I come from an artistic family. My brother is an unbelievable artist. He can sketch lifelike scenes and paint colorful, abstract paintings. Without a doubt, most four year old children can draw stick figures better than me. He can also play music. Without lessons. My own musical abilities peaked in the fourth grade after I learned “Hot Cross Buns” on the recorder and I promise you, nobody wants to hear me sing. Needless to say, I was thrilled when I found my own artistic niche in writing.

Still, I find it strange to write about myself as a writer because I don't view myself as a writer. Yet. Someday I hope people will read my articles and books but today I am still learning. To obtain success as a writer, I plan to finish my Associates degree in Liberal Studies at EMCC and transfer to the University of Maine for Journalism.

Ultimately, I want to be a journalist for a food magazine, like Bon Appetite. I would love to write a cookbook geared towards people on a budget, offering great-tasting, healthy recipes for them and their families. I would jump at the chance to work for any paper or publication willing to bless me with the opportunity to research stories, conduct interviews, and travel. My particular areas of interest are the environment and animals rights. I would love to write on a forum that enabled me to help those who suffer from low self-esteem or eating disorders (psychology used to be my major). I want my writing to be important, helpful, and memorable. Hefty (highly improbable) goals, but I can't picture myself doing anything else for the rest of my life. The great thing is, I have my whole life to learn, improve, and fine-tune my art. That alone, is highly rewarding, though money and fame would be nice too....

If you were to ask me what might get in the way of achieving my goals, I would say it is my self-doubt. I am a reserved person and dislike controversy; therefore, if my opinion is too off-the-wall for others, I usually keep it to myself rather than cause conflict. Unfortunately, this is what successful writers DON'T do and in order to write anything with meaning, I need to get past this. My hope is that this course will force me to be more confident in my opinions and write freely from my heart. The online forum is the perfect platform for me to work on my fears because of the anonymity it provides.