Academic Study as a Hobby

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I dropped out of university 12 years ago because I couldn't keep up with the work but I keep feeling an urge to write essays at my own pace as a hobby. My subject is English and my biggest regret is that I never got to write my dissertation which was going to be on the work of Evelyn Waugh. The Ghost of the Dissertation That Never Was keeps rattling its chains and I've found myself doing a lot of preparatory reading and the ideas just keep flooding in and I want to do it.

I guess what I want is university without the strings. A vast academic library, lectures I can drop into from time to time, a tutor to read my essays and discuss ideas with and my own imagination without the pressures of a course syllabus, assignment deadlines and exams. I think the closest thing we've got to that is the internet but I don't know of any online communities that would be interested in English essays below professional academic standard.

Anyone here do hobbyist academic study without any ties to a college or university?

I suppose that's what I do. My primary interest is medicine (pathology, psychology) and I've collected a lot of relevant textbooks. I read them, do the practice questions, make flashcards, and take online quizzes. All of that is entirely unrelated to school, but I like to think of it as prep -- I plan to return to school to become a Medical Laboratory Technician, and later a Medical Laboratory Scientist. So all of that information will apply to my life later. Still, I'm doing all of this for pleasure, and calling it "prep" is probably just an excuse to read textbooks until 2am.

Have you considered just writing a book or publishing essays?

I didn't have this experience, because I first studied, and then began to write. Either in the latest courses. And I think here you just need to practice, try something new, but follow some rules. At BuyEssay in the blog, there are really a lot of useful articles. They have specific points, following which you will be able to master an academic writing.

https://www.mediabistro.com/

enter writing contests

see if you can publish something in the local college newspaper

Sort of. The best I can do is audio books while working a very boring driving job.

I've listened to a few physics books by Neil Degrasse Tyson and Lawrence Krauss. I really enjoyed Krauss' biography on Richard Feynman. The descriptions of Feynman's work were mind-bendingly complicated, but that is why I enjoyed it.

I've seen a series on Audible called "The Great Courses" intended to bring academic level lectures to lay people. I'm thinking about their series on Philosophy.

There has been no better time in human history than right now to be able to do the things you describe. Between books.google.com and scholar.google.com you have free access to a library that the greatest universities in the world couldn't have given you even 20 years ago. With sites like academia.edu, researchgate.net, and others, you can establish networks and contacts, publish your own manuscripts and solicit comments, and more. There are vast numbers of top notch university lectures online from Yale, Oxford, and many other places (edX, YaleCourses, etc.). As I say, it is easier to do what you describe now than at any point in human history.

I believe it's doable. Even in a real university. i don't feel comfortable saying more. I wish you the best regardless.