Another idealistic career change question
November 18, 2011 10:45 AM Subscribe
I would like to become a professional writer, and possibly someday be a freelance writer. My background is in the humanities, but I’m wondering if seeking an advanced degree in science might help me in my endeavors. Or are there other options that I’m overlooking?
I’m a frequent asker on CareerChange Metafilter, and I’m starting to feel a little silly sharing my background over and over, but here goes once again: I’m 35. I have a Master of Library Science, and a Bachelor of Arts in English and Music. I’ve been a public librarian for the last ten years and am looking to escape libraries altogether (I love ‘em, but am frankly a little too introverted to be a reference librarian).
After much soul-searching, I’ve decided I would really like to be a writer. As bizarre as it sounds, I enjoy wrestling with complex, multipage documents such as grant proposals. But here’s where it gets snowflakey: I would like for my writing to be in service of environmental protection, which is *the* issue that keeps me awake at night.
These are the options I’ve considered:
1. Become a grant-writer for an environmental nonprofit. This one seems right up my alley, but there is only one major enviro nonprofit in my city (and relocating to Washington DC or what-have-you is not, unfortunately, an option). To complicate matters, my SO currently works at this nonprofit as a program manager, and while he manages a lot of grants, his job is also very heavy on the high-stakes meetings and presentations. Ugh.
2. Get some sort of communications job at the local ginormous state university and take some free classes, with an eye to perhaps entering a master's program in the sciences. In my imagination, I see myself writing textbooks with this degree, or press releases for climate change studies, or something along these lines. I don’t really see myself as a teacher or researcher, but I'm wondering if I could function in a supporting role to scientists?
Are there other writing options out there that I am overlooking? And are there serious holes in either of the ideas I’m currently considering? Ideally, the path that I choose would be one that would eventually allow me to work at least part of the time at home, as I work best when I can drop everything and go for a run in the middle of the day. And yeah, I’m willing to concede that maybe I’m overreaching with my ideas of making a living while sitting on my patio writing about the environment. I’m certainly no Bill McKibben. But is there anything that might fulfill some of my criteria?
And if anyone has any suggestions for steps I might take, or people I might set up informational interviews with, I would be much obliged!
I’m a frequent asker on CareerChange Metafilter, and I’m starting to feel a little silly sharing my background over and over, but here goes once again: I’m 35. I have a Master of Library Science, and a Bachelor of Arts in English and Music. I’ve been a public librarian for the last ten years and am looking to escape libraries altogether (I love ‘em, but am frankly a little too introverted to be a reference librarian).
After much soul-searching, I’ve decided I would really like to be a writer. As bizarre as it sounds, I enjoy wrestling with complex, multipage documents such as grant proposals. But here’s where it gets snowflakey: I would like for my writing to be in service of environmental protection, which is *the* issue that keeps me awake at night.
These are the options I’ve considered:
1. Become a grant-writer for an environmental nonprofit. This one seems right up my alley, but there is only one major enviro nonprofit in my city (and relocating to Washington DC or what-have-you is not, unfortunately, an option). To complicate matters, my SO currently works at this nonprofit as a program manager, and while he manages a lot of grants, his job is also very heavy on the high-stakes meetings and presentations. Ugh.
2. Get some sort of communications job at the local ginormous state university and take some free classes, with an eye to perhaps entering a master's program in the sciences. In my imagination, I see myself writing textbooks with this degree, or press releases for climate change studies, or something along these lines. I don’t really see myself as a teacher or researcher, but I'm wondering if I could function in a supporting role to scientists?
Are there other writing options out there that I am overlooking? And are there serious holes in either of the ideas I’m currently considering? Ideally, the path that I choose would be one that would eventually allow me to work at least part of the time at home, as I work best when I can drop everything and go for a run in the middle of the day. And yeah, I’m willing to concede that maybe I’m overreaching with my ideas of making a living while sitting on my patio writing about the environment. I’m certainly no Bill McKibben. But is there anything that might fulfill some of my criteria?
