Thank you for asking one of my favorite questions.

For context, I started writing a novel (which I'm still writing lol) when I was in high school and then decided to actually pursue creative writing after I began that project.

When you write your first novel, whether you're 16 (like I was) or 60, there's obviously a learning curve. So, my initial writing skills and background knowledge all came from trial and error, most of which centered more around the writing process and trying to increase creative productivity than it did around producing actually solid, publishable work (which isn't a bad way to start, of course).

I always say that what my degree has taught me is how to learn about writing. In creative writing courses, you do a fair amount of writing but not nearly as much writing as three drafts of a novel entails. So, in my experience, the most informative parts of my creative writing classes came from the reading and discussion. Breaking down different pieces and figuring out how they function, how different techniques affect a piece, and where those techniques originate are all super helpful for understanding writing better.

I can read a book or watch a movie and understand it as a functional process now. It's like taking apart a clock and figuring out where each wheel and cog goes and why it goes there. Sometimes this ruins books and movies for me, because I'm not just thinking about what they're doing but how and why. But now when I'm having a BIG problem with a piece (like the novel) I can take it apart and figure out which cog isn't where I need it to be.

I definitely don't know everything I need to know about writing but my degree has given me the tools to figure things out when I don't know them, if that makes sense.

Thanks for the ask! I usually don't get too much into the meta of how I come across the kinds of things I share on this blog so it's fun to get a chance to talk about that a bit. Ultimately I think that writing is a process of learning and unlearning and learning again. It might be a cliché way to talk about a writing degree but truthfully I think the most valuable skill it's given me is the ability to continue learning about writing on my own.