Why an MA?

I put a lot of thought into how I was going to get into the publishing industry, and ultimately decided an MA was the best way to go. Publishing is a difficult field to get in to, in no small part because places don't want to hire you if you don't have experience, and there aren't many houses willing to give you that experience. By doing an MA, I'll be able to gain real experience through placements while on my course. The qualification and additional knowledge and skills I will gain on the course should not only make me much more employable, but will also (fingers crossed) help me to find a job more easily. An MA will also give me a firm foundation in a variety of publishing areas, which seems like something that can only help me in the long run.

Plus there's also the fact that I just think it'd be cool to have an MA, and this is a subject that I'm not only interested, but that I already study about on my own. Plus it's about a million times more useful than something like an MA in English Literature. (No offense if you have one, you've just got to admit that it's pretty damn useless for anything outside of academia.)

So basically that's three reasons:employability, interest in the field, and simply wanting to be able to say I have an MA.

The Meaning of Life. Or at least this blog.

Hello, my name is Editrix, and I'm a bibliophile.

I love books. I love the way they smell. I love the way they look on my shelves. I love reorganising them on my shelves. I love when cheapily-printed books leave me with black thumbs, like some sort of battle scar I can take pride in. I love the way they transport you to another world. I love the way they make you think and reconsider things you thought you already knew. I love the way they bring people together. I love the way they break down barriers. I love the feeling of satisfaction that comes with reading that final word. I love the way they can make you smile, laugh, cry, frown, mourn, celebrate, feel. There is simply nothing better than a well-written book.

And that is why I am devoting my life to the printed word. I have a BA(hons), First Class, in Creative Writing with Media & Cultural studies, and in September I will be starting my MA in Publishing. I'm already tens of thousands of dollars in debt from my undergrad, and I'll be entering into more with my postgrad, all so I can get into a profession with notoriously long hours and low pay. Why? Because I love books.

So now we have this blog, Cacoethes Carpendi, Latin (pretentious, I know) for "a compulsive habit for finding fault", which seemed especially fitting as my goal is to become an editor. My purpose here is twofold: first, to document my time as a publishing grad student at Oxford Brookes University; second, to document my journey to find my perfect book. Expect information on why I chose to do an MA, how I went about selecting schools, why I chose the school I did, what I learn on the course, and ultimately my experiences within the industry. These posts will be interspersed with posts about what I'm reading, what I do and do not like and why.

And there you have it: me and my blog. If I ever fail to answer any of your questions, please feel free to ask, either through comments or through the contact info you can find on my profile.

It is now three months to the day until I start grad school.