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    • CommentAuthorDarkRaven
    • CommentTimeSep 15th 2010
     

    So I’m in my final year in secondary school, where I have a pretty important exam (actually very important), that decides what university course I’ll get, and by extension what job I’ll get. As you may have judged from my absence here in recent times, this has led to me putting my head down and studying away diligently. (A brilliant feature of our Irish education system, is that everything is defined by exams, with no room for coursework…) As a result of said diligent study, I’ve done no writing whatsoever in recent times, aside from school essays. My question is: what do you all do when you are faced with a choice between writing, and school/university/career. For me, I really want to be a published author, but I realise that it’s very VERY difficult to get anywhere in that world, therefore I’m looking to qualify myself so that I can get a job if that dream fails.

    Also, do long absences (in the region of nine months…) from regular writing hugely affect your quality of writing? I know mine improved DRASTICALLY over the last year.

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeSep 15th 2010
     

    I, regretfully, usually sacrifice writing in favor of other things. It’s not necessarily that writing is hard for me, it’s more that writing requires a commitment I’m not willing to make, because I am inconceivably lazy. I can definitely confirm, though, that not writing regularly does make my writing suffer. If I wrote more often, I’m sure it’d be easier for me and maybe even come faster, but I just don’t write enough at all.

  1.  

    I’m having similar problems, DarkRaven. I don’t really have the time to write anything other than school assignments right now. I choose school, usually, because as you said, it’s hard to make it in the writing world, so you need something to fall back on.

    And a test really determines what job you get? That sucks.

  2.  

    Man. DarkRaven, these exams are very, very important. Go study.

    I had a lot of days earlier this year when I wasn’t writing anything at all because I had so many assignments that I just couldn’t fit anything in. (Ironically, now that I’m coming up to my mock exams, the pressure is less intense than it was in the middle of the year and so I have more time to write.)

    And you do miss writing. You miss it a whole lot. But I don’t see why your writing should drop in quality. You’re still the same person who put pen to paper nine months ago—more mature, in fact, and you’ve probably read more writing articles since then. You honestly should be fine.

  3.  

    For some people, keeping a journal helps—I feel like it’s still being productive, because you need a non-judgmental place to vent sometimes, but you’re still writing. I agree with Steph—I don’t think your writing should drop in quality. If anything, I think it’s better to spend time writing when you know that you have the time to give it your all (like during winter break or in the summer), rather than writing every day, but doing it hurriedly and sloppily because you don’t have the time for it. Everything in it’s own season!

    •  
      CommentAuthorTakuGifian
    • CommentTimeSep 15th 2010
     

    Also, remember that your university course doesn’t necessarily relate directly to the job you’ll get, and certainly not to the job you’ll have 10 years from now. But definitely make study your priority. Hobbies such as creative writing should be on the back-burner during exam season.

    •  
      CommentAuthorJeni
    • CommentTimeSep 16th 2010
     

    Lawl. Should.

    Should.

    That’s at the point you’re most creative.

    :D

    •  
      CommentAuthorTakuGifian
    • CommentTimeSep 16th 2010
     

    Alas, Jeni’s right. Resist temptation, though.

  4.  

    That’s at the point you’re most creative.

    THIS.