RMIT Horizons: Making plans for graduation

As their third year of study comes to a close, and graduation looms, Adam Camobreco and Sarah Dunwoodie muse on what comes after the degree.

This post is the final in a series created in conjunction with RMIT Horizons, a creative writing lab for third-year students at the university, and the creative minds behind EWF 2017 event, Double Exposure.

Adam Camobreco

Approaching the end of any Arts degree and wondering what comes next can be intimidating. Pressures will abound for you to be another clog in that machine called life and for your dreams to be pushed aside. Add to that, those curious reactions following your answer to that ever so important question of our time: “So, what do you do for a living?”. But never mind that – you trying and a strong focus towards your goal is what matters. It is an attractive strength of character…My advice for after graduation is to just keep at your craft, if time is of the essence to try and make time the best you can, to network and share your work with other writers, to always be on the lookout for opportunities, to never mind what others think (they’re just unhappy), to never ever give up your passion, and to always have lots and lots of fun…

Sarah Dunwoodie

Last night I was sitting in a bar in Fitzroy with a friend as she told me she knew writers isolated themselves in order to write their major works in films, but she didn’t know anyone who actually did that in real life. We laughed about what I’m planning to do in the next few months and I told her I hated how much of a cliché I was/how wanky this all feels. But with it came the realisation that this is my life, as much as it crosses over with the lives of stereotypical writer characters in Woody Allen films. I decide what’s important enough to me, and what makes me okay with becoming a total cliché. Every writer reaches this point. They decide what they want, what they have to do to achieve their goal, and they figure out what they want to be. If you’re in the existential crisis point of finishing a Creative Writing degree (or, let’s be honest, any Arts degree) and you’re wondering what’s next for you, I suggest nailing down exactly what is you want to say to people at parties when they ask you what you do.

Hear from Adam, Sarah and twelve of their peers at Double Exposure, a night of dark confessions, grey areas and white lies, Thursday 15 June at 1000£ Bend.

 Double Exposure is presented in conjunction with RMIT University.