I write because it feels like it is what I am meant to do. Do you ever get that feeling when you are just floating up on the highest cloud and feel like you’re never going to come down? That’s what writing is like for me; it’s been this way ever since I was a young preschooler, coming up with tiny little fairytales that I would illustrate with the most beautiful of artwork. Writing gives me a feeling of pure excitement that hasn’t been replicated in almost any other way.

I write because I get a freedom of choice. I can put whatever words I want down on a piece of paper to tell the story of my choosing. Do I use the word “surreptitious” or “secretive” when describing the super-secret agent man fighting crimes in my short story? Do I use the word “wilting” or “shrinking” to describe the butterfly who keeps feeling trapped by the confines of the humans around her? Whichever words end up on the page are words that come from my head that I can take ownership of. I don't have to hold anything back.

I write because I get to create whatever life I want for my characters; The world around them doesn’t control their fate like how the twists and turns of the world can affect mine. I can choose if I want my protagonist to have the perfect life with everything they have ever wanted, or I can make their lives full of struggle in hardship. I create the setting, the conflict, the characters, and everything else in between. I get to be in control of their world, and nothing in my world can affect them.

I write because it is the structure that I need in my crazy life. I like to use writing to figure out my angsty emotions a lot of the time, so writing gives me that structure where those thoughts can’t run too wild. The rules of rhyming, syntax, and meter are always there to make sure that I don’t run amok with my thoughts. There are rules I must follow, but I can conform those rules to whatever I need.

Lastly, I write because I get the chance to make people happy. While words have a tendency to hurt people, words can also bring people up to their highest level of happiness. Words have the power to make people laugh until their lungs hurt, have the power to make people feel undeniable love, and to make people feel purely happy. I personally love making people’s day purely by writing about the things I love about them.

That’s just the great thing about writing. While writing is there to make myself feel all the “happy feels,” I think I love it so much because it gives me a chance to share the happiness with the people around me in the tiniest way. I may not be doing the grandest of tasks by writing about a favorite friend in an Odyssey article if you compare it to the acts of the kindest and most generous people, but words have an effect on people. One kind word can make someone’s day, and the more of them you string together, the better chance you have had finding someone a moment that they can be happy about.