I was editing Canadian Literature. I didn't want to let Canadian Literature go, so they reached a nice compromise by which I received half a professor's salary.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I then moved to the University of Western Ontario where I was made a full professor in 1985.
I trained as a writer before I became a lawyer. I was headed for a life as an English professor, but that just wasn't me. I'm not a scholar; I didn't have a scholar's attitude toward literature.
My first book didn't even have a Canadian publisher. And that upset me, because I so wanted a readership up there.
After university, I got a job sub-editing and for years I was a literary editor.
I studied philosophy, religious studies, and English. My training was writing four full-length novels and hiring an editor to tear them apart. I had enough money to do that, and then rewriting and rewriting and rewriting.
I was a writer for hire. I wrote to pay the bills.
My master's degree was in English literature.
I was an English major in college with minors in Fine Arts and Humanities.
I studied writing at university, and I actually majored in screenwriting. Then I went to work as a bookseller and then as a sales rep and publicist and then various editorial jobs until I ended up with HarperCollins in Australia.
I didn't want to write for pay. I wanted to be paid for what I write.