Nice to meet you!
I am a graduate student on hiatus. To put a very long, convoluted, "No, I'm not exaggerating. Really,"-type story short, I have landed in the city I have always dreamed of moving to (Vancouver), but fear I may have been pushed into a career I have no interest in by professors who loved my writing as much as my high school arts teachers did. I have always been a writer, with the goal of reaching even one person with my words, and causing a reaction whether it be thought, rage, lessened loneliness, or a brief laugh. I do not think "the academy" is the audience I intended to write for - I want my writing to create a conversation between minds, even if it is a silent one, among like-minded people: among women going through similar experiences, among others at the office who cannot really begin "work" until eleven am, among the for-some-reason marginalized who suddenly feel a little less so, among baby-boomers like my father who once adorned their dorm rooms with anarchist posters and secretly read blogs like mine from time to time and recall their roots.
Thus, I have stepped away from my "prestigious" government grant and am going on welfare/social assistance for one year to try my hand at writing and participating in the arts as a full-time career. Graduate school did make me realize one thing: I am able to write many articles that generate interest in a very short amount of time. Whether or not this is because I devoted more time to my personal website and blog-article writing than things "academic" has yet to be determined!
I will send a few samples of interest-piece articles I've written over the past year.
Cheers!
Jen