Lisa Jackson: Principal Lecturer & Writing Lab Director

Name: Lisa Jackson

Age: 54

College & Majors/Minors: PhD in 19th Century British Literature, 2000, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas; MA in British Literature,1992, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas; BA in English, 1985, Austin College, Sherman, Texas

Current Location: DFW

Current Form of Employment: Director of the UNT Writing Lab; Principal Lecturer, Department of Technical Communication, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas

Where do you work and what is your current position?

““We work with students at every level, from developmental writers to students writing theses and dissertations. The great thing about teaching them is that good writing is the same across the disciplines.””

I oversee the day-to-day operations of the Writing Lab at the University of North Texas. I have 35 people who work for me at five different locations, and we see about 4000 students per semester. It’s a lot of work, but it’s really fun. We get to see students from all sorts of disciplines—business, sciences, arts, humanities, engineering, and so on. We work with students at every level, from developmental writers to students writing theses and dissertations. The great thing about teaching them is that good writing is the same across the disciplines. Format and citation style change, but a sentence always has a subject and a verb; punctuation stays the same. Our language is much more formulaic than we’ve been taught to believe. At the Writing Lab, we really focus on teaching techniques that students can use as they go forward in their writing.

Tell us about how you found your first job, and how you found your current job (if different).

My first job was writing contracts for a copier company. I lasted six weeks at that job before going to work as a customer service representative for a corporate relocation company. At that time (1985), it was really hard to find work with just an English degree. I’d never heard of technical writing, and I really wasn’t trained to do anything other than read and analyze texts. While that’s certainly a skill, I was too inexperienced to know how to market it as an employable skill. I almost had to land in the wrong place to decide what I really wanted to do. After working at the relocation company for about 18 months, I realized that I missed the intellectual stimulation of the college campus.

I decided that I wanted to teach at the college level, so I went back to school to get my PhD. Because I worked full time, it took a long time for me to finish. I took one course a semester because that’s what I could afford. I’m rarely asked about that, but when I am, it’s a blessing because I’m able to encourage people that graduate school is do-able at almost any pace.

Eventually, I left the relocation company for a teaching fellowship at UNT. That led to a job as the graduate advisor for the English department. I was lucky because they offered me a full-time job when I graduated. Jobs in academia are hard to come by.

What was another writing-related job that was important in your career?

While I was working at the relocation company, I wrote a software user’s manual, although I didn’t realize that’s what it was at the time. To me, I was just solving a problem. We had an old DOS computer system that we used to price relocations. It wasn’t difficult, but because we had frequent personnel turnover, I seemed to spend a good bit of time explaining how to use it. One day, when I had some time, I wrote how to use the program from “start.” A technical writer was born.

““I’m endlessly in love with the infinite possibilities of words on paper.””

When I started working at UNT, the director of the technical writing program asked me if I would be interested in teaching a technical writing course. My initial thought was “no way.” But she pointed out that I’d been a technical writer for a long time and that if I didn’t enjoy it, I didn’t have to do it again. A semester is only 16 weeks long. I tried teaching our introductory technical writing course, and I really enjoyed it. It’s not the same as reading Dickens all day, but that’s really okay. When a student doesn’t like Dickens, it kind of hurts my feelings. When a student doesn’t like where the commas go, he or she is just wrong. I’ve taught more than 100 sections of writing, and I never seem to tire of it. I’m endlessly in love with the infinite possibilities of words on paper. And I learn new things all the time.

What did you do in college to prepare for your post-grad life?

Although I got a terrific education, I’m not sure that college really prepared me for post-graduate life. I had to wander and wonder for a while before I found my niche.

I can say that if I’d known how to read them, that most of my experiences were pointing me in a writing-related direction. When I was six, my parents took me to see a musical film adaptation of Dickens’s Oliver Twist. Afterward, my mom and I had a discussion about Dickens. I walked away from that with the conviction that Dickens was the best writer in the world, and I have vivid memories of telling people just that. What’s odd is that no one pointed out to me that I couldn’t read yet!

