Back to School (Some Unsolicited Advice for Writers)

This morning at the gym some friends were discussing Turkey (the country, not the bird). Turkey! (I said with excitement). Ah yes, the subject of my college thesis - Turkey's bid to join the European Union. I wrote it while I was living in Switzerland the final semester of my senior year, and logged a lot of hours at the UN library writing. See, I wanted to go into politics...

Okay, so that whole "Major in International Relations" didn't exactly play out how I thought it would, but how fitting I reminisce on my college studies on a day I am going back to school.  That's right - for the next 10 weeks I'm going to be taking a writing class (I believe it's called something along the lines of "Intermediate Feature Film") at UCLA, in an attempt to fine-tune my screenwriting and get another spec from a thought in my head to some words on a page.

I'm really excited - mostly because my writing partner Sarah is taking the class with me, and we first met each other in a writing class about a year ago (awwwww) but also because if there's one thing I'm certain of when it comes to writing, and developing your talent, is that it's a craft you must constantly be working on and taking a class is probably the BEST way to do that. Furthermore, beyond "honing your craft" (as they say), I just think it's such a great thing to put yourself back into an academic setting. It's nice to challenge your brain, go back to that school mindset, and just open yourself up to learning again.

So yeah - that's my unsolicited advice to all the other writers out there. Take a class. Take lots of classes. I've taken a variety - from memoir writing to extreme screenwriting to improv to sketch comedy, etc - every class I've taken has not only allowed me to better my writing, but it's been a worthwhile experience on a personal level. I don't care if you're a baby writer or the most high-paid showrunner out there - taking a class is always a good thing.


Got that, writers? Go back to school!