After being home for a few weeks and talking to several people who ready my articles, I realized that there are a lot of misconceptions about Odyssey. I also occasionally see some derogatory comments about how the Odyssey is just full of "meaningless listicles" or "way too many open letters."
Taking all of this into consideration, I thought it might be beneficial to take a few minutes and clear up some of these misunderstandings. Please know, off the bat, that I really, really appreciate all of you who read my articles and like/comment on them on social media and in person. Y'all are the best!
OK, here we go.
1. The Odyssey is not my personal blog.
Contrary to popular belief, this is not my blog (but you can access that and read some of my creative writing at suttontravis.wordpress.com). The Odyssey is an online platform designed for millennials to have the opportunity to share their thoughts, experiences and advice with the rest of the world. There are branches at numerous universities across the nation, as well as communities of non-student writers. If you go to the website at theodysseyonline.com, you will see that you can search keywords about essentially any topic, and a whole list of articles by different authors will pop up. Long story short, there are multiple people contributing to the Odyssey, which is actually pretty cool, when you stop and think about it.
2. There is More to the Odyssey than Listicles.
Yes, I know. Listicles (articles that are made up of short lists with pictures or GIFs) are a big part of the Odyssey. One could even say that they are a defining factor — listicles about restaurants, attractions, movies, books, quotes and more can be found all over Facebook. But there are so many more categories we write about. Another popular division is "500 words on." This is basically a catch-all for anything we want to write a short essay about (like my past article, "A Few Words of Advice for High School Graduates," for example).
We also have categories for sports, travel and lifestyle, among others. Another of my favorites is "ideas" — reserved for 800+ word essays about deeper, more thought-provoking topics.
3. Writing for the Odyssey is like having a job.
We have deadlines, and if we fail to meet them, then we can no longer write for the Odyssey. We're required to submit at least one article a week, which is a bit of a challenge, especially if you consider everything else that college students have going on. You're only excused if you are very ill — a busy week, finals and even summer vacation don't count as excuses.
This is why we'll sometimes submit an article that is noticeably less "quality" than our other submissions — a short listicle quickly thrown together, for example. Please don't judge us for having a not-so-great article every now and then. Instead, realize when you see one of those that we've probably had busy, stressful weeks.
And yes, we do have to share all of our articles on social media — it's part of our job. Personally, I find the article-a-week model a little too demanding and would rather write just when I have something I really want to share. But it doesn't work that way, and I love that the Odyssey is a platform I can use when I do want to speak out about something I'm passionate about.
4. We do get paid — but only with your help.
Each week, a writer from each college branch (as long as it has at least 12 articles published) has the opportunity to earn $20. This is great, but only one writer can win each week. So how do they decide who wins? It's all based on social media. The article with the most interactions on social media "wins." Likes and shares on Facebook, retweets and likes on Twitter — they all count.
So if you read a writer's article that you really enjoy, help that writer out and share, or at least, like it. It's nice to have your hard work rewarded every now and then!
5. We're always looking for new writers and fresh ideas.
If you're interested in writing for the Odyssey, look into whether they already have a branch at your university or in your community. If not, they would be super excited to work with you on starting one.
On the other hand, if you don't want to write yourself but have ideas for awesome articles, reach out and let a writer know! Trust me, we're always open to new inspiration.
