I never believed I was good at writing. I never believed I could write for fun. I cringed in my seat every time I heard the word "essay" and "speech" at school because I knew I hated writing them. Nonetheless, in my senior year of high school, my unwavering opinion that I absolutely could not write was changed by taking one single course.
Creative Writing class was thought by many to one of those fabled blow-off classes. It could be taken to fulfill an English credit without one having to go through another class with the word "English" in it (AP English or English 12). I, however, was still taking English, but I needed another credit, and the class sounded interesting. Little did I know that this class would challenge me far beyond I thought it would.
I began to hate the class, and it was after my first piece of writing did not convey the "feelings and emotions" that it was supposed to emit to the audience of the paper. I felt held back by my concern that I wasn't meant to write, that I wasn't good enough, and that I never would be good enough. At that time, my teacher introduced the class to blogging, and it became a new outlet for my thoughts. I still struggled in thinking everything I wrote was terribly horrendous, and when I about had it, I wrote another blog. Feeling rebellious, I titled it "She is Not a Writer."
Ironically enough, that blog was one of the best things I have ever written. I wrote with a passion that was lacking from all my previous blogs because this one was loaded. I described exactly what I was feeling: anger, disappointment, desire to give up on writing, and feeling like I couldn't compare to the other writers in class. Rereading it now, I know what was holding me back. I was searching to fit my words and my style of writing into a mold that was nonexistent. I was trying to write what I thought people around me wanted to read rather writing what I wanted to say. I was hiding my voice.
Ever since that article, I have loved finding things from my life and experiences to write about. I love being able to make connections between simple observations and metaphors that relate a message. I love putting my voice on paper because I rarely have the opportunity to speak in front of others. I love sharing what I feel even if it's not vocal, and most of all, I love writing with my own perspective. A friend once told me that I am the only one in the entire universe that can see life from my perspective, and I shouldn't hide it forever. I may not be a William Shakespeare, a Roald Dahl, or a Dr. Seuss, but I do have something to say and something to write about through my very own eyes.
You may hate writing. You may hate how you write. But never doubt your ability to write. No one else can write like you. You're the only one who can see life from your perspective, and you're the only one who can write about it. You are a writer.
