Degree, or Disagree

I am a writer. Its one of those things I do. Sometimes being "a writer" is akin to being "a nose picker", others it is simply another of the low pay, hard work, crafts. Either way, I am a writer.
I have pursued Creative Writing academically, but not as a degree.
Working, occasionally, in a library I pick up "first novels" all the time, and find myself often wondering at the acclaim given a writer simply for having gotten a degree before ever publishing their first novel.
I say Bah! to that. You got it or you don’t. Everyone can use a little (even a lot) of fine-tuning, but in the end no amount of degree, no amount of education, can give you that something if you don’t have it.

A degree is a good and fine thing especially if having that degree is your passion, or truly integral to it. But degrees do not writers make, only improve.