Writing has always felt really natural for me. I won a prize for a short story in first grade. I think I always sought out writing opportunities, too. For instance, one of my friends and I used to beg our teachers to let us write a class newsletter. I competed in Ready Writing, a statewide writing competition on topical issues, when I was in high school. I was on newspaper staff in middle and high school. I kept journals, especially when I participated in study abroad in college. I was a prolific letter writer. Does anybody write letters anymore? It’s a dying art. I think I’ve just always strongly felt the urge to express myself in writing.

What is your advice for students and graduates with an English degree?

Here are my top five tips:

1. Allow yourself to make mistakes. You’ll mess up. You will. It’s just part of writing, and it’s one of the best ways to learn.

2. Try something new. When someone asks you to try something new, say “yes.” I’ve spent far more of my academic career teaching subjects outside my specialty than I have teaching subjects in it. That’s given me options, and you can’t trade that for anything. I’ve been able to do some freelance work, and I’ve been able to turn work down. What a luxury!

3. Work on your craft. I’m a big believer in continuing your quest for writing mastery. Try to learn the rules behind grammar and punctuation. Learn about writing techniques. It improves your confidence and your writing because you’re making choices based on knowledge rather than on intuition. It’s also helpful when you’re asked to defend your choices to a client. In my classes, I can send students into a panic by simply asking them to identify the verb. ;) Of course, I always tell them where it is. If you can explain a grammar rule or a technique to someone else so that they can easily understand it, you’ve really mastered that concept.

4. Network! LinkedIn is your friend. You’ll be surprised at how many offers and queries you’ll get from that source alone. Upload some of your work to LinkedIn so that potential employers and/or clients can see what you can do.

5. Read, read, read. Read everything you can, from the writing on the Triscuit box to magazines, online news, and novels. I always tell my students that it doesn’t matter what they read, it just matters that they read. Reading is the best thing you can do to improve your writing.

You can connect with Lisa Jackson on LinkedIn here.

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Christina Gil: Self-employed

Name: Christina Gil

Age: 41

College & Majors/Minors: English, no minor though I took lots of Spanish classes and studied abroad in Spain

Current Location: Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, Rutledge MO

Current Form of Employment: Self employed

Where do you work and what is your current position?

I was a teacher for seventeen years but I recently left the classroom to follow a dream and move with my family to a rural ecovillage in Missouri. My current position is entrepreneur, I guess! I am selling products on Teachers Pay Teachers. I am also guest blogging for a few websites. 

Tell us about how you found your first job, and how you found your current job (if different). 

I found my first teaching job by searching the Sunday education section in the Boston globe. I got married August 14, and I started looking for jobs after we got back from our honeymoon. I ended up getting a last-minute job teaching Spanish which I did for a year before I (happily) switched to teaching English. I am currently self employed, trying to sell products on Teachers Pay Teachers.  It’s lots of fun, but sometimes I miss that regular paycheck.

What was another writing-related job that was important in your career?

I worked as an intern at The New York Review of Books during college, and after college I worked at a paying job there for a year (so I guess that’s technically my first job out of college). It was in advertising, though, so I wasn’t doing much writing beyond emails to booksellers, and there was very little of that for me. (Mostly, my job involved moving boxes and data entry, also lots of stuffing of envelopes.)

What did you do in college to prepare for your post-grad life?

I learned how to write, read, and think for myself. Really, I have never taken an education class in my life, and yet I taught for a long time (and considered myself to be a pretty great teacher). I am a pretty firm believer that learning is about the skills so much more than the content—at least for English majors.

What is your advice for students and graduates with an English degree?

Just be glad that you didn't have to read as many history or philosophy texts (but you still got all those great ideas and historical context). Take challenging classes that get you reading difficult texts and writing lots and lots of hard papers. After that, other elements of your life will seem easy. Once you graduate, you’ll be able to write and read—which is actually a pretty rare skill.

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Brande McCleese: Adjunct Instructor, Editor, & Poet

Name: Brande McCleese

Age: 40

College & Majors/Minors: Southern New Hampshire University - Bachelors English Language and Literature, National University - MFA Creative Writing, Southern New Hampshire University - Masters English 

Current Location: North Carolina 

Current Form of Employment: Adjunct Instructor, Editor, & Poet

Where do you work and what is your current position?

