Interviewed by Anna Stowe, Hope College Creative Writing Major, and Student Managing Editor for the English Department
What do you do now? And we’d love to hear a bit about how you got there as well.
After graduating from Hope in 2015, I got my MFA in creative writing (Fiction) from the University of South Carolina. I taught first-year English and creative writing at USC and a nearby university for a few years after that. I loved teaching and would have continued to do so, but adjuncting doesn’t provide a lot of stability, and my husband and I wanted to start building our family.
While I was looking for a stable full-time position, a friend who had graduated from my MFA program a few years before I had reached out. She worked at the South Carolina Senate but was going to leave to go to law school soon. Her boss, who loved her work, asked her if she knew anyone with her particular set of training, which happened to be an English undergrad degree and a CW grad degree. They hired me as soon as the President of the Senate signed off on the position.
I write bills, resolutions, and amendments for South Carolina state senators. I don’t work for one particular senator or party; the Clerk of the Senate is my boss, and he’s a nonpartisan entity. I do a decent bit of proofing and some research as well, but most of my responsibilities involve drafting.
What is it like working with the South Carolina State Senate? How is the research similar to or different from what might be considered a more typical English context?
Research is actually a minor part of my job; most of my time is spent drafting legislation and proofing already-drafted bills and legal documents. I need to be comfortable navigating the SC Code of Laws and familiar with standard policy language. My grammar skills are of tantamount importance (and for that I’d like to thank Dr. Rhoda Janzen Burton, who used to teach an intensive Modern English Grammar course at Hope). My research involves navigating laws and policies in other states and sometimes compiling information on a topic for a senator who is trying to inform their vote.
I like the technical parts of my work—the drafting, the proofing, etc. Emotionally, the position can be difficult. I work on legislation whether or not I believe in it, and while I do think it’s important to have nonpartisan staff such as myself, that doesn’t mean it’s easy to distance my own convictions from the work that I do.
Though I don’t hold a political office, being a nonpartisan and friendly resource is a vital part of my job. Hope certainly prepared me for the friendly part :).
How did your Hope English education shape you?
Oh, Hope. I have such love for this college. It’s really an incredibly unique atmosphere. I doubt you could find a more joyful, collegial place to study and grow into an adult. I don’t know that the education itself was as impactful as the relationships and the opportunities for personal growth that Hope afforded me—but those are vital, because what is writing if not a recounting of relationships and the stuff of life?
On the note of relationships: I wouldn’t be where I am were it not for the people who took for granted my ability to get here. At Hope, Dr. Susanna Childress (or “Prof. C,” in her classes) invested in me, even taking the time to do an independent study with me one semester. I remember sitting in her office while she was brainstorming which of my stories would be strongest for an MFA application while I was slowly realizing Wait…there are funded programs where I’ll get to write and get workshopped and basically just get better at making up stories? Her belief in my ability to get in and her investment in helping me get there made all the difference.
Similarly, Elise Blackwell at the University of South Carolina believed in and invested in my success before I would have had the audacity to. She sent my thesis, which was a publishable fiction manuscript, to her own agent. While her agent didn’t end up picking me up, another agent at a major literary agency did. Had she not shown her confidence in my work, I would not have sought representation at that time and likely wouldn’t have the literary agenting team that I do today.
Going into college, what career path did you see yourself in? Did that change during college? How similar or different is that path to what you do now?
I’m not sure where I saw myself going when I started college—probably teaching in some form or another. I was interested in politics in high school but didn’t necessarily plan on pursuing a career in that arena. By the end of college and in grad school, I hoped for a writing career supplemented by teaching. That’s still my ultimate goal. My day job gives me the stability to help support my family while I fit my writing into the (albeit rare) margins of our busy life.
What advice would you give to current English majors or students considering an English major?
Being able to communicate effectively will get you a long way, but you may need to apply some creativity to make a non-academic career out of an English major. I wish I could tell you that there are tons of jobs out there where someone will pay you to read books all day and write essays about them, but that’s unfortunately not the case. Don’t get me wrong—I loved every bit of getting my English degrees. If I could go back to when my responsibilities were reading excellent books and essays and then writing my thoughts about what I read and making up stories of my own…man, those were the days.
That’s not to say that I don’t think an English major is useful. I think it’s the reason I’m good at what I do; I’m very comfortable navigating language and formatting and can convey an idea with clarity. I think English majors are great on their feet because much of the English major’s work involves interpreting and creating a framework for new ideas as well as communicating effectively. That’s all really helpful in a work environment. I just think it’s worth noting that, when you graduate, you won’t land a job in “English” unless you’re teaching the subject—instead, you’ll use the skills you’ve gained in a unique way depending on the space you find yourself in.
What’s the worst advice you’ve been given? In contrast, what is the best advice you’ve been given?
Learn to kill your darlings. I’m editing my second manuscript right now, a manuscript I’ve revised more times than I could count. It’s gotten stronger each time, though, and that’s because I have become comfortable cutting beloved scenes, characters, concepts, and even favorite lines if they’re dragging the story down. Revision has become my superpower, and I hope that this final major revision of my current manuscript will get this novel where it needs to be to get picked up. If it doesn’t, though, I’ll move on to another concept and edit that story until it’s ready.
I can’t think of any bad advice at the moment, though I’m sure I’ve received some. I know that I received critiques in workshops that advised edits that wouldn’t have strengthened my stories, but I learned to filter through and take the feedback that resonated.
What do you now wish you had learned or done in college?
I graduated a year early because I had about two semester’s worth of AP credits when I went into college. I don’t regret that—it saved me a ton of money—but I do regret that I didn’t have as much time to take a wider range of writing classes in undergrad. I didn’t take a poetry workshop and so so wish that I had; I had limited time and, I have to admit, I was also intimidated by poetry. Now I feel that I really missed out on an opportunity to learn poetry from Prof. C, as it’s her area. The lesson here is to take learning opportunities even if they intimidate you.
Favorite book read recently or in college?
I read Cloud Cuckoo Land recently and it blew me away. I love re-reading Emma in the fall and Pride and Prejudice in the winter and Persuasion in the spring (Austen never ever gets old). My favorite book I read in college was probably The History of Love (gorgeous novel), with Olive Kitteridge coming close behind. I actually got to meet Elizabeth Strout and even have dinner with her while I was getting my MFA; she visited USC for Open Book, an annual literary series hosted by Elise Blackwell that brings in some, as evidenced by Strout, incredible talents. Strout is an absolutely delightful person. It’s nerve-wracking to meet your heroes, but she did not disappoint.
Lately, I read a lot of Little Blue Truck and other vehicle-related books…but that’s because my two-year-old runs our house.