When it comes to the topic of my education, I’m a little sensitive. I barely graduated high school. I spent four years in college but did not finish… however, I continue to “self-educate” myself by reading. Reading whatever cates my fancy. It can be a cookbook, an examination on political unrest in America during the Regan years, literary history, a novel about coming of age children in the 1950s – whatever.

No, I do not have a degree. What I do have is a drive to keep learning.

Reading has been one of the greatest passions of my life. Writing is a close second.

(There is so much WORK to do with certain types of writing, it’s not as enjoyable as reading – it’s work! The rewards, however, are far better. When you finish a piece of writing, when the pages are stacked up – & YOU ARE DONE… there is no other feeling as complete.)

I’m taking classes again. Online courses, which I feel have made a significant impact on education & furthering education throughout the world. I’m studying Essentials of Media Writing. I feel I need to know more about where New Writing is going, & the various formats & interests of said writing is/will go.

We are no longer living in a world where a writer can type up his words & hand pages into an editor. No, no. We have to learn to edit, promote, pick captivating images to go along with written content, make contacts – all these things taking time away from what essentially needs to be done: WRITE.

Maybe I am too much of an old soul, wanting some of the old ways back. I like typewriters, hardbound dictionaries & thesauruses, landlines, fist fights with other writers… all these things are fading away, their colors losing any shine they had, turning grey into the background of history. Instead of looking a word up in a book, all a person has to do is command a phone to tell them what the hell it means. And where is the fun in that?

Assault charges are filed instead of accepting you got hit.

Where is the music & the chaos & the down-to-earth simplicity of writing a good story?

I guess it no longer exists. Finding time to write ANYTHING is hard enough. Then the designing, the promoting, the changes, the legalities… I can go on & on.

Yet, publishing has never been as easy as it is now, For that I am thankful.

But the dice have changed… cards are flipping over backward – a new type of gamble is on the table. And if you want to succeed, one thing hasn’t changed: you have to know the rules to play the game.