I can't say that I have always loved writing. I wish I could start this article off by saying I aspire to be like William Shakespeare, F. Scott Fitzgerald or J.K Rowling, but that would be a lie. Writing is hard. Writer's block is a terrible disease that plagues every writer at least once in their career. I mean, it didn't take Harper Lee one day to write "To Kill a Mockingbird." It takes a special person to be able to spill their ideas all over paper and have the confidence to allow others to read and analyze their every word. Writing takes courage to be open to ridicule, patience to focus on finishing a piece and optimism to be open to writing any idea that comes to mind. These attributes are just a few that I can proudly say that I learned from writing for Odyssey.
Writing weekly articles is no small task. With the chaos of everyday life, writing 500 words every week can sometimes seem tedious. Creating a new headline for an article can take a long time, especially if you suffer from being a perfectionist like me. However, once that headline pops up on a few of your friends' timelines, all of that hard work definitely pays off. Writing for Odyssey comes with many benefits. It allows for networking, putting your ideas out there for everyone to see, and it definitely yanks you our of your comfort zone.
Although I can't say I aspire to be a writer, writing for Odyssey has allowed me to become a less-popular version of Carrie Bradshaw. Maybe someday I'll have my own little apartment in the middle of New York where I can sip my coffee and spend my day writing books about my endless adventures. I will allow myself to have the freedom to write about what I want and when I want.
That's the beauty about writing. You can scribble down an idea whenever you want. J.K Rowling first wrote the idea of Harry Potter down on a napkin. Sometimes when I can't think of a topic for an article, I will write down small ideas in my notes on my phone and elaborate later. That is why writing for Odyssey has expanded my idea of writing. Some days writing can be freedom from reality, while other days it can be a dreadful chore, and that's perfectly OK.
Journalist Red Smith once wrote, “There’s nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.” I've found that this is absolutely true. Writing is something you have to allow yourself to open your heart to. And sometimes it can be consuming. I still can't say that I someday aspire to be a great writer, but I can say that writing for Odyssey has allowed me to open up my heart to writing.
