My Long Odyssey

I first fell in love with writing when I was fourteen years old.

I had a wonderful freshman English teacher. I’ve been thinking about that class again because the film adaptation of The Odyssey is premiering in theaters. That year, we read portions of Homer’s Odyssey, and I absolutely fell in love with the story and the genre.

Then we had the opportunity to try writing in that genre ourselves. Our teacher invited us to write our own epic poems. I don’t remember a single detail of mine. But I do remember how much I loved the process. What I remember most is that she didn’t just compliment what I had written. She told me I was a really good writer. I didn’t know that.

It’s a great gift when people see something in us and then choose to tell us. And when we do that for young people, we have no idea how long those words might stay with them.

So here I am, no longer writing epic poetry, but writing every single day. It’s become part of the architecture of my life.

I’m so grateful for that. And perhaps I’ll go see the film and think about that, too.

—Renee Roederer