A reflection on my creative writing journey
By Alexandriana Davis
Every night before I fell asleep, my father would read my siblings and me a bedtime story. I would come down from the bunkbed that my younger brother and I shared, and we would all curl up in our blankets together. The walls around us were purple, filled with crayon and pencil drawings. An old, chipped bookshelf resided in the corner of our room, where various books rested. Throughout my childhood, my dad read us everything, from The Adventures of Tintin to A Series of Unfortunate Events. Our creativity was fostered in those late hours of the night, our imaginations given the time and space to run free.
It is within these memories that I believe my love for creative writing began to blossom. I wrote my first picture book in first grade, a book over 72 pages that I still have to this day. In 5th grade, my teacher let me stay in during recess with my best friend, and we would type stories together on the computer. I have many old drafts and ideas stored on a flash drive that is over 10 years old. I was fortunate to grow up in a household that encouraged reading, learning, and creativity, and so I pursued those endeavors endlessly.
It wasn’t until high school that my pursuit of writing vanished. High school was a chaotic time of extracurriculars, AP exams, and maintaining a social life. I found little time to read for pleasure, and even less time to write up my own stories. My love for writing was always in the back of my mind, something I wished I had time for, but I continued to prioritize everything else over it.
After five years of not writing for myself, I finally found reasons this year to begin writing creatively again. My creative writing column for The Wheel was one of the avenues that allowed me to return to creative writing. This column gave me the space to write about subjects that were meaningful and imaginative. I had the opportunity to return to something that had always been a part of me.
Creative writing comes with its twists and turns, of course. I had to relearn how to tap into my imagination. There were many roadblocks along the way to doing so. Sometimes I couldn't think of a new story; other times, the deadline was fast approaching, and I had to turn in something I feared wasn't aligned with the quality I hoped for across all my editions. I had to relearn how to write for my enjoyment rather than just for a deadline.
I am still learning how to enhance my writing and how to incorporate time into my schedule to write for fun. I know that writing is a never-ending learning process; yet, it is a process I am excited and willing to pursue. I am grateful to have this space to explore my imagination once more. This is a space that has allowed me to challenge myself, a space that respects the twists and turns of my chaotic journey. It is a space that gave me the chance to return to that young child inside me, the one who would curl up in her blanket next to her siblings and imagine the new world of a bedtime story. The creative spark I once had has returned, and I am determined to hold on to it.
