I was on Facebook the other day, and I received a notification that, one year ago, I shared an article titled, “No Such Thing As Fake Fans.” It was one of the first articles that I had ever written for Odyssey. I have been writing articles on this platform for over a year. That just seems incredible to me.

I will always remember when I was asked to be a content creator for Odyssey. It happened while I was at work. My friend told me that she was putting together an Odyssey writing team on our campus, and she asked me if I was interested. I was one of the first people that she asked, and I am happy that I didn’t say no.

I remember the nervousness that I felt when it came time for me to write my first article. I knew I was going to be publishing something that not only would be open for the whole internet to read, but also for my friends and family. For the first time, I was going to be making my private thoughts and opinions public. That’s why I think that I wrote my first few articles about topics that were kind of safe-- nothing that would result in a lot of backlash. My "Attack on Titan" article might have been my most “dangerous” article back then.

As time went on, and I got used to writing articles for Odyssey, I really had to think about what I wanted to do with Odyssey. I was already (and still am) writing articles for my school newspaper, the Pacifican, and I had to figure out how my news articles would differ from my Odyssey articles. I needed to find a reason for spending my limited time writing articles for two different publications. I decided that the Pacifican would be for articles that were actual news articles that related to my campus, and Odyssey would be for everything else. Still kind of broad, but it encouraged me to continue to write for Odyssey.

There were two things that I told myself that I would never do as a content creator:

1. Never write a clickbait headline.

2. Never write about Donald Trump.

I ended up writing about Trump twice. The reason I didn’t want to write about Trump was because everyone else was doing it, and I really didn’t want to give him the attention.

I also noticed that a lot of people wrote articles that were really deep and personal, or in other words, some really serious stuff. That sort of made me lean away from writing serious articles. I did not want to add onto the pages of serious articles and risk my article either being forgotten or lost in that emotional sea.

That is why I started writing articles that were either fun or just absolutely ridiculous, especially since I am not getting paid to do this. If I am not going to get paid in cash, I might as well get paid in the lol’s. I’m pretty sure some philosopher said that at some point. Anyway, that’s why I started writing articles about vending machines and doors.

So, what’s next? Am I done with Odyssey? Is it time to get off this rollercoaster? To be honest, I think that I have just barely learned what I am truly capable of creating here on Odyssey, and I really want to see what I can do next. I cannot wait to see how my style evolves and how I grow as a content creator. I never would have thought that this platform would become so important in my journey as a writer.

Thanks to everyone who has read through my content, the good and the bad. And special thanks to Carolyn for introducing me to the Odyssey and inviting me onto the writing team.