One year ago I decided on a whim to apply to write for Odyssey. I had always seen the articles being shared on Facebook by my friends or people I went to school with and I thought it was so cool that college students just like me were more-or-less published writers on the side. It was even more appealing to me to see how some of their content even went viral and was being shared by thousands and thousands of people. I’ve always loved writing and still do, despite not having chosen a major that really involved writing much, and something drew me to the idea of being able to write again. It would be just like high school English class, only better because you weren’t being told what to write about. So I applied, and a few days later I was contacted by BU’s Odyssey Editor-In-Chief. I guess you could say the rest is history.
I was given the low-down on how to submit my articles every week and how we’re responsible for promoting our own work on social media. It was super exciting at first. I was writing multiple articles a week because I just loved the thought of putting something out there with my name on it. I’d be lying if the excitement and the newness didn’t wear off. 52 weeks later and sometimes writing an article and getting it ready for publishing can seem more like a chore than something fun. We’re not even getting paid for this, it’s entirely voluntary. Some weeks I swear it’s going to be my last week. I tell myself “That’s it, after this one you’re done, you hear me?” But something pulls me back every time.
As much as writing an article every single week could be equated to homework—and who likes homework? —it’s somehow more enjoyable than that. I think it’s because with The Odyssey, you have complete autonomy over what you produce. The ideas you’re focusing on, the way you word it, how you choose to display your content or your thoughts; it’s all you. Our editors exist solely to catch grammatical or formatting errors prior to publishing. No one changes your words or rewrites what you say because they “think it would sound better or make the point clearer this way”.
Another great thing about writing for the Odyssey: you can write about LITERALLY ANYTHING. Want to comment on a recent school policy change? Go for it. Notice a hilarious similarity between a celebrity and a politician? Tell people about it. Had a bad week and just need a way to express your hatred for public transportation? No one’s stopping you. It’s all about you and your beliefs and your thoughts and your feelings. The only thing we ask you to do is to stand confidently behind your work once it’s done. We love it when you take pride in what you’ve written and typically when you’re proud of something you tend to want to brag about it and show it off. And thus, viral articles are born.
If writing for The Odyssey this past year has taught me one thing, it’s accountability. Not only are we expected to turn in a finished article every single week, we’re expected to promote the crap out of it. How do you expect people to hear your voice and what you have to say if you don’t share it with anyone? It can be a struggle sometimes, especially when you write something more on the personal side that makes it less relatable to other people. But it’s taught me to be creative and it’s certainly made me step up my social media game.
52 weeks and approximately 52 articles later and I couldn’t be happier that I made that random decision to join The Odyssey. I’m grateful for the outlet it’s given me and my writing and the skills it’s taught me. I look forward to the weeks to come and the words that have yet to be written.
