365 Pages

when i was a little kid, the only thing i wanted to be was a writer. i was enamored by jk rowling, tolkien, star wars–basically, anything that was a good story. and i wanted to write a good story, someday. my notebooks used to be filled with stories, and now they’re full of school work and complaints about my life. writing made its way out of my life. i was reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, and i came across this quote:

Everyone, when they are young, knows what their Personal Legend is. At that point in their lives, everything is clear and everything is possible. They are not afraid to dream, and to yearn for everything they would like to see happen in their lives. But, as time passes, a mysterious force begins to convince them that it will be impossible for them to realize their Personal Legend.

and i wondered if that’s what had happened to me. amidst the struggles of choosing a major and making decisions that may very well affect the outcome of your life for the first time (otherwise known as the freshman college experience), i’ve been thinking about writing more and more. longing to be like those cosmopolitan young writers you see in tv shows, with their fancy new york apartments and writing classes and commitment to this work. i know it’s probably not all it’s cracked up to be, but i do wonder what would have happened if i hadn’t given it up. which led to me trolling the internet for writing prompts.

i came across this page and scrolled through the list. it seemed daunting, but perusing the prompts sparked a bit of inspiration, and this seemed like a risk i could take: commit to writing, every day, for one year. respond to a different prompt every day, so it’s not too much commitment. it seemed like something i could do. more importantly, it was something i knew i wanted to do.

so that is the 365 pages project. i intend to post my pages here, because who are we in this day and age if we don’t share our lives with the world? these pages will be unedited, raw pieces of writing, most likely often short and bad. but they’re my little step back into this world i thought i left behind. i invite constructive criticism and support and will post the writing prompts so others can respond to them too, and share their individual creativity in this space. a year from now, i hope to be able to look back on a completed project and to have learned something about myself in the process. my thanks to whoever reads this for being even a small part of the process