how many of you want to/have got a degree in creative writing/creative nonfiction

I haven't... but I'm learning. This site has been a big part of my education. I honestly believe that you can learn an awful lot by reading and commenting on other people's work. Things that you would have done differently (not necessarily better) jump out at you far more in somebody else's piece and it makes you question, why did I like that sentence? Why doesn't that read very well? Just today I googled bye the bye because it didn't read right to me and I found that it's correct according to one website, another said it should be by the by (which is what I thought) but most of them said it was by the bye. Another member described a bowl that was stitched. I had a visual of a wash bowl with cross stitch attached to it. But she explained to me (And I still haven't replied to that one, yet) that it's actually an old process for mending ceramics. So you learn something every day. I don't suppose that will ever help me in my writing but it's all knowledge. I also work very closely with my friend on the very final edit of our books and he's taught me a tremendous amount. I think a degree can teach you how to do it properly but the only way you ever 'learn' to write is by doing it and improving with time.

On one hand, no, because I find the idea of spending four years for a literature or CRWT degree rather silly. No offense intended, but I am friends with a few english majors at UTD and they seem most productive outside of class when editing with peers than any other time. On the other, I do feel it would improve your style. But practice and reading and peer reviews have proved strongest for me. If you decide against lit, I would highly recommend you seek out advice or reviews from any english prof who may be at your uni, believe it or not they helped me greatly.

Hi Sooz. I think the lady in question meant a bowl where the broken pieces had been repaired using a piece of metal rather like a thick staple! This is the sort of mending that the travelling tinkers used to do, before heat resistant glues came along.

Hello fellow/lady ABCTalers---I have not had the privilege of any degree, other than successfully completed High School and one psychology course at the University of Guelph, in Ontario. I look at writing as approaching a pond or stream filled with fish (writing ideas floating around) and I wish to capture them. Tools are needed---a fishing rod or stick (read other writers) and bait with lure (advice from other writers) then enjoy the feast after. Richard LP

I have a degree in English and Creative Writing from Middlesex University in London. But to be perfectly honest? Don't do it. I enjoyed the course, for the most part, but it didn't help much. You have to read things you don't want to read, write things you don't want to write, and listen to your course mates going on and on about how brilliant they are and will no doubt be the first from the course to win the Man Booker. My point is: Whilst writing technique CAN be taught, storytelling can't. You either have it or you don't. As long as you know your ABCs and the difference between a colon and a semi-colon (and when to use them), you'll be fine.

Pom, I suppose the decision rests squarely on your own shoulders. Do or don't - it was just my personal experience I was highlighting above. Whatever you decide will no doubt be the right decision... PJ

Tossing the coin neatly back the other way. Perhaps (in England, at least) we are reaching a point where a degree is essential. Before getting the job at Bradshaws, I temped at a data management company. Taking written records and, through three stages of production, transposing them on to hard drive. A trained monkey could do it. I was among only a handful of 'adults' in the place, the rest of the three floor, hundred and fifty occupancy workspace was filled with (five year old) Uni grads unable to find any other work because there's nothing out there. It was like working in a damned playground. As a mass (and I didn't find a single exception) they were childish and extremely workshy. I averaged three boxes of data a day while some of them only completed one and the rest didn't even manage that. The noise was cacophonous and there could be six different languages all talking at the same time. They'd play wordgames and talk about football ( I knew this because of the hand gestures) and chatted all day long to relieve the monotony. I loved it there and got on well with them. I would only have found the grads annoying if I'd have been a boss and then I'd have sacked the sorry lot of them. But,they were on min wage and saw no reason to work hard. I'm obsessive about work and when it requires speed and accuracy, I have to knock my pan out to beat my own times every day. I was just the crazy old woman at the end of the run who was also on min wage but actually worked. They saw no logic in that when they still got paid for doing very little. Again on the other side of the fence I have been an employer with sole responsibility for hiring. I demanded a CV for two reasons (no CV, no Interview) One was to find out the age of the people shortlisted and the other was purely that if somebody can't be bothered producing a CV then they can't be bothered to work. 'I haven't got a computer,' didn't cut it with me. So write one long hand or go to the library and use their computer for an hour. About 25% of applicants were too lazy to produce a CV. It's an instant weeding system. After that I barely read them. I couldn't give a Rat's bum whether they had a degree or not. I went on personality, ability to do the job, punctuality and how I felt we would get on. But it's a hard world out there. I'm trying to get a decent job as we speak and without a degree (and because of my age), I find that I'm not even being called for interview.

Good luck with the interview Stan, knock 'em dead.

An interesting post. I've just finished a creative writing masters from Glasgow Uni. Universities have caught on that there are big bucks in teaching creative writing course. (I've also got two other useless degrees, BA, Bsc). Some of the other students writing wasn't particularly good. Some of it was. What was undeniable (with one exception) was the tutors were first class. They've been there and done it. I joked with another student that putting your writing before Professor Michael Schmidt was like Moses taking the ten commandments up to God and asking him to have a quick look at them. But he seemed very nice. And he also runs Carcanet. Not that I know anything about poetry, but it does seem to publish most new poets. The piece of cardboard that you are given at the end matters only for one day. What it does get you is literary criticism. No messing about. This works. This doesn't. That buys you time you might have wasted elsewhere. you can get all these things from books. 'The Art of Fiction', for example, is wonderful, as are The Open Univesties Course books on Creative Writing. But, as Clint Eastwood, or somebody else said (I've a terrible memory) books don't answer back. Creative writing tutors do. And they're good at it. That's there job. Have they made me a better writer? No. Only I can do that.

you certainly don't need to leave your country. Glasgow Uni does a distance learning degree. The future is people don't physically go to these places, but will be online. The Open University also does creative writing, but it's a module, not a degree. I'm not sure about not spending lots of money. Univesities make most money from foreign students. Course fees are set as high as possible for them to maximise profit.

Hi pom99. Just stick around on this site and take notice of the comments you get on anything you post. You'll learn an awful lot. Some of the people on this site are absolutely brilliant, others are rubbish. Hopefully I fall in between the two. Best of luck!

Studying film and creative writing at Middlesex uni in Hendon at the moment. Last year starts very soon!