Katie Zhao

"Why do you write like you're running out of time?"

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Here's a little secret: I love Hamilton the Musical, and my favorite song from that masterpiece of a soundtrack is Nonstop.

And here's an even smaller secret: I can't control my words. Seriously. Sometimes they just come spilling out of my brain, so fast there's no way my mouth could ever win that race.

In other words, I'm a serial thinker.

In other words, I'm a writer.

Everyone who know me know will tell you I am the kind of person who just writes too much. The page limit is 3? Well, then my first draft will automatically exceed 5.

Writing has always been an outlet for me to be able to refine and fully express what I have to say. Freshman year, when life felt like a never-ending upwards battle, I used to write my way out. I wrote pages upon pages, documents upon documents of words just to be able to make sense of the visceral emotions that always felt like punches in the gut. Writing forced me to expose all that I actively repressed in my day-to-day life. My writing made me cry, but it also made me laugh and smile. The range expression I would feel in a single hour sitting in front of my computer- well, let's just say only Toy Story 3 could recreate that in front of a willing audience.

Nowadays, I keep a journal going. After all, we are in the middle of global pandemic. If there was ever a time to chronicle my daily life, this would have to be it.

I'm by no means a great essayist, I just am extremely appreciative of the art form. I've gone on quite the journey of self-discovery during my high school experience, so looking back, my drabbles have been a great way for me to track that growth.

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I write like I'm running out of time because I can.

I write because I believe and want my writings to transcend my lifetime.

I write because writing has helped me get to where I am today.

I write because I believe the best way in which I can express how much I love writing is through writing ☻