Today I declared my major in the field of English, with a creative writing emphasis. The world feels like it's fallen into place. It's new, fresh, and ready for me. Looking at the classes I have to take, I'll only be graduating about a quarter late for the typical four year bachelor's degree - which is a big deal considering the fact that I thought I would be two or three years late after three years of dinking around, thinking I was going into physics.

So what does this new major mean for me?

Well, let me give you a low down of the classes I have taken, am going to take, or will have to take at some point - just to give you an idea. Right now, I'm finishing up English 351 - Introduction to Fiction Writing. Next quarter, I'm signed up for three classes (this sometimes shocks people from different parts of the US or from outside of the country - my school is divided into four quarters - Fall, Winter, Spring, and an optional Summer that has two much shorter sessions that students can choose from. A full time quarter is between 12 and 18 credits. Classes are generally 2-5 credits. I tend to take three 5-credit classes). Those classes are: 338 (Women and Lit), 312 (Film/Culture: Japanese Anime), and 353 (Introduction to Poetry Writing). I will also have to take, at some point, 347 (YA Lit), 423 (Major Authors: emphasis on specific author), and another 300 or 400 level lit class; with that, I will have to take: 451 (fiction writing seminar), 456 (special topics in fiction), 459 (editing and publishing), and 460 (multigenre explorations). To finish the whole thing off, I'll need to nab a 370 (Introduction to Language). Then I'll have completed my major. Most of those classes are options from a list of possible classes, and those just happen to be the most appealing options to me. As you can see, I'm still undecided on one of those classes.

This whole business of declaring a major, dealing with actually getting through my bachelor's degree, and everything involved in that, has got me thinking about a question that I frequently ask myself, always answer, but never keep to that answer.

The question: How long should I wait before trying to get one of my books published?
The answer: I shouldn't; I've waited enough. It's time to get started.

Only once before in the past have I taken this advice. That's right, folks, I've querried an agent before. Since I've made no mention of being a published author, you can probably figure out the outcome. To be fair, I was sixteen or seventeen at the time.

Now I'm older, better at writing, and would like to start trying again. I've been actively editing one of my books, but it's more of an editing/rewriting thing, and I don't have much time for it. I intend to take full advantage of summer and I'm hoping to start querying again sometime next year.

I've ordered several books on writing, and I've decided that I want to expand my collection of resources in my library so I think I'll continue to order books on writing. The nice thing about Amazon is that you can get books for amazingly cheap prices. Anyway, I think I'll start posting here more often again, probably with things that relate to the editing process, the reading I've been doing and the ideas presented in the books, and starting next Fall - on my major. A friend of mine got on my case a little while ago about not updating here, so I'm back. And look, today's even a Friday - one of my scheduled days for writing.

I hope you enjoy this disjointed blog post, John. And the same to anyone out there who's reading. TTFN.