I've always been a writer. As a kid (and even now), writing papers for school was never the worst thing because I knew that I could do it, and do it well. Well, except the one time I got an F on a draft because I did the sourcing all wrong, but that's another story.

I'm also a big music person. As I mentioned in my last article, music has always had a big part in my life for a multitude of reasons. In my senior year of high school, I had debated starting a music blog where I could share my thoughts on music with others who loved it like myself. But back then, I couldn't come up with a good name, didn't know what I was doing, and had too much on my plate what with college applications and all.

Jump ahead about two years. In my sophomore year of college, I had to create a blog for two different classes where I would upload writing assignments. When it came close to the end of the semester, I started toying around with the music blog idea again. Since I already had an existing site, and why should it go to waste after the semester's end? So I started brainstorming post ideas, and ended up publishing my first blog post--a track by track look into the All Time Low album "Future Hearts"--and my blog was born.

A year has passed since then. In that time, I've written many track by tracks, album reviews, single reviews, and news updates. My writing skills grew and were enhanced the more I wrote. I found my writing getting better in my schoolwork. When I took a journalism class and had to write in AP style, I adopted those writing traits and applied them to my blog, which upped the content quality there as well. I developed a critical viewpoint of music through my reviews, which helped me in the critical writing necessary for a mass communications major. I started listening to music in a new way that enhanced the listening experience and my love for music. But most importantly, I found a purpose in my life.

I had never been exceptional at anything in my life. I was good at various things, but never anything that felt like "my thing," that thing that defines who you are, like how some people are singers or artists. But when I started my blog, it was like something awoke within me. I realized that I not only was good at writing but loved doing it. My blog became a favorite pastime and a testament to something I had talent in, something I could use as evidence for future interviews that I could write. I even used samples from my blog to gain an internship and began writing for my Odyssey team thanks to my blog.

Starting my blog was the best move I had made in a while. Maintaining it and keeping it constantly updated with new content is exhausting, time-consuming, and sometimes challenging, but it has always been worth it. It can sometimes be discouraging when the view numbers on certain posts do not get as high as I'd like, but I always know that I wrote my best--and that my article is just one of many for people everywhere to sort through.

After a year of blogging, I am proud to define myself as a writer. It is something I love, and will hopefully continue to do for a while. To my fellow writers out there, whatever your writing style is--playwriting, blogging, book writing--I advise starting a blog of your own to help get yourself off the ground. Blogging is a great way to get people to notice your work and is a great channel for you.

Happy blogging!