I finally decided to take pen to paper. The pen is mightier than the sword is it not? While writing is an effective way to express oneself and opinions there arises one problem - what do I write about?
Writer's block - the excuse we all used to justify not writing an English report. In all honesty, I have always enjoyed writing and have always wanted to share my ideas with others. Nevertheless, I never knew what I wanted to write about. For a economics class project, I had to keep up a weekly blog about a topic that was economically related and concerned me. What topic did I choose you may ask…traveling! For six weeks, I was forced to write about the money scams and financial prosperity of the travel industry. For six weeks, I had a motive to write and I loved every minute. Without a given prompt, however, I didn't see a purpose for me to write.
In today's social media driven world, it seems people gravitate towards following users who have themes. One of my best friends has a food blog (conscienceofcasey.com/category/food/) and food themed Instagram (@penneformythoughts). People like food so it only makes sense that her target audience is established and growing each day. I thought that to write I would need a theme of some sort. I dappled on several ideas for a theme: movies, dance, travel. I realized two things. One, I don’t watch enough movies to write about them. Two, a set theme would confine my thoughts too much. This is not a popularity contest after all, right? On the off chance someone reads and enjoys my writing then I would say I accomplished my goal.
Consequently, for the past year, my ideas to write have ebbed and flowed. I fell in the trap of "I'm too busy" as an excuse to not pursue writing further. But that stops today. I tell others I am a goal-oriented person; thus, it is only logical that I fulfill my goal to share my writings with others.
What revived my willingness to write again? I am currently majoring in biochemistry on the pre-health track, work in a lab, and serve on the executive board for a biology academic club. At large, my day is consumed by science. Biology is my life, literally! This is not to say I don't enjoy what I am learning or the life I built for myself. Ask any of my friends and they would tell you I am usually the first the crack a (probably corny) nerdy joke. Nonetheless, I feel limited by the writing, i any, that I do now.
Like an electron cloud, an analogy I overuse, I have pushed writing to an outer electron shell where it can easily be withdrawn. I don't want to lose the side of me that loves to write. So here's to exercising the other half of my brain, unconfined by set themes, and finally taking pen to paper - or in this case, keyboard to Microsoft Word. Here's to more tightly holding my writing electron in a closer orbital.
