This past week my best friend asked me to help him with one of his finals. He had to write an essay about a book he read, and when he said the word “essay,” I enthusiastically found the book, read it and then helped him write. After I had finished helping him, he said “I don't understand why you like writing so much, like you spent more time helping me write than you did studying for your own finals.”I’ve had people ask me this question my entire life, I’ve just never stopped to think about it myself. This past semester, I started writing for the Odyssey, I changed my major to English, and I added a creative writing minor. There has to be a reason why I did that right?

Writing has always been easy for me. It’s easier for me to write my thoughts down then it is for me to speak my mind and say what I’m thinking about. I’ve always asked teachers if I could write an essay for extra credit or instead of taking a test, and I’ve always scored better on essays than I have on formal exams. For years I have had friends who ask me to help them edit their essay. I’ve alway had a journal where I write down what is going on in my life, I have notebook filled with half written short stories, and list after list after list of topics I want to write about.

I love writing because it gives me a way to say what I want without actually saying it to someone. I like being able to start writing or typing anything and everything that comes to mind, kind of like word vomit; it helps me destress and calm down. And while I hate having writers block, I also love it because it means that eventually, all the ideas trapped in my head are going to come out and I’ll have twice as much stuff to write about; it also provides a lot of entertainment for my friends who laugh at me doing everything I can to try and get the ideas to come out of my head faster.

Writing is just something that has come so naturally to me. I want to be able to make a career out of my passion, and for right now, all I can think of is to teach; to be able to share my passion for writing with others with the hope that I can make someone else feel the same way I do about writing. The excitement that I get reading an essay prompt, or seeing a blank sheet of paper, knowing that I can change it to make it something else.