The November That I Decided I Wanted to be a Writer

By: Sarah LoganPhoto By: Sarah Logan I’ve always had this intuitive feeling inside of me that I was meant to be a writer. I used to create little books made from computer paper and written with crayons. I’d write about the adventures of my stuffed animals and the funny situations I encountered with my family.I attribute much of my love of writing to my mother. She’d read books to me every night until I was ten or eleven, making sure that my siblings and I were all well read and literate. I’d go to work with her on Fridays and run up and down the hallways of the building and pretend I was working too. My mom would set me up at one of the building’s vacant computers and I would type away on the keyboard. She was a health care advocate and a grant writer, so I would pretend I was her assistant.In November of 2016, I decided to try out an internet challenge. It was called NaNoWriMo, short for National Novel Writing Month. Before that November, I’d never heard of it before. It was a world-wide attempt to write a novel of 50,000 words of a fiction story. I love to challenge myself, and I usually never consider if those challenges are realistic. Instead, I just dive head first and hope I will be able to attain my goals.Ever since the age of about fourteen, I’ve had a file of potential stories stored in my mind. The options were endless, I could write a novel about two lovers or a post-apocalyptic survival story. This wasn’t a school assignment, and I was ready to let my mind run wild. So, I began, and decided not to plan the characters, the setting or the plot. I just wrote.Looking at that blank page on November 1^st was weird and a little frightening. I wondered: am I going to be a good writer? Will this be published eventually? I have a history of never believing I’m good enough, so I was battling my own toxic thoughts while creating a new world. But, I never gave up on that desire that pushed me.At the end of that November, I was fully invested in my story and I was becoming more and more excited about my future as a writer. My novel slowly started to develop, and I was proud of my creation. I never completely made it to 50,000 words, instead I made it halfway. That noted, I completed my story with a plot, a conflict and developed characters.NaNoWriMo is holding its 19^th annual world-wide novel writing challenge this November. Millions everywhere will be journeying through their own individual stories. I will be one of those writers, creating a new world with the stories that fill up my brain. Although this is my first semester at CCNY and I’m still learning how to properly complete the entirety of my homework, I am going to attempt this endeavor. Being a creative writing major here, I’m writing and reading often for my classes from psychology to my freshman composition class. But, I’m prepared to completely follow my dream.If you’ve ever had that desire to write a book, I believe that this November could be your chance. If I could give any bit of advice to aspiring writers, it would be to simply just write. Leave your own opinions about your story to the side and listen to that creative voice in your head that’s telling you to create.