Catching up 1: back to school!
I'll be working towards a Masters degree on a part time basis
It's official: over the next two years I'll be working towards garnering a Masters in Strategic Foresight from the Ontario College of Art and Design. This will formalize my skills and experience in an area where I already do a good deal of work--foresight studies, also called futures study or just futurism.
I'm already a futurist, I suppose, though for me at least that term tends to conjure images of chrome-domed technophiles ranting about how we're all going to have flying cars in our driveways in ten years. Technology foresight, which is what I specialize in, is less ivory-tower and more inclusive, however, because it involves the contribution of stakeholders in imagining both the scenarios and the probabilities attached to them.
I hasten to add that I won't be doing this work instead of my SF writing; I will be doing it in addition to writing. I'm still deeply committed to my science fiction and to writing in all its forms. What this degree program will do is give me more tools for my workshop, allowing me to approach the study of the future from more directions. It's all good.
Half-way there
Excellent to hear that you're going further with the futurism. I'm sure it can't detract from your writing - what you lose in time, you'll gain in depth.
As for flying cars - they always sound cool until one considers how badly regular cars are driven...