My writing journey

Hi everyone! It’s my first post since being here at MSA. I thought it would be interesting to share my journey of writing. I would also love to hear about yours (if you consider yourself one).

First, I want to define what a writer is.

Writer: a person who has written a particular text; one who writes.

When you look at this literal form of the definition it seems like anyone could be a writer, which is true in a way. You could write an essay, a short story, anything really, and be considered a writer.

I have a different spin on this word though. Being a writer is a part of who I am. I love words, and I have a desire to form meaningful pieces with them. I want people to feel the emotions I am feeling while I write.

So I would say that the feeling and passion for writing really makes a difference between just writing whatever without any true meaning towards it.

Now, I would like to share my journey of becoming a writer with you guys. Maybe you can relate to this, or you may be curious about how one ‘becomes’ a writer.

When I was around seven I would always grab stacks of copy paper from my dad’s office. I would sneak back into my room and the process would begin. I would take the copy paper and make stick figures and give them dialogue. Typically, my stories were about stereotypical mean high school girls and crushes- I remember titling one “The Bachelor.”

Skip to me being ten at Justice (the store) picking up a pink, fuzzy diary and a fluffy pen. Now, that’s where my journaling and poetry began. Again, the writing (specifically my poetry) was stereotypical romance and conflicts.

Here’s one of my poems:

“My love is deeply cut into pieces, and scattered all around. I can’t say what I want to him or else it will all turn upside-down. Though my heart really wants to speak, my breath can’t make a sound.”

Okay, I know what you are thinking, “Well I guess she chose romance as the main thing she wrote, and still writes.” -And, boy oh boy, would you be wrong.

In middle school a lot happened in my life-big changes. So that not only had an effect on how I acted, but it also changed what genre I wrote. This was the time when I wrote almost everyday. This is the moment when writing became my crutch.

I stopped truly writing after that point in my life (about 8th grade). Frankly, I didn’t know who I was as a writer anymore.

I felt disabled.

I couldn’t pick up a pen and express my feelings on a page like I used to. My dreams of being an author were replaced by other things (makeup, Netflix, etc.)

So, I had to begin my journey back to writing. I wanted to get back that missing part of me. Even if it was hard.

That did not seriously begin until I thought about coming here (MSA). Yes, it took that long to come back to writing. That is because I had to do some forgiving towards others, and myself.

From that point on I used my bad experiences to show how I overcame them. I wanted to be able to speak to others like me. I wanted to encourage them.

And man did it feel so lovely to be reconnected to a piece of myself.

Overall, writing has been my friend, my supporter, my coping mechanism, and it has been my gateway to be able to come to MSA.

I have a lot of love towards writing. I have overcome obstacles with it. I have been empowered with it.

I want writer’s, just like myself, to be proud of how far writing has taken them. Most importantly,to keep on falling in love with writing, and continue working towards their dreams.