This article is part of a series known as #30DaysOfThanks.
It’s the season of giving thanks, so with that said, I’ve been thinking about everything I’m thankful for. I’m thankful for my health, family and friends. I’m thankful for my job security, my new car and having a roof over my head. Aren’t we all more or less thankful for these things? One thing I’m really thankful for this past year is writing. I’m so beyond thankful for how my writing career is going and for having the opportunity to write articles that matter and mean something to others.
I recently started to think about why I started writing and what really got me into it. I sat down one day and wrote about it. I love everything about writing. I keep a personal journal that I write in almost every night. I keep a travel journal, specifically for when I go places. I love to write poetry. I have a personal blog and write articles professionally for two amazing online magazines, including the wonderful GenTwenty. So as you can see, I write—not just as a hobby and not just for personal journals—but because I really love it. I’m even slowly working on a fiction novel when I have spare time. Believe it or not, I hold a fulltime job while doing all of the above. I’m a very busy twenty-something woman.
So when I sat down and started to remember when and where it all started, I instantly smiled. Back in high school, I really started to get into literature. I loved everything about it, especially the poetry. I remember making my first Haiku and got an A on it. Sitting in English class was like being in a literature club to me.
I remember taking my huge English book home from school and looking through the pages at all the poets, writers and journalism of the 19th century. I was instantly captivated. It was then when I started to write poetry of my own and short stories, all of which I still have. It was then when I first started to have an immense appreciation for these poets and writers. I felt what they felt through their words, and their emotions. While others just read the poems because they had to, I was reading them because I could relate and because I understood them.
For me, 19th century literature is what motivates me every day, not just as a writer but as a person. My favorite writers and poets of that time knew pain and sorrow like no other. They knew love at its best and at its worst. Even more, they know how to express it all through the art of writing. They knew how to captivate their readers and pull them into their minds, their way of thinking. That is what makes me go crazy inside, in a good way. I absolutely love their impeccable talents and the way they so eagerly portrayed themselves through their work. It was brilliance and perfection all in one.
Among my favorites are the following: Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Emily Dickenson, Edgar Allen Poe, Oscar Wilde, Robert Frost, and many more. My three favorite are Dickens, Poe, and Dickenson. They each had a distinctive way of producing their writings and then captivating you instantaneously. Something I strive for with my own poetry. These writers and poets and all of the literature in the 19th century are what has greatly inspired me as a writer and why I began writing.
Then there is my imagination. I could say my insanely vivid, unique, and out of this world imagination is due mostly to me simply being a writer—most writers have imaginations like no other—but a great deal of thanks and credit is due to the Harry Potter books. I am indeed, a major Potterhead.
JK Rowling has gone above and beyond in the world of imagination and creativity. I first started reading Harry Potter in 6th grade. But it wasn’t until later in high school when I started to re-read them and really started understanding it. Not the story. I understood the story the first time I read them. I’m talking about her writing style and her imagination. It was then when I realized that I could go above and beyond with my own imagination and not be afraid to really express myself through my work.
Between 19th Century literature and the Harry Potter book series, I would say that my inspirations come from crazy, outspoken, yet timid, and gentle souls. These people had the profound ability to take what they were feeling or experiencing and put it into words; a piece of art. I don’t think I would be writing at a young age if it wasn’t for these inspirations.
I can honestly say I will forever be grateful for these incredible writers, and even more grateful to them for sharing their talents with the world. I want to leave you with this thought followed by my favorite quote. The thought: It would be a sad day, the day the world takes all the books away from us, what would we know about our history? What would we know about life?
The quote: “You have been the last dream of my soul” –Charles Dickens