Growing up I always loved telling stories. I have a severe speech impediment and could never speak properly. At first, I thought that I would never be able to tell stories successfully, but as I grew older, I realized that I could still tell stories, just not in the way that people would think.
When I was little, I would hide away in my playroom and reenact stories that I made with my Polly Pockets or my American Girl Dolls. At the time I didn't think anything of it. I would always assume that every child my age would create stories just like me. As I got older though, I noticed that all of my friends were starting to lose interest in dolls and telling stories, but I was still holding on to my imagination. I began to consume different stories in just about every medium regularly. I was already a big fan of movies and tv, but I was starting to obsess over the stories being told.
When I was little, I decided that I wanted to be an actress so that I could tell stories for a living. When I was in middle school, I auditioned for a lot of musical and theater shows with my local theater club, but I was usually never cast. I felt extremely defeated at first, but I ultimately decided to not give up on my dream of becoming an actor. I decided that I was going to work extremely hard and not give up on my dream. That didn't work out though.
When I got into high school, my mom forced me to join the yearbook staff. At the time I was extremely pissed off because I wanted to take drama and focus on being an actress, but after writing my first story I got a wave of euphoria, and I was instantly hooked on journalism and writing. I started to write more and more each week, and over time I started to gain more confidence in my writing. I soon started to branch out into writing fiction. At first, my writing was horrendous, then again I feel like everyone's is when they first start writing, but over time I started to develop my voice and become more confident in myself as a fiction writer.
In retrospect, I don't know why I fell in love with writing. I used to hate it. My first memory of creative writing was when I was in fourth grade, and my teacher made us write picture books. Long story short, I procrastinated, and my teacher ended up writing most of my book for me. It's ironic though, because flash forward 12 years later, I consider myself a serious writer. I write weekly articles here, I am minoring in creative writing, and I am also working on my first book.
I may have given up on my dream of becoming an actress, but I never lost my dream of becoming a great storyteller. Writing gave me a creative voice. Without it, I wouldn't be the person I am today.