And if anyone has any suggestions for steps I might take, or people I might set up informational interviews with, I would be much obliged!
Bingo. Find a tiny nonprofit (search for "friends of" groups) and offer your grant-writing services at no cost. Once you have a track record, you can start charging.
Grants are drying up all over the place though, this isn't a great time to get into grant-writing.
posted by headnsouth at 10:59 AM on November 18, 2011
Grants are drying up all over the place though, this isn't a great time to get into grant-writing.
posted by headnsouth at 10:59 AM on November 18, 2011
Technical writing is related and less competitive than generally other fields of writing.
Food for thought on other steps you might do on your way:
* Blog about environmental stuff.
* Volunteer to do public relations for local environmental groups, etc.
* Once you have a track record, look for various related paid gigs.
* Consider taking classes at your local community college.
* Learn some multimedia.
My limited understanding about grant writing is that any work you do should pay for itself for your employer. That is, you should bring in substantially more money than they pay you.
Also, just in case you haven't already thought of this, you might see about hooking up to some degree with someone in your area who does similar work and see what you might learn from them.
posted by maurreen at 11:14 AM on November 18, 2011
Food for thought on other steps you might do on your way:
* Blog about environmental stuff.
* Volunteer to do public relations for local environmental groups, etc.
* Once you have a track record, look for various related paid gigs.
* Consider taking classes at your local community college.
* Learn some multimedia.
My limited understanding about grant writing is that any work you do should pay for itself for your employer. That is, you should bring in substantially more money than they pay you.
Also, just in case you haven't already thought of this, you might see about hooking up to some degree with someone in your area who does similar work and see what you might learn from them.
posted by maurreen at 11:14 AM on November 18, 2011
The non-profit I was involved in paid grant writers a percentage of the grants they were able to obtain. You might look into that arrangement.
posted by Pomo at 11:16 AM on November 18, 2011
posted by Pomo at 11:16 AM on November 18, 2011
My first askmeta question was a career change question, and some of my followup askmeta questions were along the lines of how to break into medical and science writing. I don't know as much about your particular desired niche area, but I did quite a few info interviews so I think that I can point you to some resources or places.
Here are a few resources and/or suggestions:
• Communications (science departments) : I googled "science writer" plus "city location" plus my own snowlake type words and did find people who worked in the communication arm of a university for the science department. As a result, I had an info interview with a few pple at a local university and it sounds similar to what you may want to do (it definitely supported the scientists/researchers). In particular, the people who had the jobs interviewed the researchers, wrote it in lay people terminology/newspaper format, and the material was printed and/or put online to tell the community about the research. This particular university would have been open to someone with high interest in the sciences although with a bit more science background, little writing experience. Anywho,based on that experience,I would start googling and emailing people in your area who do this job and see what info they can provide -- at the time I was even given the names of people who would be likely to hire.
• Grant writing - A couple months ago I interviewed someone who broke into grant writing and now does this fulltime as a freelancer. A few things that she told me were that she specialized (as in she primarily does NIH grants and an area in endocrinology - I think)-- she picked up and read books and attended meetings. In addition, she strongly believed that a grant writer could specialize in other areas (NSF grants). She also has a PhD in the field, though, and thinks this may be why she was able to break in. Anywho, I interviewed her and put a post about this on my blog, link inside and I think that she would share what she knows if you want to find her info and contact her with any queries or suggestions. Also, if you are going to do info interviews, talk to faculty at a nearby university just to see whether they would or would not hire someone to write a grant and what criteria they would use to select someone. They may want someone with the research experience and/or a track record, but you can find out if this is or is not feasible.
On preview, brush up on the laws, too,at least in the US there are rules as to how you can or should be paid for this, but only if you go into this, of course.