I’m currently an adjunct instructor at several colleges and universities. I teach Creative Writing, Literature and Composition courses. As a sideline, I edit books, business documents and papers. I also blog at southpawscribe.wordpress.com and have been featured on soar.forharriet.com in addition to having poetry published in two anthologies.  

Tell us about how you found your first job, and how you found your current job (if different).

I stumbled into my first teaching positions. I was on one campus with a couple of my friends who are alumni and I was speaking to someone from the English, Language and Communication department about a poetry event that I was planning. I mentioned that I had a MFA and then the chair of the department joined our conversation and asked if I was interested in teaching. I said yes and had an interview the next day. I’ve tutored and run the writing center at a local community college and the dean of the campus mentioned that she needed someone to teach a Composition course on campus and remembered that I was qualified. Since then, I’ve been teaching at one or both schools every semester in addition to writing and editing. I’d never considered teaching as a profession before completing my MFA. In fact, it was only while discussing MFA vs. MA with a professor that I realized that the MFA is a terminal degree and what type of doors it could possibly open for me. 

What was another writing-related job that was important in your career?

It would definitely be editing. I was an editor for a long time before I knew it. I’ve been “fixing” my peers' papers since high school and once I found out that people were willing to pay for it I was shocked. I earned money in high school and college by editing papers and it seemed natural for me to continue to do it after college. I have taken a few courses on editing and have discovered that I love editing the work of others but not my own writing. 

I also have written poems for people/occasions and that was a job that I created for myself by always having a notebook and writing poems or sharing the poems that I began writing for my mom for Mother’s Day and her birthday. Both jobs ensured not only a confidence in creating but also that I was constantly working on something that I enjoyed.  

What did you do in college to prepare for your post-grad life?

““One of the most important things that I did while in graduate school was to tutor students. I feel like my lectures and my expectations were formed during those sessions.””

Everything. I think that my education, both undergraduate and graduate, prepared me for what I’m doing now. I will caution everyone who plans to teach at any level to be willing to continue learning. I am currently taking a course on teaching writing classes because I wanted to enhance my skills and pick up some new ideas. One of the most important things that I did while in graduate school was to tutor students. I feel like my lectures and my expectations were formed during those sessions. I also learned how I wanted to structure my writing assignments and a bit about what constituted a successful essay in my eyes.  

I also loved that I was required to write every day. If you are planning to write, then that’s essential. I recently developed my first writing routine outside of NaNoWriMo and since grad school. In my opinion it is so hard without the structure of school. In college, I wrote every day especially when working on my thesis. After college, it becomes harder to balance everything and to have a dedicated writing schedule, but I manage to blog every week for the most part and to continue working on other projects.

What is your advice for students and graduates with an English degree?

To not get discouraged by what you read about job prospects and to write consistently (if you love writing). I was an English major because I loved reading, I loved writing, and those were the skills that I wanted to build my career upon. I remember a discussion with a friend who said that being an English major was senseless because there’s nothing you can do with it. No one in my family ever asked what I planned to do with my degree, none of them were even surprised by my major. I’ve had plenty of support from friends who are educators and those who know of my love of writing but I’ve also received comments from naysayers asking why English? Those same people tried to discourage me from pursuing my graduate degrees in the same field. As an English major, I feel prepared for everything, except math classes. 

You can read Brande's blog at southpawscribe.wordpress.com and find her writing on soar.forharriet.com. 

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Travis Klempan: Adjunct Instructor

Name: Travis Klempan

Age: 34

College & Majors/Minors: Bachelors of Science, English, United States Naval Academy (with a focus on philosophy); Master of Fine Arts, Creative Writing and Poetics, Naropa University

Current Location: Boulder, Colorado

Current Form of Employment: Adjunct instructor, Naropa University

Where do you work and what is your current position?

I was recently hired as adjunct instructor for one of the undergrad core writing classes at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. Students take Writing Seminar I (expository essays) and II (research papers); I'll be teaching a section of WS II.

What was another writing-related job that was important in your career?

