I used to love to write when I was little. I was a pretty introverted kid, as many of my then-friends could have attested to, and so writing was my hobby. I could do it independently, on my own time. I would come home from school —elementary school, mind you— and if nothing special was going on, I would sit at a desktop that was probably twice my size, and just write.

I wrote all kinds of things. Looking back on that work now —as I only managed to save some of it amid two few computer changes and a crash— it was written terribly. It was maybe above average for an elementary school student, but overall, it was not good. I vividly remember how much joy writing gave me in those early years. However, when I think back on it, two points stick out.

The first is that I tried to write big. I had my mind set on authoring the next great fictional masterpiece — no, I'm not kidding. I was going to be the next J.K. Rowling or C.S. Lewis. I figured it would take a long time, don't get me wrong, but I genuinely thought that I would do it.

The second is that I wrote fiction — fantasy, in fact. I was attempting to write the next great fantasy novel. Remember, this is before Twilight was a thing; it was before the Hunger Games and dystopian-themed series became prevalent. I was on a mission to develop the most awesome, fantastical creatures, and no one could have told me otherwise.

The longest story I ever wrote —I believe it was 30 pages single-spaced on Word—featured a family of six kids who somehow managed to fall down a hole in the ground near their village home, and ended up in a world of my own creation. They encountered odd characters, faced challenging predicaments, got separated a time or two, and evolved a lot.

I think I managed to work in that the kids in the family were related to Alice from "Alice in Wonderland," to satisfy my concern that the stories were too similar. I don't remember exactly.

What I do remember is that I was devasted when I hit a roadblock; I wasn't sure where to take the story.

At the time, though, I wrote several others: one was about a boy who turned into a werewolf and ended up in a Narnia-like world, which oddly reminds me of the "Game of Thrones" realm now; another was about a family of inventors who made the first time machine.

I never completed one story.

My imagination was bigger than my capacity to write. I enjoyed coming up with concepts, but I could never see the story through to the end.

Nevertheless, I'm not exactly sure when I stopped attempting to write hundred-page fantasy novels, but I do remember why.

I heard somewhere —maybe I read it, I'm not sure— that you should write what you know. This is ambiguous, I realize, but the way I understood it was such that I should probably refrain from writing stories about werewolves ... and perhaps, as a ten-year-old, I should stop trying to write the next "Les Miserables."

I got involved with my high school newspaper when the opportunity arose and I did the same at college. There, I get to write about current events — news articles about my university's administration, campus, student government, the federal government and general human interest pieces: in other words, I get to write what is known — facts that are true. Writing for the Odyssey is another way to write what I know, only in a different context, because I generally write about my perspectives and thoughts on certain things.

Additionally —though I certainly don't do much of it anymore— I continue to write stories, only they aren't fantasies. They're still fiction, I admit, but they are much realer than the stories I wrote when I was young. I would argue they have more substance. There are no rabbit holes or mythical creatures. I try to make them thought-provoking. Many of them actually include, or contain pieces of, incidents in my own life.

I don't necessarily enjoy this type of realer writing more than I did fantasy stories when I was young. Of course, they serve completely different purposes and my writing has improved greatly.

I think, though, it shows how my writing has evolved as a result of necessity; it shows a change in the places I've been and the purposes for which I have had to write.

I would argue that the change in my writing has been a positive one. I'm certainly not as intoverted as I was when I was a kid; and now, I write for an audience. I write about real-world circumstances, and I talk to people for my work. I incoporate quotes and feedback; I come up with my own topics and ideas.

The change has opened my mind to theories about the world — important events in the news and at my University — as well as getting in touch with my own insights.

I am eternally grateful for the writing experiences I have had.