Recession is coming. Here are some tips from an English major who graduated in the Great Recession.

I graduated in '08, a few months before the meltdown. The current vibe in the professional world now feels a lot like it did back then.

This post exists to explain some of the things I did during the Great Recession that set me up for success when the smoke cleared, and also some of the things I wish somebody told me.

• Leave your college town or home town. Head for a city. You need to be around other young artists. You need to be near opportunities. You need to join or create community. Struggle, but know that failure is impossible because simply doing it is the metric for success. This is mandatory.
• Write and publish regularly. I wrote as an American for a Chinese tourist magazine, then as a reviewer for a Canadian music magazine. Neither paid, but both required weekly posts which sometimes got traffic, which led to other opportunities Fifteen years later I still get messages from promoters and other people in the industry with paying jobs.
• Join a writing group. You need feedback, we all do. That's how you get better. Consider grad school too, it's a good way to wait out recession.
• Turn down dumb opportunities. There will be a point when you have a portfolio and people will pop up offering "great exposure." They just want to exploit you. Tell them to eat rocks, and if you're vindictive use your skills as a writer to bad-mouth them on yelp or linkedin, then get exposure on your own terms when people see your roast.
• Write a blog or personal website. NOT REDDIT OR SOCIAL MEDIA! You need to own the domain you post to. This is your calling card and portfolio. I actually had a bunch of websites, which leads to my next tip,
• Get a trade skill. I became a shop technician/machinist, and later learned web development. Working in the shop on my feet all day and unintentionally huffing industrial chemicals for a sociopathic boss gave me a very strong desire to achieve something else, while also providing creative material and radicalizing life experience. Web dev made it so I could publish the stuff I thought up without a gatekeeper.
• Trade skills can also help you get technical writing jobs. These are typically the highest-paying entry-level jobs in the writing biz.
• DO NOT TURN YOUR TRADE INTO YOUR CAREER. It exists to serve you and your aspirations. Do not become a slave to it. I made this mistake and it set my writing back years.
• Ditch your car. It alienates you. If you want to succeed you need to be close to the action and actively participating in the world around you, not wasting resources to drive through it.
• In fact, try to limit material possessions. They weigh you down and during a recession you need to be lightweight so that you can move and have spare capital to invest in opportunities.
• By lightweight I don't mean skinny. Your body is your primary tool for personal development and its abilities and shortcomings are filters that will help develop your intellectual powers. Use it often, but don't get overly focused on changing it.
• Listen to the world when you're outside your home. Take your earbuds out and be aware. Listen to how people speak, especially really good speakers and story tellers (another reason to take the bus: topics and stories). Emulate what you hear through what you write. Read based on topics you encounter - or upsettingly fail to encounter - while living life.
• You WILL be challenged. You may decide to give up on the values and goals you believed in as an English major. That's OK. You can come back any time, and might be the better for it.