How I fell in Love with Literature

I still remember the nights when I would fake falling asleep, lying in bed, and waiting for my parents to fall asleep. I did all of this to stay up, to read a few more chapters of my book, or to write small scenes into my not-so-impressive novel. I would fall into the pages and read till my eyes drooped and sleep attempted to take me over.

One night, my mother saw a light under my door and came in to check on me. I had my laptop in my hands, and I was very deep into writing a little fantasy book that I had come up with. It was very late on a school night, so she had told me to go to bed.

Guess what I did? Didn't go to sleep! I stayed up a bit longer because I wasn't done with my scene yet. Mom, if you see this, no, you didn't.

I fell in love with the night at a young age, looking at the stars and studying the constellations. I would learn their stories and embrace them within my own words. Something about a star burning so bright in the onyx sky intrigued me to my core. I love pulling stars and night into many of my pieces for this reason. Even going back to elementary school, they had a blow-up dome that you could sit inside. I sat with my classmates and stared at the labeled constellations as I recalled every story I knew. When the instructor told the stories, I would quietly tell the story along to myself.

You can't tell me that this isn't insanely beautiful

Throughout middle school and high school, I read here and there, but I was more focused on my sciences. I took two every year and three my senior year, along with getting my CNA license. I did take the advanced English courses every year and took a college English class my senior year. No matter how many sciences I took, my favorite classes ended up being English or the arts. I felt most comfortable and myself in the 45 minutes that I was listening to the lecture.

But I never thought it was a possibility for me to become an author, never thought my ideas were good or that my writing was interesting enough to post. I chose nursing, which felt like the safe option at the time. It had always felt like a part of me was missing while going to class, practicing nursing techniques, and doing clinical work. That part of my soul tugged at me, and I ignored it for some time until I let it speak to me.

Through time and a very long story to be told later, I fell in love with literature once again. I fought back the idea that I wouldn't be good enough and that everyone would hate my work. So I didn't just jump in, I dove into my field. I started to read, write, and study more. I can't leave this blog without saying thank you to my friends and family who told me to switch my major. I remember being filled with anxiety when I started, almost pitching the idea around.

"Is this what you want to do?" Yes, without a single doubt.

"Are you happy with this?" Completely and utterly in love.

"Then do it." I will admit, the tears did flow later that night when I was under the stars once again.

I have never felt more at home doing what I love. It wakes me up in the morning knowing that my professors are going to teach me something that will impact the world. From Shakespeare's sonnets to nonfiction historical texts and even fictional texts, there is something to learn in every publication.

I have a lot of dreams and aspirations, the classics of being a New York Times best seller, or seeing my novels on shelves. Though deep down, I want to spread the love of literature, get more people engaged in every genre and storyline. I want to spread stories of people who deserve to be heard around the world.

Now, if you made it to the end without falling asleep or clicking off. I would love to see you stick around while I go on this journey of expressing ideas of love, transformation, and words. There is more to come... and I am very excited to go on this journey with you all.