When I was stationed onboard the USS Princeton, one of my collateral duties was Public Affairs Officer. This position usually defaults to young officers who majored in or studied English (or communications or something similar). Most midshipmen (naval officers-in-training, usually ROTC or at the Naval Academy) major in technical majors and have a self-imposed perception that they either aren't good communicators (and many aren't) or that things like public affairs are left to the "soft" majors. (I will say that I have a BS in English, and took 13 semesters of math, science, and engineering.)

Inevitably, though, my fellow junior officers would come to me with requests for help writing evaluations of their sailors, or awards, or help with other "soft" communications problems. I like to think that I had the best of both worlds—I could understand (to some degree) the technical aspects of working aboard a complex modern Navy ship, but I could also speak with laypeople and outsiders. I continue to balance these facets of writing —the technical and the personal, now the creative—as I prepare to teach up-and-coming writers and English majors.

What did you do in college to prepare for your post-grad life?

I tried to work with extracurricular activities that focused on writing. I was a member of Labyrinth, our student-run literary magazine, as well as a writing center tutor. As a grad student I was again part of a literary journal (Bombay Gin, the Jack Kerouac School's 42-year old publication) and the writing center. Both of these jobs have helped me with the professional side of creative writing. I got to see "behind the curtain" of Submittable, which more and more journals are using for submissions, and see the editorial process from the other side. I also had to learn how to communicate my knowledge of writing in different ways when working with different writers.

What is your advice for students and graduates with an English degree?

This advice hopefully applies to English majors, non-English majors, grads, students, whatever: Be involved. I could have been far more active in some of the other extracurricular activities, and every missed opportunity is a chance to be a better writer, student, and citizen that I won't get again. If there isn't a club that fits what you're looking for, start one. If there is one, join it and learn everything you can about it. Read, write, and communicate - don't meet people just to put contacts in your little black book (or iPhone or what-have-you), but meet them to see what they can teach you or how you can help them. There is basically no job anywhere that doesn't involve working with others in some way, so learn how to be a part of a team, and have fun while you're doing it.

You can read a selection of Travis Klempan's work below: 

• Short story "Commit to the Deep," Ash & Bones
• Poem "Famous," Ash & Bones
• Book Review "Questions Raised By Monsters," Atticus Review (of Julie Doxsee's Little Monsters)
• Essay "My Own Private Boombox," Line of Advance
• Creative nonfiction "Colors," O-Dark Thirty

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Meg Goforth-Ward: Adjunct Writing Instructor & Communications Specialist

Name: Meg Goforth-Ward

Age: 30

College & Majors/Minors: BA in Professional Writing from York College of Pennsylvania and MFA in Creative Writing from Pacific University in Forest Grove, OR

Current Location: Bothell, WA

Current Form of Employment: Adjunct writing instructor and Communications Specialist

Where do you work and what is your current position? 

I teach college-level writing classes for Vincennes University's Military Education Program at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, WA and I am the Communications Specialist at nFocus Solutions.

Tell us about how you found your first job, and how you found your current job (if different).

I started working at a Subway in my hometown when I was fifteen. My brother worked there and got me the job. I stuck with it for about six years because they were flexible with my school schedule and it was a piece of cake job. I guess I'll admit that it was also pretty fun.

I got my current job as a Communications Specialist from applying for countless jobs after graduating with my MFA. This company was one
of only a few that contacted me and asked for an interview. When I was offered the position, I was told I didn't have all of the qualifications they were necessarily looking for, but they really enjoyed my personality and level of energy. So even if you don't have the skills, you have the energy! So fake it and you'll make it.

““When I was offered the position, I was told I didn’t have all of the qualifications they were necessarily looking for, but they really enjoyed my personality and level of energy. So even if you don’t have the skills, you have the energy! So fake it and you’ll make it.””

