Have you ever thought about writing something? A poem, an article, or even just a heartfelt note to someone? I know there are people out there who absolutely hate typing out papers for school or can't stand that creative writing class that you were told you had to take this semester, but maybe just maybe you might actually be good at writing or may even like to write. I had no idea that I would even like to write when I first started, but here I am writing articles for the Odyssey! Which is totally crazy to think about. I can still remember when I became a writer for life.

I first learned that I liked to write when I was in third grade. I had a teacher who blocked out time in class for all the students to write about what ever they wanted in their journals. I started to enjoy this time more and more each day; always trying to come up with a new story to tell and eventually, I began writing in chapters adding to a story I wanted to continue with. Students had to share what they had wrote about after journal time was over and the teacher would read over and grade our journal entries as well. One day, when I flipped to my journal entry from the day before, the teacher had left a note for me saying that I had written a really great story and should continue to write because she saw potential in me. Okay, so I know I was in third grade and that all teachers are nice and encouraging to their students, but this struck a chord in me and ended up launching a life long hobby/passion/dream/goal that I have carried with me my whole life.

As I got older, I went from writing my stories in a journal to typing them out on my first laptop. It was hard for me to tell people about my love for writing because I never really knew if I was actually good at it or if my third grade teacher was just yanking my chain. In eighth grade, I became obsessed with reading books and then I was a goner. From then on, my goal in life was to become a New York Times bestselling author. That is still a goal of mine today, to be honest. I think it would be absolutely awesome to write a book and it end up on that list.

In the back of my head, I will always question if I really have what it takes, skills and creativity wise, to write something that is good enough to end up on that list. I think that everyone questions themselves like this. Always wondering if you are up to par. But for those of you who are closet writers like I use to be, here is some advice: It's okay to question yourself, but also have faith in yourself. If writing is something that you really like to do then keep writing, keep striving to produce the best story that you can. You might be scared to open yourself and your stories up to the world, but I believe that we all must take a leap of faith sometimes to see what could happen. So keep on writing and expressing your creativity like I know you can, I hope to see you on the New York Times bestseller's list some day!