Blogger: Wendy Lawton
I’ve long been an enthusiastic proponent of lifelong learning. Our education should not stop at high school or college. And these days, the opportunities for education are more varied and more affordable than ever before.
I started thinking about this as we agents at Books & Such finished preparations for a client webinar we’re holding tonight. We put hours and hours into the preparation and another two scary hours yesterday in a “dress” rehearsal. We created handouts and outlines and practiced the technology we’re using. With over a hundred of our clients attending and more who will catch the recording later, it’s the perfect way to share what’s new in author marketing.
The teaching available via webinars is amazing these days. I recently signed up on Lynda.com— an online learning site. The first month is free to allow you to try it out. After that it’s something like $39.00 per month. For that price you can take as many course as you like. Compare that to college tuition! So far I’ve taken a course on productivity, one on time management, one on the Evernote app (information management) and another on the Nozbe app (time management). But I’ve only just started. They have tempting courses in photography, web design, composting, cooking and. . .
My friend, Angela Hunt is another lifelong learner. In 2006, Angela completed her Master of Biblical Studies in Theology degree. She completed her doctorate in biblical studies in 2008 and her Th.D. in 2015. I’ll bet you didn’t know the popular author is actually Dr. Hunt. She did all this while keeping up with her busy writing schedule and continuing to practice her art of photography. Talk about a lifelong learner.
Lauraine Snelling has been taking watercolor classes for as long as I’ve known her. Another of our Books & Such clients, Marilyn Hilton, takes tap dance lessons. One of my clients, Jan Kern, went back to school to become a life coach and a spiritual coach.
One of the reasons I’ve loved our blog community is that it is also a place of lifelong learning. We’ve made a commitment to keep passing on what we learn and you’ve made a commitment to learn as much as you can about writing and the publishing industry.
So how about you? Are you enthusiastic about lifelong learning? Where have you found interesting learning opportunities? If you could learn one totally new discipline, what would it be?
What a glorious topic, Wendy. Thank you.
* My day job is a continuous learning experience–the usual technology updates, new regulations, new people. And my favorite part: as a person with no clinical training working in healthcare quality, I am continuously learning about our complex bodies, disease, medication and treatment. I find that most folks love to teach what they know. When I say, “I don’t understand,” I am usually rewarded with an immediate mini-lesson.
* This blog and others, writers conferences, and critique groups provide a continuing education in the art of writing.
* I am surrounded by educational opportunities: workshops, community college classes, on-line lectures. I devoted 3 months of Saturdays to a course on prayer–amazing!
* God’s Word is the best source ever for life-long, life-changing education. I write and teach Bible studies. I always learn more than I expect, and over the years I’ve raised my expectations. God teaches “more than I can ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20).
You are blessed, Shirlee. Especially that you keep learning at work– so much discontent on the job is caused by staleness. It sounds like your job will never be stale. (Mine also.)
Hi Wendy,
Tomorrow I’m going to learn CPR. I’m also taking an immunization class online. If I pass the test then I’ll go to a live immunization class. At first I wasn’t super excited about this, but the more I get into it, I think I’ll like giving immunizations.
CPR is a class I need to take. Happily I don’t need to learn immunizations.
I love learning from industry blogs. I also buy at least one new writing book every year and attend a writing conference. But what is new this year is that I have taken my first online writing course on Udemy. Actually, I took two. Affordable learning at my own pace. Pretty amazing.
When I first began to explore the field of publishing I devoured writing books and writing conferences. If I couldn’t attend, I bought tapes and listened for hours as I worked with my hands. Now there are blogs as well. A rich resource.
Wonderful resources, Wendy, but my favorite one is three blocks away from my current house: the public library.
With all my moves, one thing has remained gloriously constant, the treasure trove of books and learning materials available everywhere we’ve lived.
When I began on the writing oath, I read all the books in the 808 section.
I listen to podcasts, now, when I’m driving for the same reason.
And it’s all free. 🙂
Yes! The library. Even the smell of a library gets my blood pumping.
I love the library. It’s one of my happy places.
I love the idea of life-long learning. I think there are seasons where it’s easier/harder to be intentional about learning. With my two boys at home still, I don’t have much time for pursuing a new discipline. However, the one I am trying to grow in is writing—through books, conferences and writing retreats.
*I’d love to to learn more about photography. I love playing with light and colors and silhouettes, and it would be great to improve in this skill as well.
Me, too. If only I had time, I’d pursue photography. It’s the perfect medium for communication, especially for bloggers and writers.
