How to pursue graphic design and writing career?

What do I need to know to pursue a career in creative writing,?

• I am a Senior at High School and am currently putting deep thought in to what it is I want to pursue when I choose to further my education in College. My passion has, since I was a child,been writing, poetry, novels, and short stories. It is my strongest skill and most avid passion, but I know that this will not an easy path to employment. I am not entirely literate as to the opportunities and options available and the degrees required to land a job in this field so please let me know everything there is to know. It may seem that im shooting the gun here but I also want to know the path toward some type of writing/journalism career that requires traveling as well. How could I pursue the required degree while still being able to fall back on something else if a creative writing degree does not land me a job, maybe a major/minor combination (like a major in creative writing and minor in something else?) I am going to speak to my guidance counselor about a lot of these things because I feel pretty stupid as far as understanding what it is I need to know to transition from High School to College. Any help would be greatly appreciated. If there is anyone out there who is currently using their creative writing degree in their career, please let me know what you have gone through to reach where you are. I really want someone who has the experience to answer this question, thank you.

• Answer:

  your best bet is probably to get a degree in English/Journalism and pursue that as a way to write for a living. i did that once. bear in mind that Journalism/Editorial work is in a dying industry and has been facing some of the biggest layoffs of any industry for the past decade. at my last editorial job, we would get in 200 applications for an Editorial job, whereas we'd get 50 applications for a job in Sales, so you can see how tough the market is. also, a job as an Editor/Journalist pays just about nothing. traveling for your work always seems romantic to people who have never actually done it before. what it means is dealing with airports and plane travel, then working your tail off once you get to the place, and then just getting on the plane again. there really isn't time left over for sightseeing. and if you're married and have kids, then traveling for work is really a pain. just a head's up, be wary when people tell you "oh, it doesn't matter if the job's hard to get and it doesn't pay anything. you should do what you love to do!" that's true in a sense, but it's also true that trying to make ends meet on $24,000 per year is tough. English and writing classes as a Minor in college isn't a bad idea, though. companies love people who have a proven ability to write and communicate. but you might be better off looking at writing as more of something you enjoy doing in your free time. and a tip if you do decide to pursue some kind of writing as a career: learn your publishing programs and also how to design web pages. everyting is on the Interwebs now, and it'll really help you in the job hunt if you know how to do that. also, freelance writers should all really have web pages. make sure you ask your counselor about the job statistics in the industries you're interested in and what sort of pay you're looking at. and then if you start to get it narrowed down from there, take the initiative to set up an Informational Interview with someone who works in the industry. call them up and ask to come in for 30 minutes of their time to talk about the job--they'd be thrilled to talk to you about it.