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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/34137
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

 **Why should it be either/or?**

College (actually a College Diploma) is often thought of as a pass-key to something else. However, it is generally only a pass-key to entry-level jobs.

However, that does not mean skip college.

**College Diploma Will Not Mean You Get Published**

Let's say you go all the way and get your MFA (Masters of Fine Arts) in Literature then you write your cover letter.

> Dear Jane Q. Publisher,
> 
> I've just obtained my MFA in Literature. Please read the enclosed manuscript, publish it as a book and send me a check for at least $50,000.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> _Author-Name_

Obviously, it doesn't happen that way anyways.

**Obtain Every Tool Possible**

College can be a tool. A tool for learning. It can also be a waste of time and money.

**Write The Best Book Possible**

Consider the following scenario. You sit down and write the best novel possible. You convince 10 people to actually read it and actually provide feedback.

The challenge here is:

1. You have to write the novel
2. You have to convince people to read the book. (Finding 10 people to do so is going to be much more difficult than you think.)
3. You have to obtain strong feedback. Make sure those people will really be honest with you. They will be afraid to be honest.
4. If they are honest you are probably going to find that your first novel attempt is not great and maybe even total crap. You must **deal with that and change**.

Most likely it will mean throwing away your first novel and maybe the first few novels you write.

**You Must Write To Get Better**

You cannot get better only by reading books about writing and thinking about writing a novel. You must write the novels and (probably) throw them away.

**While You're Reading This**

Think about what you were thinking about while you read that part. Were you thinking, "This SE poster is an idiot. It can't be like that."

That is a protection mechanism so you can continue to fool yourself into believing that it doesn't take that much hard work. We all see the finished products of novels by great writers, however we rarely see their lives before getting published and their lives as they sit alone and write for long periods of time.

**Maybe College Fills the Time**

Maybe college fills the time while you write those novels. It doesn't have to though. You could start today and write your novel in two weeks if you had a mind to do it.

**Conclusion**

To get published you are going to have to write. The faster you write your novels the faster you are going to **get feedback** and **learn** and **change**.

College is probably never going to give you much feedback on your novel writing anyways. But that does not mean that taking writing and classes in literature have no value.

Why not just do it all? Start writing your novel today and sign up for college and just keep writing as you take classes and put everything you know into your writing and put all of the skills you obtain while writing back into your college classes.

It's possible and may provide the best way forward.

**A Final Point On Getting A Book Published**

Now imagine you've written three books and your third novel gets really good feedback from your focus group. You do another edit and this novel actually shines. People begin to ask you if they can read it because your focus group has told them about it.

Now, you send out the manuscript and over time and it catches an acquisitions editor's eye. She reads more than the first paragraph and begins to like the writing and story and she contacts you.

That is a far more likely story.

Original score: 6