My Epic Life Story
I'm 28 turning 29 this year. So, a little older than the traditional student. I was born in GA, but I grew up in SC. My dad is from Uruguay and my mom is from the US but grew up in Argentina due to missionary parents, so I am hispanic (Spanish speaking) and I have latin heritage.
I already have a Bachelors in English, in Writing and Publication studies from Clemson University. For two years I worked in retail and looked for jobs involving writing. It was very difficult to find anything in this state but I think my issue was that I didn't know how to network and I had a hard time putting a portfolio together. I finally just started applying for office jobs, clerical work, anything I could find. I was with a staffing agency for a year and they only found me one temporary job serving hot dogs. Needless to say, I was not impressed with the SC job situation!
Retail was okay but I needed something where I could use my brain and I didn't really want an office job so I started thinking about teaching.
I'd been a Secondary English Ed major before I finally stuck with English for Writing but I kind of waffled about it during my early clinicals (visiting a high school class). It wasn't that I didn't enjoy it. I just wasn't sure about 'being stuck in a high school all day.' I had a VERY hard time picking a major in college. I changed my major several times. So take my advice and just pick something you're really interested in and stick with it. It's okay to change your major once or twice though :) if you decide, for instance, that engineering is REALLY not for you.
I decided that being in a high school all day sounded more interesting than working retail or being in an office. So I came to USC Upstate for the certification program. I would have done the PACE program but that requires at least 3 years of work experience - full time and I had the hardest time finding full time work.
Being at USC Upstate has been a great experience. I actually live out closer to Pelzer, so I was on the Greenville campus for the first year and I just felt really good about my cohort/classmates and my clinical professor, Laura Kaufmann. She is so great and she will really make you want to be a good teacher.
She inspired me to want to really impact students. So many people go 'Oh I want to be a teacher because I want to make a difference' but she really talks about the harder aspects of teaching and learning to care about your students as individuals. I know that teaching will be hard but I'm excited about the challenge of making books relatable and helping students become passionate about writing.
I've always loved reading, since I was a kid. I still remember my mom reading a Magic School Bus book about marine life to me. Throughout my childhood I was always above the reading level for my age. My favorite books were by Roald Dahl - Matilda, The Magic Finger, and James and the Giant Peach. I also loved Watership Down by Richard Adams. I loved pretty much everything by Brian Jacques. One day I was watching a program on PBS about a contest where kids wrote their own stories and it occurred to me that I could write my own book. So I started making a picture book with drawings. I think it was about a dog. I was probably nine or ten at the time.
I kept diaries for years and started writing poetry and stories which became novels. I haven't finished one yet or published anything so I need to work on that!
In high school I devoured the Harry Potter series and I also took AP English courses where I read books like The Great Gatsby, East of Eden, and plays like Death of a Salesman. I was also involved in theater and I stayed involved in college. I love acting, it is so much fun.
High school is where I started to resent being made to read. Reading, for me, was an escape and I didn't really want to read novels about depressing things like the failure of the American Dream. I was like 'hello, my parents are financially struggling, I already know that!'
This summer I tried working on a script for a film but it is really hard, wow. Plot is very difficult for me. I can do characters, dialogue, backstories, description but just something about developing a plot is killer. So I'm trying to work on writing short stories and see if that helps me get practice.
Of course most importantly - I have loads of class work to keep up with!
Nowadays I enjoy nonfiction with a little humor, realistic and historical fiction, crime novels, mysteries, and science fiction. Speaking of mysteries, I love BBC's Sherlock. And I really need there to be another season like now.
I also like comic books! I like Deadpool, the Thunderbolts, Black Widow - all kinds of other Marvel universe characters. I'm really into the MCU these days. Guardians of the Galaxy was amazing.
I already have a Bachelors in English, in Writing and Publication studies from Clemson University. For two years I worked in retail and looked for jobs involving writing. It was very difficult to find anything in this state but I think my issue was that I didn't know how to network and I had a hard time putting a portfolio together. I finally just started applying for office jobs, clerical work, anything I could find. I was with a staffing agency for a year and they only found me one temporary job serving hot dogs. Needless to say, I was not impressed with the SC job situation!
Retail was okay but I needed something where I could use my brain and I didn't really want an office job so I started thinking about teaching.
I'd been a Secondary English Ed major before I finally stuck with English for Writing but I kind of waffled about it during my early clinicals (visiting a high school class). It wasn't that I didn't enjoy it. I just wasn't sure about 'being stuck in a high school all day.' I had a VERY hard time picking a major in college. I changed my major several times. So take my advice and just pick something you're really interested in and stick with it. It's okay to change your major once or twice though :) if you decide, for instance, that engineering is REALLY not for you.
I decided that being in a high school all day sounded more interesting than working retail or being in an office. So I came to USC Upstate for the certification program. I would have done the PACE program but that requires at least 3 years of work experience - full time and I had the hardest time finding full time work.
Being at USC Upstate has been a great experience. I actually live out closer to Pelzer, so I was on the Greenville campus for the first year and I just felt really good about my cohort/classmates and my clinical professor, Laura Kaufmann. She is so great and she will really make you want to be a good teacher.
She inspired me to want to really impact students. So many people go 'Oh I want to be a teacher because I want to make a difference' but she really talks about the harder aspects of teaching and learning to care about your students as individuals. I know that teaching will be hard but I'm excited about the challenge of making books relatable and helping students become passionate about writing.
I've always loved reading, since I was a kid. I still remember my mom reading a Magic School Bus book about marine life to me. Throughout my childhood I was always above the reading level for my age. My favorite books were by Roald Dahl - Matilda, The Magic Finger, and James and the Giant Peach. I also loved Watership Down by Richard Adams. I loved pretty much everything by Brian Jacques. One day I was watching a program on PBS about a contest where kids wrote their own stories and it occurred to me that I could write my own book. So I started making a picture book with drawings. I think it was about a dog. I was probably nine or ten at the time.
I kept diaries for years and started writing poetry and stories which became novels. I haven't finished one yet or published anything so I need to work on that!
In high school I devoured the Harry Potter series and I also took AP English courses where I read books like The Great Gatsby, East of Eden, and plays like Death of a Salesman. I was also involved in theater and I stayed involved in college. I love acting, it is so much fun.
High school is where I started to resent being made to read. Reading, for me, was an escape and I didn't really want to read novels about depressing things like the failure of the American Dream. I was like 'hello, my parents are financially struggling, I already know that!'
This summer I tried working on a script for a film but it is really hard, wow. Plot is very difficult for me. I can do characters, dialogue, backstories, description but just something about developing a plot is killer. So I'm trying to work on writing short stories and see if that helps me get practice.
Of course most importantly - I have loads of class work to keep up with!
Nowadays I enjoy nonfiction with a little humor, realistic and historical fiction, crime novels, mysteries, and science fiction. Speaking of mysteries, I love BBC's Sherlock. And I really need there to be another season like now.
I also like comic books! I like Deadpool, the Thunderbolts, Black Widow - all kinds of other Marvel universe characters. I'm really into the MCU these days. Guardians of the Galaxy was amazing.
That's really cool that you have such a strong passion for writing! I hope that you find inspiration in finding a plot for your script!(:
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