| The World of Writing At age 10, a spiral-bound notebook with a fake leopard-print velvet cover seemed like the ideal journal for me. That's the one I want I thought. The cover radiated originality and it stuck out from the plethora of conventional notebooks lining the shelves. A few hours before, my best friend at the time, Nettie, decided she, my twin sister Anne, and I all needed to start keeping friendship journals in order to make our friendship "last forever". We all scampered off to our neighborhood Borders and I purchased my first journal with a couple of gold-colored gel pens, of course. On June 16, 1999, I penned my first journal entry. I thought it a bit silly at the time, but it was a magical moment when the ink of the gel pen diffused into that journal. If only Nettie's proposition had worked, because within 2 years, we drifted apart and she moved to Ohio. However my passion for writing grew stronger over the next few years. Soon I would wrote almost everyday, a big accomplishment for a middle-schooler who had otherwise no interest in school. In 8th grade I stopped writing, which proved to be a biggest mistake of my young life. It was after September 11th and I had ceased to care about anything and I had lost my childhood curiosity and enthusiasm. Writing was something teachers made you do not something you could actually enjoy, I thought. I probably would've never opened another journal again and remained lost if it had not been for another journal that caught my eye in a bookstore. This one had purple (my favorite color) clouds with a sun on the cover. It was so pretty that I decided to ask Anne to give it to me as a Christmas gift. On New Years Eve 2002, opened the notebook declared that I would start writing again. I joined Writers' Guild and the school newspaper but most importantly, I never stopped writing. In fact, I bought two more notebooks, so I would always have a journal when a new poem, an observation, or just a question comes to mind. While writing, a mixture of emotions, ideas, and thoughts spill out in the form of words on a page. As a result, my journals have heard about dozens of bad days, calmed many fiery tempers, suggested many new story ideas, and helped plan several evil schemes. Writing also helped me develop the confidence and strength needed to backup my arguments and follow through with my plans. My journals not only became a friend when I needed one the most but also a connection to the whole world of writers past and present; I eagerly devour the works of Dickinson, Plath, Woolf, Shakespeare, and many contemporary authors. With writing, I am never alone. As I write these college essays, I look over at the window and I hope that next year I won't see a busy street or a cul-de-sac of houses. I'll see a campus full of eager learners with beautiful buildings, and dedicated professors. In college, I expect to further explore the world, past and present while I develop into a better writer so I can eventually help humanity. But I know that wherever I end up, in life, I'll have a pen and a journal by my side. |
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