“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius

Hello, everyone. My name is Tracie, yes with an ie and not a y and I am a senior at Southern New Hampshire University. I am excited about joining the Odyssey team. I hope that I can make you laugh, cry, and think through my articles and stories.

I am married, but no children. Nature has either deemed me not worthy to have children or has bigger plans for me; I prefer to choose the latter. Again, I do have three furbabies that I see has my kids. Patches is my daughter, Lynx and Spooky are my sons; I love those kitties.

I am diagnosed with Chronic Depression, Social Anxiety, and PTSD. My three children are considered therapy animals to help me cope with my mental issues. I also have a bad lower back and hip problem which prevents me standing long and walking long distances. All this forced me to make a change, in which I did.

What does a workaholic do when they can no longer be a workaholic? Fight. When I found out in 2012 that I could not work like I once did, I had to do something. I remembered when I was in grammar school that I won awards for stories that I wrote. I even became a judge for a competition in grammar school. I always and still do, daydream my stories in my head. I would watch a show or movie and re-write the story to add another character. Instead of letting my disability rule me, I decided to take steps to overcome the disability by becoming a writer.

In 2012 I in enrolled at the University of Phoenix to get my Associates of Arts degree in Communication, I received my degree in 2014. They did not have a Bachelor’s program that I liked so I went searching and came upon Southern New Hampshire University. I enrolled for my Bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing and English with my major being Fiction Writing and my minor being Screenwriting. Along with the mandatory classes, I took classes in Mythology, Anthropology, Archeology, and Journalism. I took these classes to help build worlds and characters for my stories, along with expanding my mind with what areas my writing skills can be displayed.

The end goal is to be an author of fiction. To create books, movies, and television shows. However, I know that being an author is hard work and does not pay well, so I need to expand into the world of freelance writing and journalism. Now I am not a hard hitting journalist. I prefer to write about the entertainment world such as movies, television shows, and books. I am not really into politics and wars.

So, you may be wondering what kind of articles you will see from a little unknown author/writer as myself. As mentioned above, things like movies, television shows, and books (Hope you all like horror, science fiction, and fantasy). I will also expand some, writing about personal struggles such as my depression, anxiety, and PTSD. I may dabble in other areas, but I am no expert. I am also a beginner photographer, so I may share some of my photos.

Joining the Odyssey team is going to be a great experience for me. It will help me to build my resume, portfolio, team skills, and interaction. Being here will also improve my writing and research skills, both in the journalism and creative writing fields.