This may fall outside of what you want to consider (but it would/could allow you to work from home in the future). I will just mention it and if interested, I can point you to places (if not, feel free to ignore it): Writing medical information for physicians. I have met people with an undergrad degree and/or a masters and there are companies that will hire these people (as long as your city has these jobs, it is a matter of taking and doing well on a writing test and that's it). I'm suggesting it because well, it would allow you to work from home, run from home when times are slow, and it is definitely technical, although it does not meet your other criteria.
posted by Wolfster at 11:32 AM on November 18, 2011 [1 favorite]
Here are a few resources and/or suggestions:
• Communications (science departments) : I googled "science writer" plus "city location" plus my own snowlake type words and did find people who worked in the communication arm of a university for the science department. As a result, I had an info interview with a few pple at a local university and it sounds similar to what you may want to do (it definitely supported the scientists/researchers). In particular, the people who had the jobs interviewed the researchers, wrote it in lay people terminology/newspaper format, and the material was printed and/or put online to tell the community about the research. This particular university would have been open to someone with high interest in the sciences although with a bit more science background, little writing experience. Anywho,based on that experience,I would start googling and emailing people in your area who do this job and see what info they can provide -- at the time I was even given the names of people who would be likely to hire.
• Grant writing - A couple months ago I interviewed someone who broke into grant writing and now does this fulltime as a freelancer. A few things that she told me were that she specialized (as in she primarily does NIH grants and an area in endocrinology - I think)-- she picked up and read books and attended meetings. In addition, she strongly believed that a grant writer could specialize in other areas (NSF grants). She also has a PhD in the field, though, and thinks this may be why she was able to break in. Anywho, I interviewed her and put a post about this on my blog, link inside and I think that she would share what she knows if you want to find her info and contact her with any queries or suggestions. Also, if you are going to do info interviews, talk to faculty at a nearby university just to see whether they would or would not hire someone to write a grant and what criteria they would use to select someone. They may want someone with the research experience and/or a track record, but you can find out if this is or is not feasible.
On preview, brush up on the laws, too,at least in the US there are rules as to how you can or should be paid for this, but only if you go into this, of course.
This may fall outside of what you want to consider (but it would/could allow you to work from home in the future). I will just mention it and if interested, I can point you to places (if not, feel free to ignore it): Writing medical information for physicians. I have met people with an undergrad degree and/or a masters and there are companies that will hire these people (as long as your city has these jobs, it is a matter of taking and doing well on a writing test and that's it). I'm suggesting it because well, it would allow you to work from home, run from home when times are slow, and it is definitely technical, although it does not meet your other criteria.
posted by Wolfster at 11:32 AM on November 18, 2011 [1 favorite]
You may want to give some serious consideration to whether you want your every day career to be immersed in what keeps you "awake at night". For some types of people that's the path that liberates their passion, but for other types of people it is the descent into madness. Not long out of college I got a non-profit think-tank job that was almost spookily perfect - on paper. What I got was a microscopic view of all the things that preyed on my mind in the first place, indeed new things to worry about I'd never even heard of before, along with a really sobering (indeed, depending on the state of my mental health, pessimism and/or despair-inducing) first hand awareness of how really far society is away from real solutions. Hello to fifty hour weeks and a crushing sense of hopeless responsibility. I didn't last.
I question the idea of your pursuing a masters in science given your background and apparent proclivities.
Now, grant writing is something you can pursue at varying levels of commitment, it is something with a higher than average freelance potential, and it is also a field where there is a fair amount of relatively short-term, inexpensive education available.
I'm navigating a basically dictated-by-circumstances career change myself so correct for projection and take with as much salt as you deem necessary, but I'd say quit trying to put together this grand plan that transits you straight from the library into this improbably berth saving the planet from home in your neatly packaged job at Big Enviro NonProfit.
Throw some of that Color-Your-Own-Parachute business at a likely topic like grant-writing: find people to do informational interviews with, talk to some people in nonprofit development, talk to some freelance grant writers.
Contrary to this advice being given every time this comes up my personal experience is that most even teensy non-profits are not interested in people with no grant writing experience showing up unsolicited with offers of cutting their teeth representing the organization to the grant-making community, even pro bono, so I hesitate at the advice to start there.
