I've only been writing for Odyssey for a few months now, but I've come to love it very much. I've written about college and boys and religion and relationships, and I've got many more topics I want to cover. I have yet to write on controversial topics or personal matters, but I'm sure I'll get there with time. In the mere months, I've been writing for leisure, the way I write has changed exponentially.

Before high school, I hated writing. I was never good at doing it the "right way". I was never good at forming coherent thoughts or creating new ideas out of thin air. In research papers, you're not supposed to put in opinions, but if you know me, you know I have a lot of them. High school is where I realized that even though I might not be "good" at writing, I really, really enjoyed it. Not fiction. I'm still not good at that. I really enjoy being able to allow words and thoughts to flow freely from my mind to a screen. I enjoy being given free rein to write whatever I want, whenever I want. I enjoy sharing my work. Odyssey allows for all of this and more.

While I do enjoy writing, I don't enjoy being told what to write. I don't enjoy topics and people looking over your shoulder 24/7 and deadlines and stressing out. Odyssey allows for a platform where I can write, stress-free.

As writers, we are given full discretion on what we want to write our articles about. Open letters, things I've learned, how I've grown; I get free reign to share my story, whatever that story may be. I love it. Yes, we do have deadlines every week, but for the most part, they're really flexible and understanding with our time and writing. Writing for Odyssey isn't the same as writing a reflexive essay or a research paper, it's more like a community. We all support and love each other as writers and editors.

Writing for Odyssey has allowed me to be more creative. Driven. Focused. Writing for Odyssey as opened my eyes to audience awareness and public opinion. Writing for Odyssey has given me a community that I truly cherish.

I choose to write for Odyssey because it gives me a platform to be as creative and the most me I can be.