When I was nine years old, my third grade teacher told my mom in a parent teacher conference that I would be the next J.K. Rowling (or the first female president). Those are definitely big words for a third grader to hear, but it does mark the first time in my life anyone paid attention to my writing.

As a child, I was constantly writing stories or playing games where I created a whole world and rules to follow. I was also an avid reader, and took a lot of inspiration from the stories I read.

I didn't always want to be a writer or reporter. I think, during my childhood, I wanted to try every career at some point in time. I wanted to be a teacher, a marine biologist, a lawyer, a politician...like I said pretty much everything you can think of.

I liked writing and English classes throughout grade school and early high school, but it wasn't until my junior year of high school that journalism really stood out as a career choice for me. I never really even thought about it; being a reporter never crossed my mind.

My junior year of high school, being a teacher was probably my first career choice...until I walked into my first journalism class. My journalism teacher, who taught me in junior and senior year journalism, deserves a lot of credit for me picking journalism.

He was the first teacher who really made me a better writer. I was never really challenged as a writer in earlier years, but he pushed and pushed and definitely helped me. The two years of journalism I had in high school let me immediately pick journalism as my major in college and know that I was making a good decision.

Now as the next J.K. Rowling (ha!), I want to point out that in no way do I think I'm the best writer out there. I know there are things I struggle with, and I still seek validation from editors or teachers when turning in a paper or an article. I'm not a huge fan of letting my boyfriend or family members read my articles (especially when I'm sitting next to them!), because I read through the article and find all the things I could have done better.

With all that said, I also know I'm not a terrible writer. (At least I hope not...otherwise that's four years of a college education down the drain...) I guess since this blog is titled 'ramblings of a journalist,' I wanted to talk about how I came to choose journalism and why I like writing.

Anyone out there an aspiring writer? Or is one? I'd like to hear what you have to say. :)