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I love a good movie series, whether it be a trilogy or something more. However, one I never really bought into the hype of was Harry Potter.

When I was younger, I attended a Baptist school, before later transferring to a non-denominational school. My Baptist school highly discouraged the idea of wizards, witches, magic or anything of the sort. The library didn’t carry Harry Potter and they sent home letters to the parents warning them of these movies and their “messages.”

By no means do I harbor any resentment toward my school; they were doing what they thought was best for us. They didn’t want us to be confused by the powers wizards and witches have and compare it to the power of God.

Flash forward almost 15 years later.

I found myself getting ready for the Georgia Press Association awards, while the television played the first Harry Potter movie.

I kept getting distracted by what was happening in the movie, instead of getting ready. Finally, I had to cut it off. I figured I would just never know what happened.

The next week, I returned home with a lot of spare time and not any sports to cover. I flipped through my television subscriptions and found the entire Harry Potter series on HBO Max. I told myself I could just watch the first one and see how it ended.

I did.

Then for the remainder of the week I watched the six others.

I became so invested in this series. I would usually finish one movie at night and start the next during my lunch break the following day. I couldn’t wait to get off work and see what happened with Harry, Ron, Hermoine and the Dark Lord.

While the characters and story line were so interesting, I found myself more drawn to the author, J.K. Rowling.

I love creativity and the idea that someone can create an entire world inside their head. But, I kept wondering how did Rowling invent such a detailed, wizarding world only known to the readers as Hogwarts and how did it become such a phenomenon.

I researched Rowling for hours, and the story was intriguing.

Rowling was on a train to visit her boyfriend in Manchester, when her trip was delayed for four hours. As she sat around waiting and looking at the stops, she said a vision popped into her head of the main characters. Without any pen or paper, she spent hours imagining the story in her head. When she finally arrived at her destination, she began writing and fleshing out her notes.

Her storyboards were often jotted onto pieces of scrap paper, and yes I’ve Google image searched just what they looked like.

I think we often misinterpret daydreamers. We dismiss their ideas and just shake our heads at them living in some fantasy land.

I’ve often been told I don’t live in the real world, but some fake one I’ve created in my head, with relationships that are much more deep than what actually exists.

I’ve tried my hand at writing stories more times than I can count. I started writing little stories on notebook paper when I was in 4th grade and gradually grew to stories I would give my teacher for feedback.

I finally took a creative writing course in college, where we wrote short-form fiction pieces. Our whole class had to write individualized feedback, and for the first time in my life I felt like I could become an author. I also learned becoming an author is the dream of many journalists.

I bought several books on how to develop manuscripts, I sent my first few pages to an author, who gave me feedback.

However, I’ve learned an author has to have time, and that’s one thing that is not on my side. I have a crazy schedule, and most books say you have to devote yourself to at least an hour, if not more, of writing a night.

It quickly became a chore more than a fun way to express myself.

I think I’ll stick to these columns for now, as there is no right way to truly express yourself.

But I must say, if I learned anything from Rowling, it’s that creativity can come to you anywhere. There are many times I’ve picked up that old manuscript and added to it since living here and I’m sure there will be many times in the future.