I really wasn't equipped to be a writer when I left Oxford. But then I set out to learn. I've always had the highest regard for the craft. I've always felt it was work.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I worry that people think you have to go to a university to be a good writer, which is categorically untrue. I don't think I learned how to write at Oxford. I did not go to any creative writing classes or anything.
I cannot recall any moment of clarity about becoming a writer. I always liked to read. That's what did it.
In retrospect, it seems like everything in my life led to me becoming a writer. I just didn't realise it at the time.
I opted for a freelance writing career. I was lucky enough to have the means to do it.
I never got any training in how to write novels as an English major at Oberlin, but I got some great training for writing novels from anthropology and from Margaret Mead.
Basically, I always wanted to be an author but went through all these other jobs while getting up the nerve to finally go for it with my writing! Thank goodness it worked; who knows what I might have done next?
I didn't think being a writer was a fancy thing. It was a job like any other job, except apparently you could do it at home.
I loved English, and I did very well in it. A lot of teachers encouraged me to write, and because of that, it later made me think it was possible to be a writer.
One of the things I learnt over the years is that there is a craft to writing, like there is a craft to acting. I hadn't done my apprenticeship as a writer. I did try to be a writer for hire but I'm not any good at it.
Most people won't realize that writing is a craft. You have to take your apprenticeship in it like anything else.