I was no more than five years old when I got my first chapter book.

I remember squeezing beside my mom on my twin-sized bed beneath a Dora the Explorer comforter and reading to her, mispronouncing every other word and stumbling over complicated sentences.

The funny thing is that I used to read each chapter as though it were its own individual story. I mean, I knew how to read a book, but I didn't know how to read a book. So, the day that I realized that reading each chapter chronologically would mean that the book would actually make sense, I opened myself up to a world in which I would never put a book down again.

As I grew older, entered college and chose a major that would-- in the blink of an eye-- place me at the doorstep of a career in journalistic writing, I had no choice but to step out of my comfort zone.

You see, majoring in Creative Writing (and minoring in Rhetoric) means that you must learn to write creatively-- and you write a lot.

Writing fiction was never something I saw myself having to write. I had become acclimated to writing for the public sphere soon after becoming an employee for Odyssey, and it was a daunting task to have to restructure the way that I wrote to appease a college professor who had decades of experience.

Now, I know what you're probably thinking.

If you've always been a reader, what could be so hard about writing fiction... isn't that what you're used to?

That's the thing, though. There's a difference between reading fiction and writing fiction. Surely, reading fiction can oftentimes inspire you to make a weak attempt at writing it yourself, but if you have minimal experience in fictional writing like I once did, it's painful to think about.

So, I did what I've been trained to do-- I jumped in and hoped for the best.

It began with poetry, a type of writing I saw myself as being only for those who were sad, in love, or Shakespeare-wannabes.

I had to put myself in someone else's shoes, something that I very rarely did. I had to reach inside of myself and find what it was that made me the most vulnerable.

To my surprise, it was easier than I thought. I suddenly knew what I was doing. I knew where to place words that would evoke emotion in my readers. I knew that these works of poetry were more than mediocre-- and I was okay with that, who wouldn't be?

Writing short stories was an entirely different story.

Knowing that I needed to produce four or more single-spaced pages that contained elaborate plots, diverse characters and a somewhat emotionally satisfying resolution was terrifying.

My first thought: How do I cram an entire story into four pages without rushing through what I feel is important?

So, I did what I do best, and I jumped into the assignment. And, in hindsight, my first attempt wasn't that bad.

I've come to realize that forcing myself out of my journalistic-bubble has opened me up to an entirely new realm of writing. Though I will never be a fiction-writer, I have, and will continue to, apply the skills I've learned through writing fiction to my regular writing.

There's always going to be times where I have to write something that doesn't appeal to me, but what I feel is most valuable here is that what isn't appealing, what's difficult, and what makes you want to pull your hair out is oftentimes the start of your best work, and I'm perfectly okay with that.