My teaching job came to me in a much more random way—at an AT&T store in a mall. My phone had broken (or I broke it on purpose because I wanted a new one, maybe) and I went to the local mall to get a new one. I sat at one of the tables reserved for people shelling out their left arm and their right leg for a new phone waiting for the sales lady to finish explaining all of the packages and extras I couldn't afford. At the table next to me sat a grey-haired man with kind eyes. He kept glancing over at me while I answered the lady's questions about what I did for work and school. I worked at a coffee house and went to grad school for writing, I told her. The man's ears perked up, and I saw him rooting around in his wallet. He leaned over, excused himself, and handed me his card. "We are always looking for writers to teach," he said. I told him I was new to grad school and wouldn't have my degree for another year and a half. "No problem," he said. "Hold on to my card and contact me when you graduate." I did as he said, he remembered me (or claimed to remember me) a year and a half after that new phone (of which I've had three since), and now I teach sailors how to write.

What was another writing-related job that was important in your career? 

An inside look at Meg's writing space and process. 

My time spent volunteering as a Grant Writer with a homeless shelter in Charleston, SC has proven to be valuable to me personally and professionally. I was fortunate enough to be able to volunteer my time and not have to worry about getting a paycheck, so I took advantage. I learned the ins and outs of basic grant writing and advanced grant writing. This year of my life allowed me to see what worked and what didn't work in terms of writing for a purpose. I had real results--dollars and cents--that measured how well I wrote a grant. Being able to work at a homeless shelter put me in a situation I had never experienced before. I lived a fairly sheltered childhood in a nice neighborhood with everything I needed to survive and thrive. Walking into the shelter each day, passed George who had a heavy limp and a brain injury but always asked me if I needed help with anything, opened my eyes to real life. The real world, if you will. From that moment forward, I knew my goal in life was to use my love of writing to help others in whatever way I could.

What did you do in college to prepare for your post-grad life?

I did not do nearly enough, let me tell you. Whatever you don't, do more than what I did. Grad school was a tough two years for me. The schooling itself was incredible, and I highly recommend an MFA program if that is something that interests you. I met some of the best people I've ever known in the program. But I didn't write nearly enough. I did the minimum I had to to graduate. I was struggling with some mental health issues and my father passed away unexpectedly during that time, but I know I could have and should have done more. I had little to show other than a degree. Now I see my friends publishing work from their grad school experiences and talking about all of the books they read. I don't have those polished stories to send out to publishers and I barely remember the titles of books I skimmed. Luckily I was able to get a job with just the title MFA on my resume, but I would much rather have more pieces of writing that I can be proud of. So do your work, do it well, and read. Read everything you can get your hands on.

What is your advice for students and graduates with an English degree?

First of all, are you crazy? Why would you get a degree in English?! I kid, I kid. English is the best thing there is. Everything about it is wonderful. I could give you pages and pages of advice, but who has time for that?

““Go into a room with a desk and a chair. Sit your butt in that chair. Write. Write words that mean nothing. Write words that mean something. Write nonsense. Write a novel. Just write. Don’t stop.””

Turn off the TV and the computer and the phone and the tablet and the iPod (do people still use those these days?). Go into a room with a desk and a chair. Sit your butt in that chair. Write. Write words that mean nothing. Write words that mean something. Write nonsense. Write a novel. Just write. Don't stop. Don't add that comma you think you should have added two sentences ago. You'll fix that later. Right now,though, just write. Don't be afraid. If it's important to you, it will be important to your reader. As good old Ernie H, said, "Write hard and clear about what hurts." Don't be worried about people judging you. No one has to see what you are writing right now as it it yours. You never know what can come out of sitting down and writing, though.

And read. Read everything you can get your hands on. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, journalism, comics, graphic novels, children's books, everything. In order to write well, you need to read well. You'll learn more from reading than you ever can from a semester of a writing class (just don't tell your instructors I said that).

Most importantly, be yourself in your writing. Let your personality and voice shine. And make sure you have a little fun along the way.

To the graduates, congratulations and salud! To the current English majors, you are awesome. Keep going. It won't be easy, but, to be completely cliche, it will be worth it.

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Sara Strickland: Adjunct Faculty and Content & SEO Strategist

Name: Sara Strickland

Age: 23

College & Majors/Minors: B.A. in Literary Studies from the University of Texas at Dallas, working towards an M.A. in English from Texas Woman’s University

Current Location: Dallas, TX

Current Form of Employment: Adjunct Faculty and Content & SEO Strategist

Where do you work and what is your current position?

