I decided to join the Odyssey at U.Va. because I was considering spending my four years studying English, and I thought that the best way to explore options that the major offers would be to delve into every part of it, particularly writing. Of course, I can write on my own time, but I suspected that with the craziness of life, any sort of writing I planned to do wouldn’t actually happen if I wasn’t responsible for meeting deadlines. To hold myself accountable to actually write, I joined U.Va.’s Odyssey team.
After 23 weeks of writing about my life, here are 10 things I’ve taken away from my experience with the Odyssey:
1. Everything is better with GIFs
I still don’t know how to pronounce it (does the “G” make a “j” or “g” sound??), but GIFs undoubtedly make any piece of writing more engaging. And let’s be honest, if you’re skimming an article that you’re only mildly interested in, chances are you skip the explanations and go straight for the GIFs anyway. These magical attention-grabbers make even the driest topics more entertaining, so it can never hurt to add them to any article.
2. Run-on sentences have merit
I use a lot of run-on sentences in my writing. I know I do it, and I know it's grammatically incorrect and Past Me never would have allowed it, especially if I were sharing my writing for the whole world to see because God forbid if someone—anyone—read my writing and thought I didn’t know how to write because I used too many conjunctions and not enough periods. But I like writing with run-ons and I think it’s fun and helps create the tone I’m after and, honestly, I feel like some things sound better in run-on form than with correct punctuation anyway, so I started using run-on sentences in my articles and never looked back.
3. Conjunctions have merit
Past Me never would have never started a sentence with a conjunction. But sometimes, conjunctions can create a dramatic contrast between thoughts or sentences. And I think it’s okay to sometimes stray from correct grammatical conventions when trying to drive a point home. So, now, I say, “Bring on the conjunctions!”
4. Don't take yourself too seriously
I was initially very concerned about writing for an online platform and having to share said writings on Facebook where countless “friends” could read it, and I would have no idea who had read it or what they really thought of it or if they mocked me for it behind my back. I’d spend hours and hours writing all my pieces, trying my best to make them my absolute best work so that random Internet users would have less to judge me for.
And while I still spend hours on hours on each article, I’ve become more comfortable with the idea of strangers or “friends” reading my articles and judging me for any mistakes, such as using the aforementioned run-ons and excessive conjunctions. I’m learning to take myself less seriously because ultimately I’m the one benefitting from my writing, and if being silly or unprofessional sometimes helps me learn, then that’s what I’ll do.
5. Writing has a learning curve
Writing for the Odyssey has been my first experience writing anything besides papers for school. It’s the first time I’ve opened myself to creative writing and exploration. And at first, creative writing was really really hard. I never had topic ideas and couldn’t organize all my thoughts into cohesive papers. In the past 23 weeks, I’ve learned how to write different types of articles on different types of topics, and it’s been a huge learning experience. Everything I learned, I taught myself through trial and error, so I know there’s still tons more out there to continue learning.
6. Writing on a short deadline is a struggle
I write one article a week for the Odyssey, and honestly, that’s kind of a lot. I’m a slow writer; as I said, I spend hours and hours on each article. I want to make sure I’m putting my best work out there since random strangers and “friends” will be reading my work, and this is difficult on a short time budget. However, I’ve learned to keep a running list of topic ideas, and I’ve tried to assist myself by keeping up with the news for inspiration, which brings me to my next number…
7. Keep up with the news
When I’m lacking inspiration and have a deadline approaching, (which is always), I turn to the Washington Post for ideas. This typically leads me to make about some unintended political statement (so if you want to see how often I lack topic ideas, go back and look at how many times I’ve written about the news). Nonetheless, writing for the Odyssey has encouraged me to keep up with current events, something that the American citizen in me really needed to do anyway.
8. Sharing ideas is rewarding
When I started writing for the Odyssey, I thought no one would read my work, and I was okay with that. But I wanted to write about the things I’d been struggling with or at least have some fun with some GIFs, so I did it anyway. Surprisingly, more people read my work than I ever would have imagined; scary as it seems to put my ideas out there, I still get satisfaction from knowing that people are interested in what I have to say.
9. How to be less cliché
I know I write about clichés. I’m an average college kid with average first-world problems, and there’s only so many ideas that have yet to be explored. But in an attempt to make my writing less average, I’ve tried really hard to avoid clichés. And although I don’t succeed 100% of the time, I think I’ve come far since I first started nearly five months ago. And if I continue, I will only become less average and travel farther from those clichés that I try mightily to avoid.
10. It's important to stay honest
I don’t want to be vulnerable in real life in front of people I know, and I really don’t want to be vulnerable in front of strangers online. Even so, I’ve tried really hard over the last five months to write about things I’m passionate about and open up to both things that I’m confident in and insecure about, because in the end I’m doing this for myself, and what’s the point of hiding behind words that I don’t believe in? I feel the best about my articles when I’m honest and write about my real emotions and concerns, and that’s what I’ve tried really hard to do.
When I posted my very first articles on Facebook, I was so nervous. I hadn’t told anyone I was writing for the Odyssey or even that I wanted to write at all. I had never done anything like this in the past, and I didn’t even know if I was doing it right. I was scared of the strangers and “friends” who would read my work and silently judge me.
Fortunately, my friends encouraged me to post my articles anyway, and they liked them and shared them and commented nice things that made me feel good and gave me the confidence to keep on writing despite my fears.
Thank you to everyone who helped me find my way to the Odyssey and supported me throughout my endeavors; I’ve taken so much away from the past five months, and I’m excited to see what the future holds for my writing and English career.