Yes! And like I said yesterday, I’ll end up with a masters degree in writing eventually because of you ladies here at B&S. I love learning about writing … just wish I had more time in the day.
*And I love learning about photography. I just had the sweet privilege of taking my aunt & uncle’s 50th wedding anniversary pictures … I had been so nervous that they entrusted me instead of going to a professional photographer … but the pictures turned out so sweet. I enjoyed the session so much … they spent 3 hours here at my home, and then I followed them to their place … I had to get one with him down on his knee proposing in their pasture. 🙂
*I started on the violin with my girls, but with their fizzled enjoyment, mine soon fell to the wayside, and it was hard playing on a tiny violin (I didn’t have my own $$). 🙂 But I’d like to start back soon.
*And you just reminded me … my girls’ home-school program is similar to what you mentioned … there are so many courses that can be taken. I’ve only ever looked at it from: what can the girls learn? But I’m going to look with a new perspective on my behalf.
I love the story of that photography session– a new way to love someone– through the lens of a camera.
I could not agree more that lifelong learning is a wonderful investment of time and resources. One reason I like to write magazine articles–a welcome balance to my fiction writing–is that every article is like a little self-study course on a given topic.Every time I immerse myself in research and interviews on, say, alpacas or steamboats or lavender farms, I become a little bit smarter. Then I move on to the next topic, which satisfies my “scanner” brain, although once in a while I’m intrigued enough to go deeper. If i were to pursue another formal degree, it would be in museum studies or archaeology or historical preservation. I’d love to be a museum curator, or one of those experts on Antiques Roadshow who tells you everything there is to know about your grandmother’s lampshade.
Jenny, I feel the same. Writing articles (or interviewing) allows me a constant glimpse into missionary life in different areas of the world, and I learn what is going on … what the people are enduring. I always walk away blessed from each one. And I always pray to be a blessing to them.
Shelli, I’m so glad you brought up interviews as learning opportunities. I write author interviews for the Inspire Christian Writers blog. When I consider an author for an interview, I pray over the topic and ask myself what each author can teach our readers. I usually want to know more about what they do, so I learn through the interview process. I mention their latest book in the introduction, to help promote their work. But my focus is on providing readers with content they can use. I learn in the process and a few authors actually turned their interviews into workshops. As I write this reply, I’m getting more excited about interviewing Jeanette Hanscome next week. Glee! Thanks for reminding us about the gift of learning through listening to others.
I love old things as well. I used to do appraisals of old dolls and toys. It was such a delight to have those much-loved treasures pass through my hands. Oh the stories they could tell.
Careers in science and exploratory engineering require constant attention to the publications and conference presentations about the latest advances in your own field. By its very nature, the Ph.D. is a research degree where you learn the limits of the state of the art and then push it farther. Most researchers love to learn about topics outside what they actually do for a paycheck, especially science, history, and music. That’s part of what makes writing historical fiction so much fun for me.
*I’m writing in a time period where a lot of well-written books by university faculty and lay history buffs are available, and I’ve been devouring them. I now have close to three dozen about the social and political life in every location in my novels, and I’ve begun work on my author site based on what I’ve learned so I can write with historical accuracy. I’m planning articles filled with information about all aspects of that society, including their own jokes and recipes(!), that should be useful for teachers and home schoolers as well as fun for readers of my novels who want to know more. I hope readers of romantic historicals and historical romances will find it all as much fun to learn as I have.
*Of even greater value is leading a Sunday Bible class where we consider how God’s revelation of himself should direct how we live. The time I spend preparing for that and the wisdom shared by the people in the class teach me the most valuable lessons.
I love your website idea, Carol. I can’t imagine that it won’t be wildly successful. Everyone loves to discover “secrets” of the past– like what a Tussle Mussie is and how many days in a fortnight.
Yes, I had to look up “fortnight” in the dictionary … 🙂
Then you know it’s twice the length of a sennight.
Here’s a math problem for you: how many furlongs can you travel in a sennight if you ride 8 hours a day at 6 miles an hour?
What do you mean, secrets of the past? Some countries still use fortnight in everyday language.
I’ve taken a couple of course from edX. In 2012, Harvard and MIT created an online learning site that offers quality courses from the world’s best universities and institutions to learners worldwide. You only pay if you want credit or you want to matriculate for a degree. This is their link: https://www.edx.org/ I’ve taken a class from Hamilton College which is in Clinton, New York and a class Delft University of Technology which is in the Netherlands. The range of courses and universities is amazing and it can be free for the taking!
