I have numerous times. What about you?

Have you ever self-studied a course?

I suppose I should ask you to define self-study.

Have I done studying on my own, above and beyond what was required of me? Yes. My freshmen English class I did all the work, plus read the books that the honors classes were reading because I had the time. I did things like that with history classes as well.

Did I ever basically do a class entirely on my own and not sit in a classroom for it? No. I don't think my school offered that ability or I totally would have.

septembern : Well I have never studied a course on my own directly but I guess the best example that I could give would be my career as a writer. I pretty much came up the hard way when it came to my writing. I wasn’t really given adequate opportunities in school and that eventually led to me leaving school. So even though I was a writer for several years before I left school I pretty much took a self-educated approach to things.

I’ve been writing since I was twelve years old, as I write this I am about a month and a half from turning twenty-eight so it’s been a long time. In November it will be the start of my sixteenth year as a writer. So I definitely was not an over night success and am in fact still paying my dues in hopes that I’ll finally get the chances that haven’t come my way for years.

I have worked really hard and had the benefit of becoming friends with fellow writers when I was younger who took me under their wing and helped me get the professional polishing that I needed and helped me improve my grammar and such.

To those few people I owe them no end of an amount of thanks for all the advice and all the tips that they gave me along the way and I am honored to say that these people are my friends as well as colleagues. It has been a hard road for me there are no bones about that. I had to learn a lot just to get the polishing that I needed. I spent many hours working on material, reading other writer’s work and paid attention to how they would format their material and would match it up against my material to see what improvements I needed to make etc.

I am very dedicated to my craft and that comes from hours and hours of writing at my desk and eventually I started getting more and more spots with several different websites. Eventually I got into magazines and I was even syndicated online for a couple of years. I’m proud to say that I am a legitimate journalist having never taken any formal classes or anything like that. I’ve even done radio as an expert analyst for several sports radio stations throughout the US (Though it’s been a few years since my last appearance). Although some would say that is something that one can hang their hat on so to speak, I want to do so much more in my career before I feel comfortable enough to give myself credit.

People have told me I don’t nearly get the credit that I deserve based on my background but from my perspective there is so much more that I need to do before I myself can feel even at least a little satisfied. I feel this way mainly because a lot of people don’t really know the full spectrum of what a writer has to go through and the trials and tribulations that come with the territory of the job along with the occasional highs. The main struggle is if you’re on a freelance level as I have been, it is difficult to make solid money off of your work. You have to really research the people you’re thinking of working for to make sure their solid. You might end up taking a couple of spots with different companies for little or no money simply because of the increased exposure that those companies can provide you.

I have been writing since 1995 and have been doing it fulltime since 2001 so I speak from experience in regard to that. I also work a schedule that few people could really understand as it is a self-imposed schedule in that I literally try to cover anything and everything that I may have access to regardless of time differences or, if I happen to be covering something else on the same day or even at the same time. I do this primarily because as I said I am a freelancer and, my philosophy being a Boxing writer is that every fight is a potential story regardless of the length of the contest, the fighters themselves or what may be at stake. It is an exhausting schedule that I put on myself in the hope that it will lead to more solid opportunities at some point where I may be earning a salary. I have also covered Wrestling and recently started covering Mixed Martial Arts so I do find ways to keep going.

If and when I ever do get a position with a newspaper or lord willing a network where all I have to worry about is what I’ve been assigned to do then I will certainly slow down a little. I will still cover stuff on a freelance basis though from time to time. As I said I have done radio in the past as an expert analyst so I would love to break into broadcasting as well at some point. It’s been a dream of mine since I was a boy to be a broadcaster for a world title fight. I hope that I will be able to achieve that at some point.

Earlier this year, I was honored to participate in a press conference for one of Evander Holyfield’s fights. It took me fifteen years to get the trust from those I work for to where I was granted credentials to do a press conference. Having grown up watching Holyfield and covering many of his fights from a distance I can not tell you how nervous I was. Even with all the radio appearances I’ve done and all the articles I’ve written for companies all over the world, I don’t think I was ever as nervous as I was that day.

Fortunately for me adrenaline kicked in and I asked the most questions of anyone in the conference, the most relevant questions and actually got some good quotes and wasn’t ignored by Holyfield or his opponent.

I was happy that I did my job but I won’t lie when I say that when it was over and I was done. I really couldn’t believe that I talked to Evander Holyfield and wasn’t ignored. I’m still a fan at heart and as I said I grew up watching Holyfield. It was a big moment for me… Needless to say I was feeling really good for about a week or so. It was definitely a high point of my career and I will never forget it and am grateful that I was given that opportunity and appreciate it more then I can say.

Although I can say I am a journalist through nothing but hard work, perseverance and, determination I would like to take a journalism course at some point just to prove I could do it and perhaps show a professor what someone with no formal education was able to accomplish and, learn more things that I can use to make myself better. I also am open to helping younger writers and or people who are interested in becoming a writer, much as writers took me under their wing when I was young.

As I said I really don’t like to give myself credit because I am still paying my dues. Perhaps the moment I give myself credit and have that “Look what I’ve become” moment will come if I ever get to work a fight card at Madison Square Garden. For anyone involved in the sport of Boxing Madison Square Garden is the Mecca and for me being a New Yorker and having only been to The Garden twice in my life, neither being for Boxing that would be a career defining moment for me. If I ever get that honor I may feel comfortable enough to give myself credit that some people think I deserve.

I hope so at least…

Yes, I have. In fact, I am doing a self-study course for the first time right now.

Well I guess if you count learning HTML and stuff like that then yes I have. Though if you mean like actual classes that could transfer to college and stuff then no I have not.

If you're talking about studying outside of class, yes. I did that a lot for my psychology class last term. My teacher put up an extra credit study-guide-quiz thing online and I did all of it. Wound up with an A. It actually really helped. 

If you're talking about learning all the material entirely outside of class, no. I've never done that. I don't think I'd be able to do that very well.

Yes I studied alot outside class.. of course when I wanted 2.. but I always had 2 make time 2 studie.

Yeah i have done that most of the time ..I didn't really have a long time at school .

I've done it a couple times. I enjoy a good bit of learning from time to time after all.

One thing I enjoyed teaching myself was advanced history. I was always ahead of the class in it because I knew the material so well.

Hence why History was one of my favorite subjects.

I might self-study Japanese and Spanish (even though they might not be courses where I'm going) so I can be prepared for those when I do take them.

iv self studied but not an entire course myself. the closest iv done to that is in highschool history, i was good at it and advanced so fast i ended up killing time by reading all the material meant for the higher grades.