Never really thought of myself as a writer until my senior year of high school. I was in the school newspaper and I wanted to find an excuse to be able to play video games during the school week. So, I began to write video game reviews and people loved my writing. When I went into college I wanted a degree in music, but overtime I had a passion to write more, so I switched to journalism, which then made me switch to psychology for the calling to help people. Never the less, in 2012 I began my first blog sit where I began to publish pieces that were on my mind from analysis, philosophies, fiction, and personal stories. With over 25,000 views and now extending my platforms with my writing, I think I can say to myself that I am a writer.
Now why am I a writer? As I grow up, I realize how important we as human beings need to engage in some form of art and entertainment, rather that be painting, music, cinema, literature, or in my case, writing. I write because I love to write. I like trying to send my thoughts to the post so people can read what is really on my mind. I write so people can understand what I may be thinking about what is going on with the world around us, or what is possibly going on with myself. I take my writing seriously and I want my writing to be viewed as a piece of my own creation.
With that being said, I do there to be an understanding of why I am writing for to the reader. I never want to cut my own creativity to give what the people want in my writing. I don't write to please my reader, and I feel that this can be a gift and a curse. Does an artist censor or change his painting to please others? Does a composer change his symphony to sound more pleasing to the audiences? I take my writing as an art form, and honestly this is okay if I am the only one who may truly think that.
I work with at-risk youth, and one of the popular activities that my client and I like to do is draw and color. We always finish our drawings and I ask my client how he may feel about his drawing. My client will take pride in his drawing and claim that he has made an accomplishment. the reason why I am talking about the drawing is that my client did not draw his picture for no one but himself. He was proud of his art even though this drawing will never be claimed to be a masterpiece to the masses. That is how I feel about my writing.
I know at Odyssey, writers are ranked by how many shares they have on their articles and there is nothing wrong with that, but I don't write for the popularity of others, and I don't write for people to share my work unless they feel that they want to share the post without being prompted. I write for my own accomplishment in what I can create without the input of others.
