Over the last two and a half years, one of the most common questions I've been asked on campus is, "What exactly to do Pro. Writing majors do?"
To answer that, you'd have to talk to every single Pro. Writing major that's ever attended Champlain College.
I guess, in a way, that's the beauty of our major (even though that question is rather annoying). No two writing majors ever do the exact same thing. There are so many options within our program, so many different paths to take, that we get to cultivate our own experience. We get to choose what skills we grow, what skills we don't and what skills we want to focus on. We aren't controlled by the restraints of a strict program. We are, as our career advisor says, "lovely little unicorns."
I came to Champlain thinking I wanted to be a journalist, and there were classes for that. I took one during my first semester and loved it, but I also took an Intro to Creative Writing course. My professor was a free spirit, encouraging us to write whatever we wanted to write, standing on tables, telling us to submit to literary magazines and get our work out in the world. I loved every second of that, too, and realized that I didn't have to limit myself to journalism. Not in a place like Champlain.
I followed those classes with creative non-fiction and poetry-specific courses my sophomore year, along with an intermediate creative writing course. Two were focused, one was broad, and I was able to extend my arms and bring together everything I was interested in.
I've capped off this semester with a course in copyediting and a course that takes me out into nature and forces me to write about it from different perspectives. We went on a canoe trip where I got to sit in the middle of the river (after a rather rough start and getting stuck multiple times on branches and in current) and write about the mountains.
Sometimes I wonder, though, what skills I'd have now and what ones would be underdeveloped if I'd listened to my Program Director when he told me I was a journalist at heart. (Mind you, I don't disagree. I just ignored it.) There are students vying for a journalism specialization under the Pro. Writing major, and I'm sure they're built for the work they're doing. But I wasn't.
I couldn't bring myself to build up one set of skills and pursue that for the rest of my life. Yes, I want to be a writer. But I want to publish poetry, creative non-fiction and short stories. I want to do freelance developmental editing and copyediting. I even want to do freelance work as a journalist. I don't want to be forced into one little hole.
And through the work with my on-campus job, I've realized that I even love the publishing end of the spectrum (but, dear me, I will never love the marketing aspect). I love blogging. I love writing for myself and for others.
Maybe that's why Odyssey feels so perfect sometimes.
I bet you that if I spun you around and sent you off into a room full of Champlain's Pro. Writing majors, you wouldn't be able to find a single one with the exact same track or the exact same experience. We're all different. Some of my friends want to be novelists, some poets, some publishers, some editors, some screenwriters. And we're all tailoring are time here to what we envision our future to be.
So, what exactly do Pro. Writing majors do?
We do whatever we please.
