My Full Sail Experience
It has come to my attention when I was talking to Tim and Grandma Sally recently on the phone. I'm on my way to graduation, and as I am going to work on this for the next two and a half months. Today, June 17, 2017, when I finished talking to Grandma Sally I realized how much I've loved going to Full Sail University.
I have always wanted to to be a novelist. When I started attending Full Sail I knew they didn't cater to novelists like me, but I felt there was so much more I could learn. Right now I have learned about networking, archetypes, and how to write different genres as well as different career types (like writing for film, TV, animation, and video games). I've also learned about working in teams, world and character building as well as transmedia. I also learned a lot more about children's entertainment than I ever thought I would. I'm so much better off with knowing everything I learned. The things I've learned that I listed above will help me in my endeavors of being an author. I feel these things will help me become a better author and find other jobs surrounding my passion of writing.
[June 18] ^
[June 22] Yesterday I had a wonderful time Skyping with friends from school. I wrote a status about it. If you want to see it you can go https://www.facebook.com/KaylChels/. I posted it last night. Here's the exact picture of the status.
None of this is to say I don't learn a lot from the books and classes, but this book kind of shook me a bit.
[July 1] A friend of mine from a lot of my classes commented on my strengths and weaknesses discussion post in the first week of Portfolio Revisions and Editing. I messed up a little on that discussion, and I had to reply to my own entry to make up for it, but you don't need to read that. It's not important to this post. But here's what one of my friends said.
I have always wanted to to be a novelist. When I started attending Full Sail I knew they didn't cater to novelists like me, but I felt there was so much more I could learn. Right now I have learned about networking, archetypes, and how to write different genres as well as different career types (like writing for film, TV, animation, and video games). I've also learned about working in teams, world and character building as well as transmedia. I also learned a lot more about children's entertainment than I ever thought I would. I'm so much better off with knowing everything I learned. The things I've learned that I listed above will help me in my endeavors of being an author. I feel these things will help me become a better author and find other jobs surrounding my passion of writing.
[June 18] ^
[June 22] Yesterday I had a wonderful time Skyping with friends from school. I wrote a status about it. If you want to see it you can go https://www.facebook.com/KaylChels/. I posted it last night. Here's the exact picture of the status.
I first met with one of my teachers. First he helped me with homework then we had a great conversation. We talked about Fairy Tail Fights, and he gave me suggestions based on my like of the game. I still have yet to check out the decisions. A few hours after my first meeting I met with a group through Full Sail called Pen Dragons. We haven't talked in a while, so our leader wondered if we could meet over Skype. Not all of us could meet, but the ones who had a great conversation. We spoke of school in general, our classes, and favorite teachers. We also spoke about our current writing projects (not school related) and possible jobs and writing contests. They congratulated me on almost being done with the program, and I gave them tips for future classes and such. I definitely appreciate the friends I've made. And I love being able to help my friends with assignments and writing,
[June 26] It is the first day of my first Portfolio class: Portfolio Revisions and Editing. It wasn't until I was asked about my revision process that I discovered that there are a lot of differences in my process between school assignments and work and personal projects. Here's the discussion question and my answer.
[June 29] I was unable to write yesterday, but I do have some updates. In my portfolio class for my week one reading assignment I had to read 105 pages in a 90-Day Rewrite. I like reading tips and tricks, but after a while I have to remember that what works for me isn't always in the book. Everyone has their own creative styles. As I was reading the book I felt I was losing myself. I hate when I start questioning my own abilities so much that I question why I'm even writing in the first place. But I write because I love it. Of course I can always do better, But reading advice shouldn't entirely make me question everything. That's not good. Luckily, I've learned to know when I need to take a break.[June 26] It is the first day of my first Portfolio class: Portfolio Revisions and Editing. It wasn't until I was asked about my revision process that I discovered that there are a lot of differences in my process between school assignments and work and personal projects. Here's the discussion question and my answer.
I will update this as the week continues and I get feedback.
[June 27] One thing I forgot that even though I knew how to work with professionals, but it makes me feel more confident how to deal with people in a professional manner. We should always answer people within a twenty-four hours.
