I have written a little bit about this before, but I want to go a bit more in-depth about why I'm proud and motivated to write for Odyssey.

Some people think writing for Odyssey is stupid. Some say that the articles are pointless. There is even at least one Twitter account for "Odyssey Rejects." The account tweets titles that are sent in anonymously through private messages. It makes me a little sad that people try to tear us down. They make fun of what we love to do and what we write about. Maybe they are jealous that we always get to pick our topics. Newspaper journalists get angry because they think that Odyssey articles aren't as credible as their own reporting.

They very well may not be as "credible" because sometimes Creators write opinion-based pieces about things that occur in their everyday lives. As Creators, we tell stories and share experiences. Some will be more widely accepted. Some will cause people to become angry or defensive due to a differing opinion. Some will be emotionally charged. Some will make you laugh. Sometimes, we are not as motivated as we could be, and that leads to a shorter article that may be less meaningful than a longer, more researched or more drawn out piece.

We can't always be our perfect selves. We are only human after all. We make mistakes. We might write about something and then discover that a fact that we used is not exactly true. We might rant a lot more than a newspaper journalist would. And that's okay. Odyssey doesn't focus solely on news. The content on Odyssey ranges from satire to inspirational, to funny lists of GIFs, to playlists, and guidelines, even video articles and everything in between.

Yes, it's true, anyone can write for Odyssey. But that inclusive nature leads to so many great things.

It's about building an online portfolio.

It's about sharing your thoughts with others.

It's about learning new things about yourself and others.

It's about working as a team with the rest of your branch to make deadlines.

It's about encouraging each other when you struggle with coming up with a topic choice.

It's about teaching yourself to stay on track and keep up with time sensitive material.

It's about challenging yourself to come up with new and interesting content each week.

It's about showing your dedication, passion, and commitment to writing weekly for free, with no guaranteed compensation but that passion and drive to motivate you.

It's about growing as a person, and as a writer.

It's about being able to discuss with your peers about opinions that you both may have or that may differ between the two of you.

It's about finding your own voice and expressing yourself.

If that isn't meaningful or inspiring to you, then maybe you should rethink your priorities and goals. I'm sort of at a loss as to how to handle my feelings about the hate towards Odyssey long term. But for now, I will be okay with knowing the meaning of writing for Odyssey to me. That's really all that matters.