yourownspeedingcar:
I am currently in grade 12, trying to figure out what to do with my future. I would like to one day be a book or magazine editor, or work in publishing, editing, journalism, etc. i was wondering if you have any advice about what classes to take in university, and other additional steps to take to get me to my goal. :) Please and thank you, thanks for your time!

Hey! First of all I think this post might help you out. We also have had a bunch of posts about publishing in general and internships. 

I just graduated in May, so this is a good time to ask me these types of questions! If there’s anything I learned in college, it’s that it’s not about the classes you take, but what you do with your extra time. Every person who’s interviewed me for an internship or job that I’ve eventually landed has focused not on what I studied (although I did study journalism and then switched to English), but what I did in my free time—layout design for a magazine, editing for a lit mag, running this blog, having good internships before—etc. The other thing about doing that type of stuff on your own is that it’ll tell you whether it’s what you really want to do, since your career goals are somewhat varied at this point, it seems (which is good! And really normal!).

As far as classes, just take what you love so that you get good grades! Studying English won’t get you any sort of leg up in the publishing world (actually, business or barketing would probably serve you better) ‘cept that it’ll make you a good writer, which is key in any profession you go into.

Hope that helps! Good luck in university! Ah… I wish I could start it all over again. Sigh.

  1. yeahwriters posted this