I had my first meeting with my Career Development adviser today. She was very nice and understanding. She wanted to know about one-year, five-year, and ten year plans. She wanted to know what I'm most interested in for work and what locations I'm familiar with along with what are my two favorite locations.
Jobs I'm interested in (top two are my favorite):
- Authors
- Teacher
- Editorial writing
- Comic writing
- Game Writing
Locations I've been to (top two are my favorite):
- Seattle, WA
- Brooklyn, NY
- Colorado Springs, CO (I visited Denver and Manitou Springs)
- Fremont, CA (I know a bit about San Jose, San Francisco, and Fresno)
- Chester, VA (near-ish Richmond)
If anyone has anything I can add to these lists, let me know.
As for the top of the paper in the picture above are things my adviser will come up in later in my last class, like resume, demo, and cover letter.
None of this is to say I don't learn a lot from the books and classes, but this book kind of shook me a bit.
[July 1] A friend of mine from a lot of my classes commented on my strengths and weaknesses discussion post in the first week of Portfolio Revisions and Editing. I messed up a little on that discussion, and I had to reply to my own entry to make up for it, but you don't need to read that. It's not important to this post. But here's what one of my friends said.
He's always so nice. He helps me talks me down when I'm overthinking something. I do tend to overthink assignments some time.
[July 18] So something came up over the weekend (non- school related) that I wouldn't have noticed if I didn't have the strengths and weaknesses discussion I did recently. This weekend, one of my brothers, Eric, came over. Richard, him, and I started playing Dungeons and Dragons. When we were filling out our character sheets I froze and got jittery like I do when I I have an assignment. I thought that I could make a character wrong, like I think I can write a story wrong. I hope that before September first comes that I can work through the feeling of intimidation.
[August 2] I had another meeting with my counselor on July 31st and I would have wrote those thoughts down immediately, but it was the first day of a new class and I had a concert to attend. Yesterday was also a very busy day. So I talked to my counselor about a Smashbomb opportunity I found. She told me to watch out for using too much of my energy in unpaid positions. I need to still live life and earn money how I want. We talked about Upwork, where I created an account, but I'm not finished with it. She also discussed what's enough to money to take a job. Yesterday I spoke to Jane (my biological mother) about my meeting among other things. She said that some of what I learned from my counselor are things she's still trying to figure out in her own life. Jane also told me that that she's happy I'm going to a networking event Full Sail told me about because they are very important to go to. My counselor was also happy to hear I was attending. My counselor wants me to go to meet with her again before the networking meeting, so we can talk about my resume that I'll be learning about in this class.
On another subject I just started my last class. I hope. My last teacher wasn't great on grading our work in a timely manor. I still have five ungraded assignments, and that makes me a little uneasy. I'm concentrating on learning about finding examples of great portfolios.
[August 3] It's hard sometimes when I can't look up stuff that could pertain to my authorness. My first discussion post is about finding portfolios. If I was able to look up author portfolios I would be looking into Sherrilyn Kenyon's and James Patterson because I look up to Sherrilyn Kenyon and I respect James Patterson and his work. When I realized I made a mistake I remember that I once talked to a Full Sail Alumni about her portfolio. I still had it in my messages, but the site was taken down.
On another note I'm a little peeved at a friend of mine from school. I'm sure I mentioned the Pen Dragon Group before. While as of yesterday it was closed down because we weren't participating enough. I liked having a forum where writers a bit like me could talk about things that mattered to us like our work, advice we found helpful, and more. I talked to her about it, but it doesn't seem like she wants to open the group back up. It sucks because now I'm back to being jealous of Richard being in groups about his hobbies and interests when the only group I felt I belonged to and liked got taken down rather abruptly. I had no warning.
[August 8] Today I signed up for my exit interview. It's in three weeks. I wonder what will happen then. I finally was able to create a resume. I've always been afraid of creating a resume because I thought there was nothing I could put on a resume. As it turns out I actually have skills, writing experience, and work experience.The only thing I had was volunteer experience, and not even a lot of it. After I finished it I hit up my career counselor to see how I did.
