You can obviously tell by the title of this article that I had no idea what to write about this week.
I love writing for Odyssey. It gives students the opportunity to write about their experiences or whatever is on their mind. As much as I love it, I hate it too. Don’t get me wrong. I love writing and always have loved it. However, writing articles can sometimes be difficult–no matter how much you're passionate about it. I have had my fair share of struggles in such a short amount of time as an Odyssey writer. I am sure that I am not alone with some of these cases, so I decided that this week's article would be about just that: five struggles all Odyssey writers deal with.
1. Writer’s block.
The number one worst struggle when it comes to writing for Odyssey is when we get hit with writer's block. It's so frustrating–there are 1,000,000 things on this planet that occur regularly, yet once we sit down to write, it's as if all knowledge of life seems to disappear from our minds, and we're left staring blankly at our computer screens until an idea randomly sparks.
2. Making sure article topics are good enough.
Although we write articles based off of our own experiences and interests, we still want them to be something everyone can relate to. This difference of interest can be difficult to overcome sometimes.
3. Accidentally deleting work.
Odyssey pro: The site has an automatic save feature for everything we write.
Odyssey con: There is no "go back" or "revert" button.
Although it's awesome that our work will pretty much always be saved without us having to do a thing, it also means that anything we delete or backspace on will be saved too, and there is no way to get it back once it's gone. I'm sure every Odyssey writer has had at least one instance in which they have accidentally erased an entire paragraph from their article and then hated themselves for the next week because of it. Odyssey has taught me that Microsoft Word is my best friend.
4. Forgetting to share.
Sharing is a huge part of Odyssey–it's the only way people can find our articles to read! Although there's a way to schedule shares, it's often important to share these articles more often than not, and I, for one, am terrible at this. For someone who is always scrolling through social media, I often forget to regularly share articles.
5. Stalking the "Top Articles" list.
As college students, we are all broke (and if you meet a student who tells you otherwise, they are either lying, in denial, or #blessed). Having a top article will not only let us know that our efforts were well-appreciated–it may even earn us a little moolah too, and who wouldn't want that?
So, here's to all of the Odyssey joys and struggles we have to face as writers. Although it can be stressful at times, I look forward to future moments of writer's block, forgetfulness and more. Because what's greatness without a little work?