I currently hold two very different types of part-time positions. First, I work at a digital marketing agency called BizTraffic as a Content & SEO Strategist. Before I started working for this company I didn’t even know that such a position existed, much less what it meant. The majority of my time at this job is spent writing content for blog posts, emails, ebooks, whitepapers, and website pages. 

Because I work for a relatively small company, I’ve had the opportunity to try a variety of things out during my time here. I’ve written instructional manuals for our company’s internal use, created and implemented social media strategies, and learned the basic principles of website design, just to name a few.

My second job is as an Adjunct at Richland Collegiate High School. I teach AVID (which stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination) to high school seniors. But my students are no ordinary high school seniors! They are all enrolled in approximately 15 to 18 college credit hours each semester, in addition to a few courses for high school credit. Most of our students graduate simultaneously with both a high school diploma and an associate's degree.

AVID is a course designed to prepare students for college by teaching them how to excel through note taking strategies, analytical writing, discussion groups, and study groups. This is especially important for our students because their course load is so intense. We give them the tools to succeed in a college environment, and give them a little push towards attending universities once they graduate from the program. 

Tell us about how you found your first job, and how you found your current job (if different).

I started working when I was 16, so my very first job was as a courtesy clerk at a grocery store. My older brother was working at the store and let me know they were hiring. It was not very glamorous and involved lots of hot summer afternoons clearing carts off the lot and bagging bloody meat for customers.

Both of my current jobs I found through job websites. I originally was hired as an intern at BizTraffic, and I’ve now worked there over two years, fluctuating between part and full time as my school and work schedule permits. When I applied for the adjunct position, I applied to teach Developmental Writing at the college and was offered a class. But my class didn’t make it. Fortunately, they liked my credentials enough to offer me classes at the high school, plus I’m scheduled to teach Developmental Writing in the fall. 

What was another writing-related job that was important in your career?

One of the most influential writing-related jobs I’ve held was actually an unpaid, volunteer position at a local homeschool co-op. I was asked to teach a high school level American literature course once a week for an hour throughout the school year. 

Because of this experience I began to realize that not only do I love to read literature and to write, but that I really love teaching them, too! This experience contributed to my decision to pursue a masters and pursue teaching at a college level as a career. 

““I took every learning opportunity that would work with my busy schedule.””

What did you do in college to prepare for your post-grad life?

I did a few things to help me prepare for post-grad life. First of all, I never stopped working during my college career which has given me a strong work history and financial security because I have never had to take out a student loan, despite paying for my entire degree myself. 

I took every learning opportunity that would work with my busy schedule. That included volunteering to teach at the homeschool co-op I mentioned before, volunteering at a local museum over spring break, and taking the BizTraffic internship. All of these gave me valuable experience that contributes to the jobs I do now, and helped me craft my future career goals. 

I also took full advantage of my professor’s feedback by improving the papers I wrote and applying what I learned to future papers. I still think of advice I received from my undergraduate professors when writing my graduate level papers. Plus I always try to give feedback to my students that is as useful as that I received from my professors. 

What is your advice for students and graduates with an English degree?

Take every learning opportunity you can and don’t limit yourself! There are so many uses for an English degree that sometimes it just takes some time and a little bit of trial and error to find the right match for your personality and talents. And it’s never too soon to get started, or too late to learn something new!

You can connect with Sara on LinkedIn and follow her on Instagram! 

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Brittany Olsen: Editor

Brittany holding a copy of the graphic novel she self-published about her volunteer experiences in Japan.

Name: Brittany Olsen

Age: 25

College & Majors/Minors: Southern Utah University; Major: English (Creative Writing emphasis); Minor: Art (Illustration emphasis)

Current Location: Provo, UT

Current Form of Employment: Part-time

Where do you work and what is your current position?

I have two jobs right now: One is a copy editor for an SEO management company (Textbroker International), and the other is an editor for a startup modest clothing retailer's blog (She Traveled). At Textbroker, I'm simply editing product descriptions and other pieces of content marketing to pay the bills, and it's meticulous work to make sure an author's writing fits what the client is paying for. At She Traveled, I manage a very small team of writers who have a lot more freedom with their topics, and because it's a lifestyle blog, it's a lot easier for the writers and me to get very excited about what we're working on. 

