Hitting The Books Again

The lifelong learner is at it again. :-)

I have just enrolled in a Diploma of Professional Book Editing, Proofreading and Publishing with the Australian College of Queensland.

It's a home study course, which means I can achieve my objectives without having to attend classes outside the home.

To enable me to really study and get the most out of this opportunity, we plan to put J in childcare twice a week.

This is subject to us qualifying for Family Tax Benefits in the new FY, because childcare is costly here (at least $1k pm!) and we couldn't afford it on one income.

I've had people ask why I'm doing this course when I'm already a working editor/proofreader. My point is that what I've learnt from doing is probably just the tip of the iceberg.

To be able to pitch for bigger projects, I must position myself with confidence, and I can only be confident about what I know well. I can't be hazarding guesses or I won't inspire confidence in future clients.

So it's about skills upgrading, which is something I passionately believe in anyway.

The bonus in all this is that the VIC government and the school I'm enrolled in are actually sponsoring my course (otherwise I couldn't afford the commitment at this time of my life). I'm doing the course with a government grant called the Parents Return To Work initiative, and an additional subsidy from school.

I don't have to put in a cent of my own, just the hard yards.

And that's not a hard thing to do when you're doing something you love. :-)

I had a quick look at my course materials and was really excited to see they've included a copy of the Macquarie Pocket Dictionary of Australian English.

My course tutor is a lady who runs her own editing and proofreading business from her farm in country NSW, in between watching the lambs, calves and grass grow.

How inspiring's that?