Hey it’s me, Aanya Sharma.
My youth primed me to view writing as a despicable task. Hailing from a typical K-12 public school education, it was tough to associate writing as a form of creative expression in any sense whatsoever. Writing was always pre-prompted papers, expository essays, and research reports. Hefty undertakings riddled with procrastination, restlessness and immense satisfaction upon getting it over with.
I hated writing, but loved having written. I expelled it, while others told me I excelled at it. Perhaps this came naturally from my younger persona, being a notoriously quiet and introspective child. Writing was always the easiest way for me to communicate all the thoughts I was too shy to express out loud. Making pen to paper contact with my composition notebook was more comfortable than eye contact, and my written words spoke louder than my mumbled speech. Yet, if I was going to hold a pen in my hand, I much preferred to doodle or color—a youthful pastime that grew into a passion for graphic design as an adult.
UCSB’s Professional Writing Minor program is where my lifelong passion for design found a new avenue for expression. I quickly learned the importance of aesthetics within the context of writing. The design tools, PR, and content development skills I mastered have propelled me to seek out professional multimedia writing opportunities. I have spent a summer up at UCOP on the team that runs the UC IT Blog, gotten published on UCSB’s Humanities and Fine Arts website, and most recently been the sole copywriter for a tech startup.
However cliche it may sound, writing is an indispensable skill. News articles, viral tweets, and my private journal are all written symbols of the current times. If there is one thing 2020 taught me, it is that life is fleeting. Time passes quickly, but experiences live on forever through writing. Spoken conversations are temporary, but written words are enduring.
So, think of this site as my writing time capsule. Each entry preserves a discovery, an event, a reflection—a piece of my life from various moments in time. I hope that my once hushed voice speaks volumes on your screen.
This is Aanya’s Wor(l)d.
