{"id":823,"date":"2010-11-12T17:32:22","date_gmt":"2010-11-13T00:32:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.ups.edu\/cesblogs\/?p=823"},"modified":"2017-07-13T23:32:40","modified_gmt":"2017-07-13T23:32:40","slug":"novel-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/2010\/11\/12\/novel-career\/","title":{"rendered":"Novel Career?"},"content":{"rendered":"

ASUPS recently brought Leonard Pitts Jr.<\/a> to campus. <\/em>Jo<\/em>urnalist, novelist, and Pulitzer-winning commentator, Pitts has aspired to write novels from a very early age\u2026<\/em>\"When<\/em><\/p>\n

First published?<\/strong> Age 14. A poem in the local newspaper.<\/p>\n

First professional gig?<\/strong> 1976. As an 18-year-old college student, Leonard began doing freelance work for SOUL, a national black entertainment tabloid. Two years later, he was the editor.<\/p>\n

Jobs that paid the rent:<\/strong> Kelly \u201cgirl\u201d (Due to the early success of Kelly Services, temporary office workers–who were usually female–became known as \u201cKelly girls\u201d regardless of the worker\u2019s gender.)<\/p>\n

Jobs that paid the rent:<\/strong> Radio news writer and music reviewer during the disco era. Sample band: The Brides of Funkenstein.<\/p>\n

When did you first start writing novels?<\/strong> 1976. \u201cI have drawers full of them!\u201d It took longer than he’d hoped to get a novel published, but he was never deterred.<\/p>\n

Do you have difficulty switching between genres, like journalistic and creative writing? <\/strong>\u201cNo\u2026each has its own set of rules. You write within the given parameters. (For instance) Writing for the ear\u2014for radio\u2014is very different from writing for the eye.\u201d<\/p>\n

When do you write?<\/strong> \u201cEvery single day, come hell or high water.\u201d Leonard recommends writing each day when you are the most productive, whether that be morning, noon, or night.<\/p>\n

What is the most important thing for aspiring writers?<\/strong> \u201cPersistence!\u201d You may be rejected dozens of times. You can’t let that get you down. Also, \u201cGrowth is in the reaching\u2026never be content with \u2018good enough.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Does any of that change after winning a Pulitzer? <\/strong>\u201cIt\u2019s worse because expectations are even higher.\u201d<\/p>\n

Writing for a living can encompass a wide range of work. Whether your goal is to be a novelist or a grant writer, explore your options. You can use Career Cruising<\/a> to research careers. Also, consider contacting alumni through the ASK Network<\/a>. Learning about a career field through research and informational interviews can help you determine if a given field is a good match for your talents and interests. Need help getting started? Make an appointment with a CES career advisor. <\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2010 Career and Employment Services, University of Puget Sound<\/p>\n

Save<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Journalist, novelist, and Pulitzer-winning commentator, Leonard Pitts Jr. has aspired to write novels from a very early age\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":246,"featured_media":4685,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[58],"class_list":["post-823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-guests","tag-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/246"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=823"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4687,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823\/revisions\/4687"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}