Betsy Carter

Writer

Grad Year: 1967

 

Following my passion

When I graduated from the U of M in 1967, I went straight to New York from the graduation ceremony, got myself a room at the YMCA and began looking for a job in journalism.  I always wrote and all I ever wanted to do was to become a journalist in New York.  I said and wrote it so many times it became one word: journalistinnewyork.  My first job was at a McGraw Hill newsletter, Air & Water News, all about air and water pollution.  I went to sewage treatment plants and noise pollution conferences and wrote articles about how air pollution affected animals in the zoo.

My career as a writer

I went on to have a long career as a magazine reporter, writer and then editor.  A few years ago, I left magazines to become a fulltime writer.  Two weeks ago, I completed my fourth book (third novel).  Studying English at the U of M made me comfortable in the world of words and the craft of writing.

My old Norton Anthologies are still aglow with yellow magic marker highlights, and my snaky notes still fill the margins ("see God here?", "the totality of living???").  Learning to look behind the words and understand what I was reading; having to express my own thoughts in papers, talking about writing with my professors--all of these experiences have stayed with me, fed my work and made the world of letters not only come alive, but seem possible in my own life.

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