Many years ago, I was lucky enough to attend Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa. I studied chemistry, amongst other subjects, and qualified with a degree in pharmacy.
Several decades - and several career changes later - I find myself featured on the university's Literacy Thursday programme, which highlights fiction and non-fiction books written by Rhodes alumni.
As a student, I never envisaged moving from the sciences to literature; but having done so, I wouldn't have expected my scientific background to help me write novels! Yet it has, and in a way I could not have imagined. Studying subjects like chemistry, pharmaceutics and pharmacology demands attention to detail. Later, practising as a pharmacist required focus - and the necessity to finish a task and not abandon it halfway. After all, that prescription must be filled! That calculation of dosages must be correct! Patients cannot be left waiting!
So... as an aspiring author... when inspiration seemed to fade or I was inclined to give up on a manuscript, the early training reasserted itself and insisted I continue to the end. No writer's block was allowed! And what about disinterested publishers?
Just keep going, I told myself. Keep writing - and trust that the story will emerge even if it requires many revisions to get to a product that someone will want to publish.
Hubris? Naivety? Luck? Perhaps a little of each.
They say that no education is ever a waste, even if you stray far from your speciality.
I can only respond by shouting:
Hear! Hear!
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