My passion for storytelling and literature began at a young age. Childhood experiences and influences are what helped shape my outlook on writing and creativity today. Throughout school, I've always had a love-hate relationship with writing. I loved being able to dump all my ideas on paper and create stories with complex plotlines. But I disliked, and I still do struggle with, the intricacies of developing a coherent piece of literature. Even though writing is often difficult, the sense of accomplishment from completing a piece is very rewarding.
Once I was taught to read, it was as if I had unlocked the gates to a new world filled with any adventure I could imagine. Some of my earliest memories are of my godmother reading to me in the evening. One of the first books to spark my interest was Charlotte's Web; I read it front to back at least five times. Up to that point, I had enjoyed reading for recreation; it wasn't until second grade that I became interested in writing. A few weeks into school, the teacher produced a box of shiny, new spiral notebooks for the class. She said that we were to write a new journal entry at least twice a week. I remember being hesitant at first, as I wasn't sure what to write about. So far, I had only read books with somewhat outlandish plots. "Writing about my own life is a waste of time, there's no way it'll be as interesting as those characters," I thought. But, as the days went on, I found myself writing more and more. Like a stream of water, words flowed from my fingertips. Soon, I was going way beyond the teacher's one-paragraph requirement and writing out full pages. My involvement in journaling led me to discover creative writing. I had so much enthusiasm for writing about my own life, being able to create my own characters and write about their lives was even more intriguing. I wrote my first full-length story for the first time in third grade.