About Me
I knew I wanted to write by the time I was six, when my first grade teacher assigned us a project to create a short story. She gave out small hardcover blank books, told us to create a story about anything we wished, write it down, draw pictures of what was going on in the story, and gave us two weeks to do it. I remember carrying that blank book everywhere with me for a fortnight; I agonized over the details- how should I introduce the characters? What kind of people would they be? How to convey, with just the right amount of detail, the look of the haunted house that my characters would step into, one dreary Halloween afternoon?
While most normal six year olds would be begging to go outside and play, I spent two weeks scribbling down my story, and it made me infinitely happier than anything else. From that point on, I wrote- that obscure writing assignment had become a catalyst for the rest of my life.
I wrote short stories in my notebooks during class instead of listening to my teachers (and subsequently got consistent C’s and D’s in everything but English). I jotted down a word, a phrase, a sentence, a revelation on a character on random pieces of paper and napkins at work. I got into acting in high school and discovered screenwriting. I read Robert Frost and suddenly I understood poetry.
Yet, there is more to me than writing. Most of all, I love experiencing life- going out with friends, working, traveling (I’ve been to Greece, Australia, Guatemala, Canada, Mississippi, Virginia, California, all over New England), being boring and spending a quiet night at home, waking up at the crack of dawn to go to school- everything is an experience and no two days are ever the same. There are so many opportunities in life and I’ve always felt the need to grasp at each and every one of them to see more of the world; to find out more about myself.
To be able to experience things- to go out and see, hear, feel, laugh, cry, mess up, pick myself back up again- that’s how I learn. There’s only so much you can learn from books (whether textbooks or the newest fiction thriller) if you don’t actually live through it. Which is exactly the reason I’m not an English major here at LaGuardia. My ultimate goal in salvaging my educational aspirations here is to learn about everything, to see what interests me, and what inspires me creatively.
Under a liberal arts, humanities and social sciences major, I’ve been able to take classes in philosophy (deeply interesting, but not for me), math (definitely not for me), history of minority groups in New York (completely engrossing and a treasure trove of ideas for stories), and the various natural sciences (Quantum physics has always been fascinating to me; a career in that field would be the only thing to rival my affinity for writing.)
As for my professional aspirations, I would love to work in apublishing company as an editor, and learn the business side to publishing. Eventually I want to get published, write some novels, write some screenplays (that later go on to win an Academy Award, but that’s all relative…), and eventually, later down the line, teach Creative Writing. Currently I’m working on several short stories, and am joining the newspaper at LaGuardia.
I know it’ll be a difficult process, and it could be years before I get published (if ever), but I’m happiest with a pen in my hand and a blank sheet of paper in front of me, and it’s exactly what I want to do for the rest of my life.