I love writing.
I have always known this. Ever since I was little, I have loved writing. It was how I could express myself, organize my mind, prove to teachers what I knew, make people feel, prove I was smart, and everything else in between. It is also one of the many reasons why I will never touch an AI writing tool like ChatGPT. The thought of someone or something taking away my writing skills or abilities is a death sentence; my voice is diminished if I cannot write.
My mom was an elementary school English teacher with a passion for reading and writing, and naturally being her guinea pig kid as the oldest, I inherited her passion for both reading and writing. She quit teaching once I was born to be a stay-at-home mom, and while she might’ve quit teaching other people’s kids, she never quit teaching my sisters and me. She made sure that we all learned proper grammar skills, how to write in cursive, how to write a letter and address an envelope, and so many other tedious skills we hated but understand and cherish now.
Naturally, this love and passion for writing that I grew up with from my mom made me want to be just like her, and writing and reading became the thing in school that I was really, really good at. I was never a gifted and talented kid, I always had math tutors growing up, I was an athletic kid but never a star athlete, and I sucked at science, but writing was the one thing I could easily do with no sweat. This became my main source of academic validation, and it became my way of proving to myself and others that I was a smart kid.
It’s even affected my sleep schedule my entire life. When I was little, I would crawl out of my bed and drive my parents half insane while they were in the kitchen asking them more questions about ideas I had. I couldn’t help it though– I’ve always had an active mind that is constantly running wild with ideas and thoughts. Some have tried to diagnose it as ADD, but I just call it an overflowing imagination. Â
Once I learned how to read, I would then sneak into another room and just stay up reading my Magic Tree House books, Junie B. Jones books, or any other books I could get my hands on. Then those books evolved into Harry Potter, Dork Diaries, The Land of Stories, and Nancy Drew in elementary school and middle school. Once I got a little older, those evolved into The Hunger Games, Divergent, John Green books, and so many others I can’t even remember.
The escapism I felt through reading inspired me to create my own realities through the worlds in my head, and I created my first picture book at the age of five. When I was in elementary school and middle school I moved around a lot and lived for quite some time in a small town in Texas where I felt very out of place and weird. I would often fantasize about popularity, having friendships, and being told I was a talented student, and I would write stories about own characters surrounding these themes. Then my family moved out of our small town to Oregon, and I finally found teachers and friends who understood me, and I stopped caring as much about being liked. I had so many teachers who taught me how to write effectively, and my stories evolved into complex murder mysteries, dystopian government vs. group of teens situations, and other fantasy tropes I can think of.
By the time I reached high school and college, my fantasy writing turned more into journaling in my notes app and essay writing for my classes, but I found such a sturdy voice in the way I write. The comfortability in being able to express my opinions through all the AP Lit essay questions and research projects I’ve done truly has become a way that I’ve learned how to express to people what I’m feeling. I’ve learned how to organize the chaos in my head into words and organize my big ideas into projects that have helped me achieve so many things in my life so far.
I’m so grateful for my mom, the teachers I’ve had, the friends I’ve made, and everyone who’s inspired me to learn how to express myself through what I write. It is the greatest gift and superpower I ever could’ve been given, and I wouldn’t trade anything in the world for it.
In other words, I love writing.