[July 18] So something came up over the weekend (non- school related) that I wouldn't have noticed if I didn't have the strengths and weaknesses discussion I did recently. This weekend, one of my brothers, Eric, came over. Richard, him, and I started playing Dungeons and Dragons. When we were filling out our character sheets I froze and got jittery like I do when I I have an assignment. I thought that I could make a character wrong, like I think I can write a story wrong. I hope that before September first comes that I can work through the feeling of intimidation.
[August 2] I had another meeting with my counselor on July 31st and I would have wrote those thoughts down immediately, but it was the first day of a new class and I had a concert to attend. Yesterday was also a very busy day. So I talked to my counselor about a Smashbomb opportunity I found. She told me to watch out for using too much of my energy in unpaid positions. I need to still live life and earn money how I want. We talked about Upwork, where I created an account, but I'm not finished with it. She also discussed what's enough to money to take a job. Yesterday I spoke to Jane (my biological mother) about my meeting among other things. She said that some of what I learned from my counselor are things she's still trying to figure out in her own life. Jane also told me that that she's happy I'm going to a networking event Full Sail told me about because they are very important to go to. My counselor was also happy to hear I was attending. My counselor wants me to go to meet with her again before the networking meeting, so we can talk about my resume that I'll be learning about in this class.
On another subject I just started my last class. I hope. My last teacher wasn't great on grading our work in a timely manor. I still have five ungraded assignments, and that makes me a little uneasy. I'm concentrating on learning about finding examples of great portfolios.
[August 3] It's hard sometimes when I can't look up stuff that could pertain to my authorness. My first discussion post is about finding portfolios. If I was able to look up author portfolios I would be looking into Sherrilyn Kenyon's and James Patterson because I look up to Sherrilyn Kenyon and I respect James Patterson and his work. When I realized I made a mistake I remember that I once talked to a Full Sail Alumni about her portfolio. I still had it in my messages, but the site was taken down.
On another note I'm a little peeved at a friend of mine from school. I'm sure I mentioned the Pen Dragon Group before. While as of yesterday it was closed down because we weren't participating enough. I liked having a forum where writers a bit like me could talk about things that mattered to us like our work, advice we found helpful, and more. I talked to her about it, but it doesn't seem like she wants to open the group back up. It sucks because now I'm back to being jealous of Richard being in groups about his hobbies and interests when the only group I felt I belonged to and liked got taken down rather abruptly. I had no warning.
[August 8] Today I signed up for my exit interview. It's in three weeks. I wonder what will happen then. I finally was able to create a resume. I've always been afraid of creating a resume because I thought there was nothing I could put on a resume. As it turns out I actually have skills, writing experience, and work experience.The only thing I had was volunteer experience, and not even a lot of it. After I finished it I hit up my career counselor to see how I did.
[August 14] I've been working on my website because of the class, and I'm really glad I added a portfolio and resume page. I also ended up changing the about me page. Thanks to my class I even thought about getting business cards. I decided on a format I like and turned in a more bland one that will please my teacher.
[August 25] This week is my last week, and it was busy. I had two meeting with my career counselor, went to a networking event, and had my exit interview. My career counselor coached me on my resume and what to do at the event. I have a back up meeting with her Monday. The networking event was hosted by Full Sail at the Kimpton Hotel Eventi. It's a very nice hotel in the city. It was a career fair and mixer, and I was able to stay for both. Richard was able to accompany me. Everyone was very nice and friendly. There were twenty-one booths and nine featured alumni who did table talks. I went to six booths and handed out resumes to all of them. I got compliments on my resume format, the paper quality, and some of the things on it. I was given one piece of advice about it. I went to one of the table talks for Nadine Santos. After she was done talking she asked if anyone had anything to say or questions, and I was the first one to speak up. I felt pretty cool. I met on of my career counselor's coworker, and she was the sweetest. I also met Garry Jones, the school's president. I've friended a few people I met yesterday on Facebook. I received ten business cards. The mixer was well-catered. Then for the exit interview I learned that I may be able to get loan forgiveness though I need to do a lot of work to make everything work out.