But eventually it will be worth considering that there are a lot of very good causes that pretty much always have an eye on some money they'd apply for if they just had the staff time to jump through the hoops. Crisis nurseries. Food shelfs. There is a lot of good and important work, including in environmentalism, done by far less than "major" organizations. Off the top of my head, take a look at whether your locale has some kind of local watershed management organizations: a place where I've seen some important, relevant community-based environmentalism at its finest.
Set yourself on a basic and direct question, e.g. how do I get into professional grant writing, and get out into that world and ask questions, don't sweat the ultimate destination so much. The planet will still need to be saved, even if it takes you two or three years to get there.
posted by nanojath at 11:49 AM on November 18, 2011 [2 favorites]
I question the idea of your pursuing a masters in science given your background and apparent proclivities.
Now, grant writing is something you can pursue at varying levels of commitment, it is something with a higher than average freelance potential, and it is also a field where there is a fair amount of relatively short-term, inexpensive education available.
I'm navigating a basically dictated-by-circumstances career change myself so correct for projection and take with as much salt as you deem necessary, but I'd say quit trying to put together this grand plan that transits you straight from the library into this improbably berth saving the planet from home in your neatly packaged job at Big Enviro NonProfit.
Throw some of that Color-Your-Own-Parachute business at a likely topic like grant-writing: find people to do informational interviews with, talk to some people in nonprofit development, talk to some freelance grant writers.
Contrary to this advice being given every time this comes up my personal experience is that most even teensy non-profits are not interested in people with no grant writing experience showing up unsolicited with offers of cutting their teeth representing the organization to the grant-making community, even pro bono, so I hesitate at the advice to start there.
But eventually it will be worth considering that there are a lot of very good causes that pretty much always have an eye on some money they'd apply for if they just had the staff time to jump through the hoops. Crisis nurseries. Food shelfs. There is a lot of good and important work, including in environmentalism, done by far less than "major" organizations. Off the top of my head, take a look at whether your locale has some kind of local watershed management organizations: a place where I've seen some important, relevant community-based environmentalism at its finest.
Set yourself on a basic and direct question, e.g. how do I get into professional grant writing, and get out into that world and ask questions, don't sweat the ultimate destination so much. The planet will still need to be saved, even if it takes you two or three years to get there.
posted by nanojath at 11:49 AM on November 18, 2011 [2 favorites]
Check your memail, indognito.
posted by Terminal Verbosity at 12:37 PM on November 18, 2011
posted by Terminal Verbosity at 12:37 PM on November 18, 2011
Response by poster: Nanojath, I LOLed at your response. Yeah, I get to experience that sort of descent into madness vicariously through my SO. Hearing it from another person gives me pause. Thanks for your advice--I'm going to look at other nonprofits besides the "big" one.
And Wolfster, thank you for your detailed suggestions on hunting down people to ask questions of, both in university communications and grant writing. I think the big limiting factor for me here is my lack of a science background. This is why I would like to at least dip my toe in the university world--to see whether a few science classes ignite my interest or bore me to tears.
Thank you everyone!
posted by indognito at 1:39 PM on November 18, 2011
And Wolfster, thank you for your detailed suggestions on hunting down people to ask questions of, both in university communications and grant writing. I think the big limiting factor for me here is my lack of a science background. This is why I would like to at least dip my toe in the university world--to see whether a few science classes ignite my interest or bore me to tears.
Thank you everyone!
posted by indognito at 1:39 PM on November 18, 2011
If you want to be a writer, get pitching and start writing. Getting a degree in whatever isn't going to make much actual difference if you don't have any actual published clips. Being a grant writer means nothing to magazines, newspapers, etc. If you want to write, start writing!
posted by Ideefixe at 8:28 PM on November 18, 2011
posted by Ideefixe at 8:28 PM on November 18, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by inturnaround at 10:53 AM on November 18, 2011 [2 favorites]