Michael, what a wonderful adventure to enter into. I've sometimes thought I'd like to learn Spanish and then get far too lazy about it. Now you have me thinking again about the prospect.

Bravo, Michael! I'm sure you'll do well in that course and it doesn't matter if it brings fame or fortune. What matters is that you find ever new ways in which to express yourself. Wordsmithing is sometimes takes a back seat to people who earn their bread in the sciences, because the humanity requirements, by necessity, take a backseat to those courses one needs to have to graduate. So, to go back and re-visit them is like having one's cake and eating it too.

I see no reason to audit any course. If you have been a student off and on as long as I have, you pack those credit hours away like booty because you never, ever know when you may need them if you change direction in your life and that is not so rare in this day when people want to change their careers when they are still young and retire......or even sooner.

The total sum of the English courses that I have had in college are Composition I, Composition II, English Lit I and English Lit II. That's what was required for my B.S. The catalog doesn't list any other requirements to get into the creative writing class. Still, I'm not at all sure that I have what it takes. I'm hoping that since I have had an ecliptic taste in reading and have read somewhat voraciously over the years, this might make up for what I lack in technical ability.

Drat!!!! Must really, really, really work on those editing skills. Eclectic,rather than ecliptic, is what I tried to type. My brain did tell my finger to type "eclectic," but somewhere along the neural route from brain to fingers muscle memory translated the word into "ecliptic." I type that word much more than the other one....

Must work on editing, must work on editing.....

Oo la,

Elia

The ecliptic really had me looking for a dictionary, then I read your next post. Sometimes it seems my fingers and brain have no idea what the other is up to. Ecliptic is a good word though. Doesn't that mean the path of the sun? Congratulations on your taking on more education in other fields.

T'is.

That sounds like fun, Michael! It'll be good to push your envelope a bit in a new direction. Enjoy!!

Well, my brain read what you meant to say, eclectic, had to go back and read your post to see what you were talking about editing. Reminds me of the time my 6th grade teacher wrote this line on the board and asked us to tell him what was wrong with it and no one could. You see what you expect to see: Paris in the
the spring.

Go for it, Michael! We would love to hear all the details.

After one has been a non-student for a length of time, I think the most difficult part about taking any class is going in to sign up - or maybe it's walking into the classroom door the first time. So if you find yourself reluctant to walk through that door, just imagine us behind you... gently shoving.

Right, Meldy, and I should know because I didn't start college at all until I was 40. I was so sure those kids would run circles around me and I boviously did just fine. What's different here is that Michael has been handing out the grades himself and is now on the other end for a first time in a while.

I'd be a little scared, to tell you the truth, starting out on such an adventure, but also a lot exhilarated, too.

BTW, Michael, I knew you meant eclectic even though the math term was a mystery to me.

The continuing education courses are a good way to re-enter the academic life. They're pretty non-threatening unless you're taking the course for academic credit. I used to take a couple a semester from SMU when I lived in Dallas, but Pidge, the Spanish still eluded me except for the basic rudiments. Maybe watching the telenovelas on Univision, would be more instructive - LOL!

These days, most of my CE experiences have to do with gardening. After all these years playing in the dirt, there is still a vast amount of knowledge out there that I haven't grasped.

Sounds like great fun 'Dorph. As you once told me, "You've already written your first book." And so have you so I can't see nothin' to be intimidated about :)

I'd love to take a CE course in Latin. It has really gotten away from me over the years and I'd like to be more proficient. But my lot for now is writing cover letters *sigh*.

Dissertations and text books don't count. Nobody reads the aforementioned tomes for fun.....

True, but you have written before and you are published! You will write again, I have no doubt that you have what it takes.

Yeah, but will people willingly pay money for it, dat's da question...

Why would it matter if they want to pay for it? Aren't you writing for your own benefit? I seem to recall that there are some family stories that you need to write down. And heck, if they sell, that's a bonus!

More Power To you!!!! That's just great. You'll have a ball, I'm sure.

I barely made it through whatever it was called back it the olden times. That was before computers and spell check. Plus, what I thought was a dandy way of expressing something, seemed to set my instructor's teeth on edge. I didn't have a chance. LOL

Good luck...I'll bet you'll really enjoy it. I think a class might be what it takes sometimes to make one sit down and do it. Do you watch Booknotes? Most authors seem to have to discipline themselves to a certain schedule and so many hours (and sometimes words) a day. A class is maybe a good first step to that discipline. josh

I'm glad you are joining the ranks, Michael.

I have never studied so hard and so much for anything as I am now for this massage therapy course. I love the mental stimulation.

Writing is one of the things I enjoyed teaching when we were allowed to 'teach' rather than jam the curriculum like the last few years for me. So many ways to express yourself with words.

YYYYYYYYYYYIIIIIIIIIIPPPPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Robert Heinlein said that writing was a job, and like any other job, you had to have set goals and work every day whether you wanted to or not, for more hours each day than most other jobs required. I've forgotten how many books he wrote, but I've often contemplated that he had made a master outline which included details of each book in his series of sci-fi books *years* before they were actually written. Oppositely, most other authors that I enjoy, have stated that they write one book at a time and usually only have the vaguest outline in mind at the beginning, letting the story develop as it is written.

I've also read that some authors describe the act of writing as "having a monkey on your back" or having an addiction where the daily agonies of unsuccess were far outwieghed by the momentary but glorious thrill of the occasional success.

Tellya true, Michael: you write; I'll stick with the reading.

Good for you Michael. we tend to appreciate more and pay better attention when we get past the "normal" college years. I found my direction at 27 and continued till 33 taking classes at community college then university. Now I am considering returning. You are inspiring me to get the wheels turning.