Tell us about how you found your first job, and how you found your current job (if different).

I feel very fortunate to have a writing/editing job within two years of obtaining my undergraduate degree. Shortly after graduation in 2011, I left for an 18-month volunteer opportunity in Japan, and I found work as a copy editor at Textbroker upon returning to the United States in 2013. I applied for a position I saw listed on a local job board, and it turned out to be a great fit.

As for my job at She Traveled, it was mostly old-fashioned networking. My sister-in-law was a friend to a former model who was starting her own fashion company, and she hired me as a blog writer because she'd heard of my background in English. After nearly a year of writing, I was promoted to blog editor because the company CEO saw my dedication and organizational skills stand out in addition to my writing proficiency.

Dendo: One Year and One Half in Tokyo

By Brittany Long Olsen

Buy on Amazon

What was another writing-related job that was important in your career?

During my time volunteering in Japan, I spent a few hours a week teaching English as a second language. Not only did this help me understand my own language better, but I also learned how to communicate ideas in the most simplified way. I had to teach in clear, simple terms so that even my beginner students could understand difficult grammar concepts. I also was able to develop a fun and creative teaching style so that participants would stay engaged in the lessons. These experiences helped me improve my communication skills in general, which has been beneficial in both my professional and personal lives.

What did you do in college to prepare for your post-grad life?

Some of the most valuable experiences I had in my undergraduate classes were peer reviews. I went into college wanting to be a writer, and many of my writing classes involved working on other students' essays and creative writing in small groups. It was through this process that I grew to love editing more than writing, and I gained valuable skills in communicating with other writers. It takes work to put into words what you like/don't like about a piece of writing and why. It's also an extremely valuable skill to learn how to communicate your comments in a professional and encouraging way. I could apply those skills in any field, but I feel fortunate to have a job where I can guide other writers.

What is your advice for students and graduates with an English degree?

I would encourage you to take up a volunteer opportunity that puts you out of your element. Growing personally and expanding your horizons will help your career prospects more than any amount of book learning, and volunteer experiences always give you interesting talking points during interviews. Employers are always looking for great communicators who can come up with creative solutions to problems, and English majors definitely fit the bill.

Visit Brittany's website, check out her blog ComicDiaries.com, and view her writing and editing work at SheTraveled.com/blog. 

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Christine Reilly: Author & Teacher

Name: Christine Reilly

Age: 27

College & Majors/Minors: Bucknell - Psychology and English double-major with a Concentration in Creative Writing. I got my MFA in Poetry from Sarah Lawrence College.

Current Location: New York, New York

Current Form of Employment: Author and teacher

Where do you work and what is your current position?

I teach fiction and poetry workshops at Sarah Lawrence College and the Gotham Writers Workshop, and my debut literary novel, Sunday's on the Phone to Monday, will be published in April with Simon & Schuster.

Sunday's on the Phone to Monday: A Novel

$12.50

By Christine Reilly

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Tell us about how you found your first job, and how you found your current job (if different):

My first job was teaching middle and high school English at the Professional Children's School, a private school in New York City for ballet and modern dancers, Broadway actors, Julliard musicians, and professional athletes.

What was another writing-related job that was important in your career?

I had a wonderful internship at Tin House, the literary journal. I got to go through the slush pile and give feedback, which was a dream come true—reading all day!

What did you do in college to prepare for your post-grad life?

In college, I read and wrote all the time. I also kept a diary, which comes in handy now that I'm writing a novel about college students. I also got to experience writing workshop for the first time, which is my favorite place to be. Now as a teacher I facilitate workshop. I love seeing that side of the creative process. There's always such a wonderful energy in the room.

What is your advice for students and graduates with an English degree?

It sounds cliche, but I'd say follow your dreams but work tirelessly as you follow them. I'm doing exactly what I wanted to do in college, and I didn't let the naysayers discourage me! I did, however, learn to be unafraid of failure. I didn't have any publishing or teaching connections whatsoever, so I reached out to every literary agent and educator I knew to learn more about a possible career in those fields.

You can visit Christine Reilly's website here! 

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