Ever since I was a small child, writing has been my passion. I had such a wild imagination at a young age and, instead of being like other children who would go out and play, I would sit in my room and write. Looking back at it now, most of the writing I had done was quite terrible and all of my characters were terrible, but I was 5. As I grew older, I continued to write stories about some amazing characters and the amazing places they lived or traveled to. At one point, I was even trying to write a book about a ballerina who had cancer. While the plot seemed pretty great, I just ran out of inspiration and forgot about it.
When I went into high school, my lack of inspiration was stronger than it had ever been. When asked to come up with a creative short story, I failed because I could not think about what to write. Looking back on it, it was not because I had a lack of inspiration, it was simply because I did not enjoy it. I no longer enjoyed writing stories about fictional characters and the places they went to. I wanted to write about my story. This arose as a challenge to me because my story is not too exciting. So, I turned to blogging and so what if only three or four people look at it, someone is hearing my story.
This, however, is when Odyssey came about. Being a junior in college is not the easiest thing in the world, and when you are taking upper-level English courses, your brain tends to be drained a lot. Once again, I was forced to come up with other people's stories and tell them in great detail. I hated every single moment of it. However, when I received the chance to write for Odyssey, my dreams of writing started to open up again. My imagination started running wild.
Odyssey allows for me to write about whatever I want. If I want to tell the world about my favorite kind of macaroni and cheese, I can. If I want to tell the world about why I think the movement to add an autistic character onto "Sesame Street" is the best idea ever, then I can. This website has given me the freedom to speak my mind and share it with people. This website has given me a purpose to write again. I no longer am stuck in a cage where people are telling me what to write about or how to write. I am no longer forced to write about other's stories, if that is not what pleases me. I get to write for myself here.
While my opinions and ideas are shared with hundreds to even thousands of people, that is not the thing that matters to me. The thing that matters to me is that once again, I have the imagination I had when I was 5. I have the desire to write another piece of work. I finally have the freedom to tell my story. So, to Odyssey, thank you. Thank you for giving me back the will to write again. Thank you for showing me that not all writing has to be the same. Thank you for allowing me to put my ideas out there and share them with the world. Thank you for bringing creativity back into my life. You really have given back my dreams.