Lori, thanks for this link! I don’t need any more letters behind my name, and free is exactly the right price!
Wow, Lori. Thanks! Great resource.
Thanks for sharing this link, Lori. I’ll be passing this on to my husband, too. What a great resource! Free-99 is my favorite price!
My two favorite forms of learning are: 1) researching for my latest novel, and 2) talking to people! Needing to know how something works or is done or happened is serious incentive to go out and learn it. And talking to people–oh, the things they know!
Yep. Talking to people. A rich education awaits.
I’ve taken up the cello, as well as volunteering at my church one day a week where I’m learning some gardening skills and even putting my long unused art skills to use again (and sometimes I clean bathrooms!). Music is a totally new area of learning for me. I wish there was more time and energy to focus on it, but writing (and all that goes along with that now) still must get the lion’s share. I agree. Never stop learning. The act of writing historical novels means that at least I’ll never stop learning history.
The studies about the effect that learning a whole new discipline has on our creativity are pretty impressive.
I’d recently been taking lessons in German, but had to drop out because I didn’t have enough time. I attend writers’ conferences and workshops and read a lot. I hate webinars because I spend so much time at the computer anyway. And I’m primarily a visual, not auditory, learner.
That’s something else I’ve always wanted to learn– languages.
I’ve always been fascinated by languages and took lots of Linguistics electives in College. I’m only fluent in two languages, though. Those are English and American Sign Language.
One totally new discipline?
Auto mechanics.
My husband can look at a vehicle and fix almost any problem. He’s saved us 1000’s of dollars!
When I traveled in Bolivia, one of our team was a mechanic and we’d still be on a mountain road if it wasn’t for him.
I don’t like being dependent on others for things I could fix if I knew what to look for.
And if you were ever stranded on a desert island you could be the MacGyver.
Being a lifelong learner is a passion for both my husband and myself. He just finished his doctorate in organizational leadership. Due to my health, I took a break from school. Over the last month, I’ve been talking to my husband about my desire to go back.
Even when I’m not in an official class setting, I read books on the theology, spiritual growth, and the craft of writing. I also enjoy reading books that provide a deeper study of the Bible.
Nerd Confession: I read Bible dictionaries, commentaries, and do word studies with the Strongest NIV Exhaustive
Concordance.
I read writing blogs, too.
There are so many free ways to access quality information. I have to be careful, though. When I research, one link may kead me down an hour-long journey of OMGosh-that’s-so-interesting.
I would love to learn Greek and Hebrew, which would be mandatory if God provides fir me to finish my BA in Christian Ministry and work toward my Masters in Biblical Studies at
Regent.
I learn through interactions with people, too. I’m always delighted when I leave a conversation with a bit more wisdom than I had before.
My favorite learning experience comes through daily Bible reading, though.
I’ve read through the Bible in a year since 2005. I learn something new every time.
I apologize for the typos. Replying from my cell phone is not my wisest choice. I should have learned that lesson by now! Well, it’s a good thing I’m a life-long learner. I can also be a slow learner. 😉
No apologies necessary. We all do the same. Between tiny phones and spell check, it’s the rare text or comment that stays correct.
I wish I could learn Greek and Hebrew. When I was a kid I wanted to learn every language in the world, but, obviously, that’s not possible. I did study Latin, German, and French, which are all languages that influenced the development of English, but I’m not fluent in any of those.
Janet, I look forward to learning more about you while rooming with you at Mount Hermon. Hugs!
Xochi, you and your husband are inspirations. And you are right, when we can’t do formal education we can still devour books.
Thanks for your encouragement, Wendy. My hubby will be blessed by your kind words, too. God used you to teach me a few valuable lessons last year: (1) Don’t waste time listening to negative voices. (2) If you want to reach a goal, keep learning, showing up, and working hard. (3) Be flexible and willing to juggle if you don’t want to limit God. (4) Be sure it’s God directing before you jump onto a path without looking both ways.
Thank you for you, and for encouraging me to write from the heart. You make a difference!
Thank you for being you, not thank you for you. Oh, there goes that slow learning again. 😉
Life-long learner, you bet! I’ve been teaching high school seniors for 22 years, and it’s such a privilge to help my kiddos prepare to launch into life. It’s a constant reminder that there’s more to learn, room to grow, and places to go. I once read that if we’re not learning, then we’re making decisions based on what we “used to know.” That’s scary!
Especially in our fast-moving technological age!
How can you ever stop learning?
Thanks, Wendy!