare for college: educators school parents on the best practices to help prepare children for higher learning"). I have to take classes, know correct grammar, know correct punctuation in spelling. The classes I take will better inform me of my job (in this case writer) and how to do it correctly. I will most likely achieve this at Calvin College, but only time will tell. I will look into the media for an agent, submit writing to whenever, wherever. I want to follow my dream, have a successful life. If I achieve in writing, I will have followed my dream to have that successful life. That in itself IS worth it.

Work Cited

"Generation Jobless: Youth Unemployment." The Economist. 407.8833. Apr. 27,

2013: 58.

"12 ways to prepare for college: educators school parents on the best practices to help

prepare children for higher learning" Ebony. 62.11. September 2007: 20

"Writer" [Online] Career Cruising. 9 April 13. 2013. www2.careercruising.com/careers/. suitable-for-you/448

Comments

Points: 896
Reviews: 117

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Sat Jun 01, 2013 11:16 pm

rishabh wrote a review...

nyc article...........but the spelling is incorrect it is rowling not rolling. never show ur article to her otherwise she left writing feild. sorry no offence just kiddin. u r awesome dear, ur article is udeful for newbie writers. u hv inserted lot of informational stuff which strengthen ur article.

keep writing like this, u deserve 10000......... outta 100.

Points: 67548
Reviews: 1634

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Fri May 31, 2013 8:55 pm

Deanie wrote a review...

Hi Secrete,

I am going to be really strict with this and I hope you don't mind. I'm sure you can take it though, right ^^

There was one little spelling mistake, where you put "fairy tails" when it should be fairytales. Thought I should point it out before I forget.

Now for the content: I thought it was pretty good. You based in on the steps to being a writer, and you explained them all very well. I would've liked it you had dug a bit deeper into what it's like to write, and what it means to you personally. And why you write. Although all those steps to be a writer is important, it's also necessary for the reader to know why you made that decision. If writing doesn't pay exceptionally well (although averagely alright) why bother? I felt the need to know more, even though what you've got there is good.

Now for the layout: I felt more like this was a personal statement than an essay. Maybe that's just my school. In my school to have a piece of work pass as an essay, there needs to be more formal tones. For example, towards the end you put "is" in capitals, and somewhere you wrote "like" and "yeah". In my school those wouldn't be excepted, because it would be too informal. And of course, those opinions of an essay rub off on me because I think they are righteous enough. Therefore I would call this more of a personal statement.

But it's well written, readable and fairly interesting. I can tell that before you wrote this you did a substantial amount of research, which is good. It's good to know that the writer knows what they are writing about. May God Bless you as you work on those steps to your career

Deanie x

Points: 1291
Reviews: 27

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Fri May 31, 2013 1:50 pm

glovegg says...

Oh. My. Gods of Egypt.
I can not even write a review good enough or well enough to do justice. So, for that reason, this shall stay a comment. Because, quite honestly, no person on this Earth could say anything against this. You have an excellent head on those shoulders, this is beyond incredible. One day, when you're rich and famous for each word you give to the world, I'll be the idiot in the corner saying I was one of the first people who got to read this. And I'm proud of it.
Please keep writing, and looking forward to life. You shall forever be wonderful if you can keep this in your head.

Points: 256
Reviews: 12

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Thu May 30, 2013 12:45 am

Seastormy wrote a review...

Very nicely done. You obviously have a decent amount of skill in writing, though the piece doesn't seem to flow in the way I expected an essay like this to. Forgive me if I'm interpreting this wrong, but it sounds like this is an essay about your future, yet when I read it, it seemed almost like you're telling us how to be a reader and not enough of why YOU want to be one.

In the first paragraph you start telling us steps you plan to take to pursue a career in writing, but I wouldn't start your essay off with that, honestly. This is the introduction, so tell me who you are. What about writing struck your interest? When did you first decide to become a writer? Why do you even like reading in the first place? There doesn't need to be so much information in that intro, because the intro is only really there to hook the reader and to tell them the main focus of the essay. Don't spend so much time on this, come back to it afterwards even. Also, in my own opinion, I think those last two lines would sound better as "The question I ask myself: is it worth it?"

The second paragraph seems fine save for the second sentence. It'd sound much better as "I had thought I was going to be famous, like J.K Rolling, for example."

All of the other paragraphs seem fine, otherwise.

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