People often ask me, “How did you get into writing?” and depending on who is asking, the answer always differs. For me it’s always been an interesting question, honestly, a question that is hard for me to fully open up to and fully answer.
Like a majority of people, there were times in life that I found hard to embrace. One thing many people may not know about me is that I had difficulty going to school. Mainly because there were individuals who had to make it tougher than it is.
In middle school, and my first two years of high school, I was told, “You’re most likely not going to graduate high school,”, “You’re to black, which is ugly”, “You’re a loser,”, “You see this (pulls out condom from pocket), this is something you will never use,”, among other things.
Hearing things like this day in and day out can have an effect on you after a while. At one point I hated almost everything about myself and it seemed like everything they said was true. I had a hard time making friends, every woman I had a romantic interest in was taken, and I felt as if no one would or could understand.
But what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and I believe those incidents made me and my written work stronger.
My love of stories goes as far back as my childhood. I still remember being about seven years old and my dad showing me a whole bunch of comic books. Inside those comics, I was exposed to new worlds, new characters, and I believe that is a starting point of how I got into writing.
Growing up, I would draw my own characters, I’d give them stories, share them with family and friends, and it was a way of expressing myself. Expressing how I wanted to create and write a better world to live in.
After school, I was desperate to make up new characters that I could relate to and write worlds that seemed better than reality. I continued to do all sorts of creative writing for years, and a small part of me misses the creative writing that I use to do.
It wasn’t until high school I shared what I wrote and a few of my teachers told me how much they enjoyed it. In high school, I wanted to see if I could take what I learned from creative writing and apply some of its techniques to reality. I decided I would go beyond just creative writing. I would take a step into the field of journalism, articles, and features. I believe I was getting too lost and not being social when I did creative writing.
For the first time in still what feels like a lifetime, I had more positives than negatives. I focused on the positive vibes and all that negativity just made me more determined to be happier, healthier, and embrace life. This is why I was more than happy to start writing about people and stories in reality.
I put my best foot forward and to this day, I’m still surprised when someone says they like something I wrote. I’ve gotten compliments from friends, family, students, and teachers that have all been supportive. Not only that, but I learned about videos, interviewing, and I really did just go beyond creative writing.
Every compliment, criticism, hate, or comment I always remember, because it gives me a chance to get better and I remember how far I’ve come. I had someone tell me I’m not a good journalism writer, and you know something she was absolutely right. I believe and have been told that I’m an overall good writer, and I believe it shows whenever I write imagery, backstory, add quotes, add the five senses of writing, among other techniques that apply to all writing.
I understand I’m still going to receive some negativity and have hard times and that’s okay because it all adds to my story of how I got into writing.
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