A direct quote from my mother around 7:30pm last night. I popped over to the folks' house for dinner and I swear I could not stop talking. It was like I'd had four cups of coffee in twenty minutes. I was that peppy. Now, anyone who knows me has a first-hand experience of my perkiness. I can't help it. I'm generally a perky person. But recently, it's started to overflow. Maybe it's the lack of daily human interaction, so any sort of face-to-face conversation is over-stimulating, but I'm beginning to feel it's my excitement taking over. The funny part was that I actually hadn't had any caffeine at all, and my parents said it reminded them of me as a little kid. My dad even jokingly stated they used to stand over my crib and repeat, "No pep. No pep."
Within the last week and a half, I've made the decision to go back to school and taken active steps to pursue that goal. I've started studying for the GRE's, which I'll be taking in October, I've requested copies of my transcript from MCLA, where I got my undergrad degree, and I've contacted three of my favorite professors for reference letters. As of yesterday, all three professors have confirmed they'll write my letters, I've finally gotten the hang of some of the math I've forgotten over the past eight years, and I've made the executive decision of where I want to go professionally. Suffice it to say, I'm feeling pretty good.
While the lack of income right now is somewhat disheartening, I'm finding the notion of returning to academia overpowers that negativity. Journalism was a valiant effort and a novel dream, but I can't avoid the fact that I really hate interviewing people about topics I couldn't care less about. And while my customer service skills are pretty rocking, I have no desire to continue my career in secretarial and administrative assistant arenas. I like writing. I enjoy writing. One thing I love even more, however, is proofreading other people's works and making necessary changes and corrections. I had the opportunity to actually edit a book headed to print when I worked for US Sailing. Nothing major, it was just a reprint of an old edition, but it was still my job to make sure everything translated into the newer fonts and formatting. It didn't, and the high I got from presenting my the errors to my supervisor and the sense of power I felt from being able to correct it was beyond amazing. This leads me to the decision to go into Publishing. After doing research (and watching "The Proposal"), most of the editors and higher-ups have advanced degrees in literature. Enter Rhode Island College's Masters in English program.
I'm fully aware that most of the major publishing houses are in New York, and while the idea of moving to NYC isn't exactly thrilling, the notion of pursuing something that excites me trumps that. My goal is to take the GREs in October, send in my application for admission by November and begin my pursuit for the Master's degree in the fall of 2011. It's game on, biznatches.
