My major is English with a concentration in professional writing and my minor is screenwriting. I have been writing for Odyssey for a little over a year now. Clearly, I love to write.

But why?

Okay, so that might have come out sounding a bit more deep than I wanted, but I’m sure that my fellow writers, English majors or not, can understand.

Oftentimes when someone asks me what my major is, their reaction is pretty great. I get various reactions of course, but some pretty common reactions include…

“Oh, I hate English.”

“English is my worst subject.”

“I hate writing papers…hey, you want to be friends?”

Yes, someone actually said something along the lines of that last sentence. Don’t take it the wrong way though, they were very clearly joking. It did make me think though about how surprised people can be by how much I love to write. Then that led me to thinking about why I love to write so much anyway. So naturally all of that thinking is why I'm writing this article right now.

Everyone is different so obviously my reasons are going to be different from others, but I’m sure every writer will be able to relate to at least a few of my reasons.

Writing isn’t just putting words on a page or screen, it’s all of my thoughts, feelings and ideas displayed in a coherent way; I do this not only for others, but for myself. I write because it’s the best, and sometimes only way, to fully understand what I’m feeling and why. I write to make the things that don’t make sense a little more comprehensible. I write to help make myself feel better.

I do write for others too though. I write to better communicate with others. I write because I want to make people aware of what is going on in the world. I write to make people laugh, to make them feel better and even if for just a moment, to forget about the not so great things going on in their life. I write to motivate people and to help make them feel better about themselves. I write in hopes that others will realize that they really are not as alone as they may feel. I write because the thought of making just one person feel better, or happier or simply just smile, makes me happy.

Despite how much of a shy introvert I am, I do love to talk; talking is an amazing form of communication. But writing comes so much easier to me, and I don’t think that’s such a bad thing anymore. Unlike talking in a conversation, writing is more permanent. Writing makes you stop and think about what it is that you’re wanting to say. The simple act of taking the time to type or write something makes it feel more special somehow.