For my career field research, I chose an author. His name was Joe Clifford! They are an author of a full series of books, multiple other books and short stories. He told me about how there are no education requirements to become an author, you can start writing whenever you want. You can even start writing at 14 and other various ages you’d be surprised at. I always had some preconceived notions about needing to be an adult to write about something and being taken seriously, though being taken seriously is a different topic. He recommended me to stay in college for as long as I can. When I asked him why? He responded with: “Why stay in college? Because it’s the only time you’ll get in this life dedicated solely to learning, growing, and making yourself a better person.” I never really thought about college like that and spent time asking my teachers wondering if college was worth it besides for the experiences in the workforce it can give you which made me think about the work environment in writing. The environment got described as stress-free until you get to writing and the frustrations that come with it. You work at home most of the time, and you have to meet a date set by your publisher. He described a deadline as a writer’s cure for writer’s block. The frustrations that come with writing is through giving up, and not continuing with what you thought was an amazing idea, a novelty. No publisher owes you anything, and in his words again: “Just understand: the world owes you nothing. And it gives you even less.” The worst part of writing is possibly facing the idea of rejection, and the idea of yourself being the center of the universe being shut down by a publisher. The best part though had to have been getting the recognition and realizing your writing affects others, possibly more than yourself. You will fail to reach some people’s hearts, but you’ll eventually get there and pluck the strings of someone's heart. The salaries and benefits of an authors’ is unfortunately not very good at all. He said most writers make a lackluster wage not good enough to sustain life unless they’re on top of the best selling list or J.K. Rowling and why he recommended finding some way of income such as stocks, etc, anything that allows you to find the time to sit down and write while going through that path. The work ethic is simply involved in you, you need to set time to sit down and write a book you enjoy and something you think your audience would enjoy. You must be equal parts to caring about the trends and fifty percent to not caring about them. The effect the experience had on my career goals was a weird one. It was realistic, it wasn’t full of rosy sugar coating. He gave it to me as it was. It’s hard, but the enjoyment comes from you and the pleasure you find within it. It didn’t confirm nor did it sway me away from my absorption into being an author. It dismissed my worries and made me understand the struggles that come with being an author and got me as ready for it as I can be. For my plans for post secondary education, it has swayed me towards staying in college for longer amounts of time due to the fact that I do want to grow as a person. I want my writing to mean something, and I believe the best way to do it is to grow as a person, reach all the amounts of people you can with it. You can’t do it if you sit down inside all the time, and shut yourself down from the experiences of the world. College helps you achieve these new experiences while meeting others who inspire you as well. I don’t think I’ll go for another degree, but I will stay for longer just to enjoy my youth while I have it and as he said, make myself a better person.