Inside the Writer

Hey guys! I hope you all had a lovely week! :)

So I was going through my Documents file on my laptop, and I found my entry for Rose's contest that she held April last year. 'What makes you, you?'
And I thought I'd share it with you guys. :) I've edited it a bit, and cut a few things just to make it a bit better.

I hope you like it. It's a little insight to who I am, deep inside.

What makes me, me? That's a hard one because I am quite unextraordinary. I've been thinking about it a lot and I think I've finally got an answer.

My name is Bethan Downs. I'm 15 years old. I live in the UK with my family and my dog. I love Dr Who, Sherlock, The US Office, Modern Family; Any Marvel films, the Batman trilogy, book-to-movie adaptations, cheesy 90s romcoms (Clueless and 10 Things I Hate About you for the win); The Hunger Games, Legend, The Mortal Instruments, The Infernal Devices, The Lunar Chronicles, Divergent, Harry Potter, Vampire Academy, Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus; Fangirl, We Were Liars, Eleanor & Park, Wonder. My favourite colour is pale blue.

I love reading. Always have. When I was around 2 years old, I used to get my mum to bring home Biff and Chip books from the library. I couldn't read, but I used to sit with her, pretending to read those books. I would point really enthusiastically at the pictures, turn the pages and talk absolute nonsnese, but to me, I was reading. I love that about myself, reading before I could read.

Writing is also a big part of my life. The first proper story I ever wrote was Johnny and the Lost Lamb (imaginative, right?) I wrote it when I was 7 years old, but I'd been writing little paragraphs about fairies since I could write proper sentences. I can't say exactly when I decided I wanted to be a writer - it's just always been a part of me, that goal, that dream that one day, my book will be on a shelf in a bookshop. Writing makes up a huge part of me. Whenever I have a bad day, I come home and I read or I write because either way, I lose myself and end up somewhere far away from the bad things. I used to get terrible nightmares when I was younger and I would wake up crying and shaking. So I would turn on the light and I would read. Writing and reading - they are my escape and they make up a large chunk of who I am.

I'm really interested in Greek Mythology as well. Those stories are just incredible and I find it fascinating because those stories tell the story of people trying to make sense of this wonderful and confusing world. I like drawing and painting as well - I find it really therapeutic. I'm just quite an artsy, creative person, even if I'm not very good at it!

Anyone who doesn't know me thinks I'm quiet. Then they get to know and, well, the complete opposite is true. I just don't stop talking. I get distracted really easily and talk to myself a lot. I read somewhere that creative people have a short attention span and talk to themselves, so that must be the reason! I daydream far too much and that has let to a lot of embarrassing times when I realise I've been staring at a person while thinking about the feeling of flying or what it's like to be a dog.... Like everybody else, I've made mistakes. I have made a lot of mistakes. But I don't regret any of them.

I like to think of myself as a really cool person, or a ninja, whenever I'm home alone, when in fact, I'm actually an awkward idiot that has the coordination of a spoon and gets stuck while trying to do a forward roll. I have long legs, so ticklers beware - I cannot be held accountable for any injuries sustained if you tickle me. I have curly brown hair that poofs when it rains and grows out before it grows down. I'm weirdly skinny and really pale. I have eyes that don't have an exact colour. I like to describe them as greeny-browny-grey-y. I can't tell you how difficult it has been writing a paragraph about myself in French because unfortunately, the French do not have a word for greeny-browny-grey-y. I suppose my eyes are the only thing I like about my appearance. I think they make up a bit of who I am because I've never met anybody that has my exact colour eyes. They're quite unique, which is difficult for foreign languages, I admit, but I have learned to love my eyes. They're not exactly pretty but they're different, which I have learned is a good thing.

I bite my nails because I'm constantly worrying about something. I almost always wear my hair in a braid. I love chocolate. I like wearing big jumpers and reading while it's raining. I love the smell of books and the sound of rain against my window while I'm trying to sleep. I like sticking my head out of my bedroom window and feeling the wind on my face and the rain on my tongue. I like the sound of pages turning and the feel of paper. I'm trying very hard not to care what people think of me anymore. I don't want to have to please everybody. I want people to like me for who I am - I don't want to suffocate the real me.

What makes me, me? My family. My likes. Reading. Writing. My interests. My eyes. My conversations with myself. My daydreams. My mistakes. My little quirks. My ninja qualities. My opinions. My thoughts. My ideas. My escape routes to other places. My goals. My dreams.

I hope you liked that. Have a wonderful week, all of you.

Love you all ♥

Bethan
xxxxxx