My writing journey.
My mom would always tell me that I needed to go out and make friends. At first I was offended, then I would go back to my room and text my friends about my mom, watch tv, and read fanfiction. When people asked me if I was an introvert or extrovert, I always defaulted to extrovert. I was in the eighth grade when I took the Myers-Briggs personality test.
It gave me the INFJ personality type. It stands for Introversion, Intuition, Feeling, and Judging. Frankly, I was offended. I never considered myself an introvert. In middle school, this gave me an existential crisis.
After some googling, I found the concept of the “introverted extrovert.” Genetically, it means that you value your alone time but also lean towards being outgoing and outspoken. One of the main reasons I wanted to be a writer was because I had so much to say and could never seem to fit it into one conversation.
More specifically, I started by writing creatively. I loved the idea of creating a new world that was so much better than the one I was in. To be creative, I had to look within myself and rely on my introversion to refine my writing.
Around the same time I began creative writing, I began to pay attention to the news more. This was around the 2016 election and I felt the need to advocate for what I believed. As flawed as Hillary Clinton was (and that is extremely flawed, in my opinion), the idea of a woman president empowered me to create change.
When she lost, I wanted to blame the news for giving her opponent such a large platform. Rather than seeing the flaws of the news media and turning away, I wanted to change it from within. That’s when I began to look towards journalism as an option for my major in college.
In college, I wrote my very first story. For that story, I needed to find three or more sources and interview them within a three-day time period. I was also assigned as co-writer. To do this story, I quickly realized I needed to rely on my extroversion to do it.
Doing the story also helped me realize how much I love listening to people and their stories. Of course, I need to recharge my social battery, but I want to hear about people and what they have to say.
To be a good writer, I need to take from both the introverted and extroverted sides of myself, and experiencing both of these sides allows me to connect with my writing even more.