[August 28] Yesterday was my last day of school. I've been working working on my portfolio. It wasn't till I got feedback from my Creative Writing Portfolio teacher that I realized there were a few things I should have updated months ago like that I write fantasy and not science fiction. I learned the difference in one of my Literary Genre classes. I added a portfolio page and put my resume on the contact me page. Marshall, my brother, and Richard, my husband helped me out a lot. I changed the background color for my website. Last night I even helped one share their Twine game. The instructions we were given were confusing. We were given the wrong link. If you ever want to share a game you made in Twine you can go here Philomela Twine. Under the picture is the link where you can publish your game. We were able to figure it out about an hour and a half before it was due. Here's my website if you're interested Kaylyn's World in Words. I got to talk to my career counselor today. We talked about the event, them helping me for the next two years, and student loan information I've heard about.
One of my favorite things about Full Sail is the community. I've met quite a lot of people. I'm still trying to connect with some of the most helpful people.
[August 31] UPDATE! As I read this over this right before I posted this I have a few updates like my career counselor will be available to me for two more years. That's so cool. We have another meeting on September 6th regarding some work information I thought would help me out in the future. Upwork.com is popular in and out of my school career. A writing mentor and my career counselor speak highly of it.
[August 25] This week is my last week, and it was busy. I had two meeting with my career counselor, went to a networking event, and had my exit interview. My career counselor coached me on my resume and what to do at the event. I have a back up meeting with her Monday. The networking event was hosted by Full Sail at the Kimpton Hotel Eventi. It's a very nice hotel in the city. It was a career fair and mixer, and I was able to stay for both. Richard was able to accompany me. Everyone was very nice and friendly. There were twenty-one booths and nine featured alumni who did table talks. I went to six booths and handed out resumes to all of them. I got compliments on my resume format, the paper quality, and some of the things on it. I was given one piece of advice about it. I went to one of the table talks for Nadine Santos. After she was done talking she asked if anyone had anything to say or questions, and I was the first one to speak up. I felt pretty cool. I met on of my career counselor's coworker, and she was the sweetest. I also met Garry Jones, the school's president. I've friended a few people I met yesterday on Facebook. I received ten business cards. The mixer was well-catered. Then for the exit interview I learned that I may be able to get loan forgiveness though I need to do a lot of work to make everything work out.
[August 28] Yesterday was my last day of school. I've been working working on my portfolio. It wasn't till I got feedback from my Creative Writing Portfolio teacher that I realized there were a few things I should have updated months ago like that I write fantasy and not science fiction. I learned the difference in one of my Literary Genre classes. I added a portfolio page and put my resume on the contact me page. Marshall, my brother, and Richard, my husband helped me out a lot. I changed the background color for my website. Last night I even helped one share their Twine game. The instructions we were given were confusing. We were given the wrong link. If you ever want to share a game you made in Twine you can go here Philomela Twine. Under the picture is the link where you can publish your game. We were able to figure it out about an hour and a half before it was due. Here's my website if you're interested Kaylyn's World in Words. I got to talk to my career counselor today. We talked about the event, them helping me for the next two years, and student loan information I've heard about.
One of my favorite things about Full Sail is the community. I've met quite a lot of people. I'm still trying to connect with some of the most helpful people.
[August 31] UPDATE! As I read this over this right before I posted this I have a few updates like my career counselor will be available to me for two more years. That's so cool. We have another meeting on September 6th regarding some work information I thought would help me out in the future. Upwork.com is popular in and out of my school career. A writing mentor and my career counselor speak highly of it.
Jobs I'm interested in (top two are my favorite):
- Author
- Teacher/Tutor
- Editorial writing/work: maybe I can do this for a friend I met through school, Kimberly. We've talked about it months ago and recently.
- Freelance writer
- Game Writing
Instead of reviewing for Smashbomb I write reviews for authors on Hidden Gems Romance.
I also found other writing clubs to join Blocked Writer to Published Author, Midnight Thinkers, and (I revived) Writer's Block.
As I post this on September 1, I have graduated.
As I post this on September 1, I have graduated.
Comments
Post a Comment