I am an introverted extrovert.

Or maybe I am an extroverted introvert.

Being an extrovert makes me want to share everything I write and do with the world. The introverted side of me wants to hide everything I have produced and never broadcast anything with anyone because maybe one person will look at what I have wrote and analyze it differently, make a rude comment, or judge me because I chose a certain topic or view point. I have never been a person that cares too much about what other people think about me, except when that "thing" is about my writing.

Unfortunately, my introverted side has won this battle most of my life, until this fall when I chose to step out of a comfort zone and write for The Odyssey Online. This opportunity has given me a chance to prove to myself that I am, in fact, a writer.

I use to look at my peers with jealousy, not because of how great they were at writing, but because they had the drive and self confidence to write and share it with the world. I wanted to be able to produce what I wrote without constantly worrying about what people thought.

I know that I am surrounded by people who love and support me and everything that I do. There will always be a select group of close friends and family that will read everything I publish, but sometimes that thought scares me. "What if they disagree with something I wrote? What if my topic is too personal? What if I made a mistake?" Since starting college, I have had an ambition to write more, read more, and learn everything I could about my own major, English Education.

After publishing my first article, I received positive feedback from family and a few close friends. Those compliments meant the world to me, but, there is one response to my articles that I will never forget. As I was walking with two of my friends on campus, I recognized a girl that I had only ever been Facebook friends with, walking with her friends as well. This girl stopped and said hey to me, and then turned to her friends and told them all that I was a great writer. I was amazed that someone who barely knew who I was would recognize me, the girl who was afraid to share her work with anyone, as a great writer.

To other anxious, introverted writers: You can do it too. Work hard, produce stories, poems and articles, and never give up. Although I am anxious before every single one of my articles is published, my ambition to write pushed me through the fear I have of what people will think of my writing. The point is that with every new article I write, my viewpoint on myself as a writer shifts.