Graduate Student Spotllight | Cameron Rogers ’17

"Frederick is such a wonderful city to be close to, and Hood is such a welcoming place to study at. I feel so at home studying and working here. The staff are great people, and the programs are accessible. The classes are made with working adults in mind, so it isn't hard to balance a schedule around them."

Cameron Rogers, M.A. Humanities

Program

Humanities (M.A.)

Department

English & Communication Arts

Alumni
Graduate School
Graduate Student
Staff

Alumni
Graduate School
Graduate Student
Humanities

04/17/2024

Cameron Rogers ’17 is a current student in Hood College’s Master of Arts in Humanities and a graduate assistant. Rogers is also the author of “Their Day Are Like Grass,” which takes place locally in the City of Frederick and is his first published novel. We spoke with him about his experience writing his first book and what that experience was like while juggling being a full-time graduate student.

Please provide a brief bio including your educational and career background.

I’ve pretty much spent my life in Maryland, alternating between Severn and Frederick. I earned a bachelor’s in communication arts at Hood in 2017. After that, I went to work for the National Security Agency (NSA) between 2018 and 2019. I made plans to shift my career’s direction by early 2020, but those fell flat when the pandemic hit.

I moved to Frederick in 2022 to pursue a master’s in humanities and to work part time at Hood. It felt like the right call after just barely losing job opportunities to people with more education or experience. The familiarity with Hood and good experiences in my undergraduate years drove my choice to study here.

Can you give a brief overview of your book and what it is about?

“Their Days Are Like Grass” is a young adult romance novel set in contemporary Frederick. It follows a transgender college student, Rose Bennett, as she collaborates with a local artist named Armand Fletcher to finish a series of paintings before their deadline hits.

Their shared work brings the two closer and leads them to confront past issues that had been left unsolved—Rose with her family being kept in the dark about her transition, and Armand with his parents’ traumatic deaths still weighing on him. Despite the heavy subject matter, it’s ultimately an uplifting and feel-good story with a hopeful romance at its center.

What was it like to write a book while still being a student?

Definitely complicated! I actually wrote the first draft of this while working for the NSA. A lot of its material was written during my lunch breaks and on weekends. The first round of edits and feedback happened during the pandemic, so I really had nothing better to do.

The tricky part came when I continued reaching out to literary agents after starting my master’s degree: I now had to juggle looking for work while querying agents and taking on assignments. It became a balancing act of priorities. Shifting to self-publishing just traded one set of priorities for another, though I’m glad I was able to get the book released and properly market it now.

What are some of the challenges you had to overcome while writing the book?

I went into it with limited knowledge of the artistic process and transgenderism, so I needed to get research done in order to do both concepts justice. That meant looking into potential sources, reaching out, setting up interviews and rewriting initial plot concepts that didn’t match what I learned. It was an important part of the writing process though. I’m truly grateful to the artists and activists who took the time to respond to me. Their insights were essential for making the story as authentic as I could make it.

An ongoing challenge has been promoting and selling the book after the self-publishing process finished. Pretty much all of the responsibility to market the book is on me now. I’ve had to scramble to find ways to get the word out about it. Fortunately, I’ve made connections with places like the Delaplaine Art Center, and I’ve gotten valuable advice and support from groups like the Frederick Writer’s Salon. Some of the faculty and staff at Hood College have also been very supportive of it.

Why did you choose Hood College and the humanities program?

I came out of my undergraduate years satisfied with Hood, so it made sense to return here for a master’s degree. The humanities program felt like a good way to expand on my communication arts degree since I wanted to continue my work in writing, editing and marketing.

What do you enjoy most about being at Hood College?

Easily the community and location! Frederick is such a wonderful city to be close to, and Hood is such a welcoming place to study at. I feel so at home studying and working here. The staff are great people, and the programs are accessible. The classes are made with working adults in mind, so it isn’t hard to balance a schedule around them.

Any other information/fun facts that you would like to add?

I swam for Hood College’s team in all four years of my undergraduate studies, and I still have a few records on the board in Huntsinger! I’m also wrapping up work on the first draft of another book.

It's a young adult mystery/horror novel, and it’s set in southern Maryland. It heavily focuses on local mythology and cryptids in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Inspired by Cameron's story and ready to #GOFURTHER in your career? Learn about Hood’s graduate programs, including the Humanities program by clicking here.