Either this picture is old, or he hasn't aged one day since I was in high school...

The first semester of my junior year in high school, I took an athletic training class. I loved the teacher so much that I took his anatomy class the second semester. And his 2-hour Med Prep class both semesters senior year.

Seriously, I loved Wiley Kendle as a teacher. It has been eight years since I have been in one of his classes, but I still think about him regularly, partly because he has this great, acerbic sense of humor, and partly because he repeatedly gave a bit of advice most high school teachers would not.

Every so often, Mr. Kendall would impress upon our young minds that four-year college is not for everyone. That’s not to say he wasn’t supporting education beyond high school–he absolutely was. He would stress the importance of finding what works best for you, whether that be a trade school, some sort of apprenticeship, or just working for a couple years to figure your life out.

College is stressed so much is high school that many teenagers forget to really experience their adolescence because they are so focused on getting into university and learning some more. But–and this is a shock–not all kids are the same! Which means not all kids will flourish in a university setting after high school.

Of course, the whole time Wiley Kendle was telling me this, I was sitting in the front row (like the little over-achiever I was) thinking, pshhh….whatever, I am totally going to a four-year university. So I did. And you know what? It wasn’t the right place for me at the time. Sure, I had a great time and met a lot of wonderful people and did well, but in retrospect, I can see that I should have listened more carefully to the wise words of Mr. Kendall.

(For the record: I am not opposed to a traditional college education, and am now at a place in my life where university would be a great learning environment for me. When I left high school, however, there were other options that were perhaps better than university.)

So, when people ask me what they should study in college if they want to become a writer, I tell them to study what they are passionate about. But it goes much further than that. Each individual person needs to decide what they are passionate about and then pursue that in any way she can. Maybe that means she doesn’t go to a traditional college, but instead heads off to a cosmetology academy or massage therapy school. Possibly she trades in a diploma for an apprenticeship with a diesel mechanic. Or, maybe she doesn’t yet know at the age of 18 what she wants to do, so she finds any job she can that will help her pay the bills until she does figure it out.

When deciding what to do with your life, evaluate what is important to you and what you love. Maybe university really is the best place for you to go right out of high school. If so, good luck! If not, don’t let others make you feel like you are less than you are because of that choice. Take control of your own life and do what will make you happy.

There is nothing wrong with not wanting to go to college. (Disclaimer: there is a problem if you want to leech off your parents for eternity without ever stepping out on your own. Not wanting to go to college is one thing; being lazy is something else entirely.) And when it comes to being a writer, college doesn’t mean a damn thing.

You know what is important though? Life experience. No amount of learning in a classroom will teach you the things  you will learn when you are out in the real world. The experiences we have help to mold us and help define who we are. We learn and grow more through real life than we ever will in a classroom. So, get any education you can. I believe we should never stop learning. But don’t forget to go live a little on the way.

I am always surprised at how often teenagers ask me what they should study in college in order to become a writer. Why am I constantly surprised by this?

1. I am not published and I don’t have an agent. Sure, I am a writer, but really, am I the best person to dole out advice?

2. I dropped out of college. Really. I went for two years, at two different colleges, studying biology. Then I stopped. I went to massage school. Then my shoulder quit. Now, I am going back to college to study Russian and English. You really want to ask a college drop-out what you should study at college?

Okay, so now that you know where the surprise comes from, I will try to answer the question. Are you ready?

Study what you are passionate about. Sure, an English degree might seem like the way to go, and for some it probably is, but it by no means a surefire way to become an author. What an English degree will do for you is force you to read a lot and, depending on the program, write a lot. Which, let’s face it, will help you in your quest to become a writer.

But you know what really makes a writer? I mean, really? Writing. No matter what you study in college, keep writing. That is what will make you successful. No matter if you study history, or physics, or economics, or Japanese, or Elvis impersonation, keep writing and you will be okay. Writers write. They have other interests, but at the end of the day what makes them writers is the act of writing.

If you are really passionate about English, then by all means study it (I am). BUT*. If you are passionate about American history, I suggest you focus your studies on that. If you have always been a bit of a science geek, pursue a degree in chemistry. And if you really dig the human body, study anatomy, or medicine, or massage, or something.

Because here’s the deal: if you go to college to study something you are not passionate about – really, truly passionate - you are going to fizzle out. You will give up, quit, get poor grades, drop out. And if you stick with it, even if you do well, you will not be happy. It is impossible to be happy doing something you don’t enjoy for four years.

There is no degree out there that will make a publisher want your book, and there is no course of study that will convince an agent to represent you. You know what will do these things? Great writing. So keep writing, no matter what you decide to study. Keep writing, and keep working, and you will be okay.

*Another bonus to studying something other than English: all that history knowledge is going to come in handy when you decide to write a novel set during the civil war; when your protagonist needs to develop the vaccine that will stop the zombie apocalypse, you will use that chemistry degree; and when the outcome of your courtroom thriller rests on whether or not the human body can actually do that, all your time in the cadaver lab will have paid off.