Rosemarie D'Amico

In 2018, after forty-four years of full-time work, I decided to retire and move on from the corporate world. The choices and opportunities available to me post-retirement were almost too many, but after some soul searching, I came to the realization that besides travel, there were two things I wanted to do: go to university (which I had not done), and study creative writing. Luckily for me, Carleton University offered me the opportunity to study creative writing, in a university setting so I eagerly signed up as a special student. The creative writing came with a caveat though – I had to undertake a degree in English. As an avid, life-long reader, the idea of reading for four years, and studying creative writing at the same time, was appealing.
The variety of creative writing workshops available through the English department was impressive, and I dove in, registering in workshops for Fiction (introductory and intermediate), Creative Non-Fiction, Poetry, Writing for Theatre, as well as an independent writing project in my fourth year. The variety of experience of the professors leading the workshops was just as impressive, but noteworthy to me was the overall acceptance by all of them of the individual student’s creativity. The workshop setting was new to me, and I learned the important skill of editing my work by receiving feedback from fellow students. Before undertaking this degree, I had never tried my hand at playwriting, poetry, or non-fiction, and now each of these genres excite me, and I have added to my portfolio with works in each of these areas.

The support and guidance I received from the professors and English department staff throughout my time at Carleton was invaluable, and greatly appreciated. My skills in creative writing were developed, tested, and honed, and I am now going to undertake an MA in Creative Writing degree from the University of Hull in Kingston on Hull in the U.K.