The Odyssey community is full of writers who have taken on the challenge of taking a topic, any topic, and writing 500 words about it. We’re all here to share our perspective and show the world that there are a million different sides to every issue. As a content writer myself, I have to magically pull an idea from my brain every Friday. So where do these ideas come from?

What do I find important?

Looking at my life, I always have plenty of things that hold a place in my heart. Incredible people, a school I love, a large faith community and causes I have an emotional stake in. Looking down the Odyssey front page, you will see almost entirely political articles for the next few months. This is what is important to the people writing for the Odyssey. Others write about their faith, their family or where they grew up. Where we came from and what made them who they are today. We write because we have a story to share and we share pieces of ourselves by showing the world what’s important to us.

What warms my heart?

I totally get that this world was not created for optimists, but I refuse to let that stop me. There are so many acts of kindness that I see every day that I want to share with the world. There are so many great things that happen every single day that are covered up by ugly things going on in the world. Why not share beautiful ideas and stories with a community of people who are just trying to their best to make a better world? Some people share things that start a fire in their hearts while some people just want to spread a few warm fuzzies to their internet friends.

What do I talk about a lot?

I talk way too much. In recent years I’ve attempted to use my words to actually SAY something, but I’m still a work in progress. My article topics often come from conversations I’ve had in the past week or the past month. I think this is where a lot of the “an open letter to…” concepts come from. Some of these letters are to a person they’ve never met, some of them are meant for a person they’re praying for, and some of them are to people they already know.

What is going on in my life?

I have a tendency to write about the mess I’m sitting in the middle of. If you want to see how my week was, just look at my article for the week. I’m so sorry you guys have to witness this.

OMG I NEED TO FINISH THIS BY MIDNIGHT ON FRIDAY AND ITS ALREADY 1AM ON SATURDAY

My biggest writing motivator is my Odyssey writing community at Fort Hays State University. They surround me with love and ideas and I feel an obligation to contribute to our content goal each week. I rarely meet my deadline at a reasonable time, but somehow they love me anyway.

Every week I’m asked to look at the world around me and write about it. I never really know what I’ll write until I sit down and force myself to write an article. Finding inspiration to write absolutely sucks, but it seems to be around me all the time. I just have to focus it into 500 words. Pray for me.