Amanda Michelle Rodriguez's Blog
September 30, 2024
Writing Journey
I started writing fiction at 8 years old. I remember vividly that I got home from school and sat on the coach, opened my old, blue laptop to a Word document and began typing away. The story wasn't very good; it was a slice-of-life story about a group of friends who lived together. Every child's dream: to live with their friends. Aside from electronically, I also had a story about a girl who was raised by wolves. This, I wrote on paper and stapled the pages together to make a makeshift book. The story on my laptop had a devastating end. I should have learned how to save documents before I started battling with the Word platform. But, I eventually got over it. I had the most fun when I was writing stories. At school, my response to the question "what's your favorite subject?" would be "writing." That wasn't exactly a subject that was taught at school, but I was referring specifically to the portion of the Reading class where the teacher would allow us to do a creative writing piece. I always loved writing, but it never clicked that it would be something I could do professionally in the future.
When I was 13 years old, I read the Harry Potter series for the first time. After a years-long reading slump, I fell in love with reading again. Harry Potter was everything to me, (and it still is.) The characters resonated with me so much that I took inspiration from them and my own friends to write my first novella, Woven. Writing Woven was an on-and-off process, but I eventually took it seriously and published it when I was 16. This was the start of my writing career. I now knew that I could write, edit, and complete entire books. The entire process was fantastic. I was celebrated by a lot of my peers.
However, I struggle a lot with considering myself a "good writer." The world is full of them. I could be a good writer between my peers that have no interest in writing, but what am I in a sea of writers? Of readers? Will others want to read the stories that I put so much effort into? Will others want to listen? Is it worth it to be vulnerable and put parts of myself into pages, completely offering myself to the critique of others? While I am not everyone's cup of tea, I understand that I can't not do this. Writing isn't just something I choose to do. It is what composes me. What good is it to safeguard my own experiences if I cannot express them? I will spend my entire life writing because I have to. That is who I am.
When I was 13 years old, I read the Harry Potter series for the first time. After a years-long reading slump, I fell in love with reading again. Harry Potter was everything to me, (and it still is.) The characters resonated with me so much that I took inspiration from them and my own friends to write my first novella, Woven. Writing Woven was an on-and-off process, but I eventually took it seriously and published it when I was 16. This was the start of my writing career. I now knew that I could write, edit, and complete entire books. The entire process was fantastic. I was celebrated by a lot of my peers.
However, I struggle a lot with considering myself a "good writer." The world is full of them. I could be a good writer between my peers that have no interest in writing, but what am I in a sea of writers? Of readers? Will others want to read the stories that I put so much effort into? Will others want to listen? Is it worth it to be vulnerable and put parts of myself into pages, completely offering myself to the critique of others? While I am not everyone's cup of tea, I understand that I can't not do this. Writing isn't just something I choose to do. It is what composes me. What good is it to safeguard my own experiences if I cannot express them? I will spend my entire life writing because I have to. That is who I am.
