I've been writing for some time now. It started with a Deviantart account in middle school. From there I developed an affinity for English in high school that led to declaring as a creative writing major in college. Then, when I was forced out of college because of financial straits, I found myself here on Odyssey. Sure, I work in an insurance office to pay the bills, but writing is where my heart is.

For as long as I can remember doing it, writing has been a way for me to project my thoughts into a visible medium. It takes the storm of symbols and concepts that continually swirl around my brain like a mental Great Red Spot, and spells it out on paper in a way that can be re-processed and refined. Writing is the ultimate way for me to look at the world from new perspectives, and in the process look at myself from new perspectives. But oftentimes, it's not enough simply to write for myself.

Although the overarching reason that I write at all is for my own personal well-being and understanding of the world and the way that I see it, I have always felt a calling to contribute to something greater than myself. Being one of billions of people on the planet doesn't preclude me from believing that I can change the world, even in the smallest of ways. So I write. Sometimes I write about politics in the hope that I can get people thinking about the future of our country. Sometimes I write about social issues in hopes that I can inspire someone to stand up for an important cause. Sometimes I just write to entertain, because we all need to remember that it's OK to stop and relax for a little while.

Through writing, I've learned a lot of things about myself. I've learned to make sense of my head. I've learned how to rationalize the world around me in ways that are easy to swallow and, in some cases, easier to interact with. I've learned that sometimes a notoriously complex concept can be explained with little more than a sentence, while some of the simplest concepts can take entire novels to properly explain. I've learned to love the strange way words interact with the world to assign meaning to everything, and yet still be flummoxed by how an inability to find a proper word can cause a story or a poem to completely fall apart.

I've fallen in love with writing. I'm consistently in awe at how strings of repeated symbols can create entire universes, take us down new paths, and afford us new perspectives on life. It's a beautiful experience to know that I have that ability at my fingertips.