For Carly Berlin ’18, writing is not just an academic interest or a frivolous pastime. An aspiring creative writer, Berlin uses her words as a medium to better understand herself and the world.
Berlin, a native of Atlanta, Ga., keeps a drawer of past journals and diaries by her bed which hold the history of her love for writing. Ever since she can remember, she has been writing and illustrating stories.
“I’ve been writing my whole life,” she said.
During high school, Berlin developed a more serious commitment to her craft. A month-long creative writing program the summer before her senior year crystallized her dedication to creating works of fiction.
About a year ago, Berlin started her blog, “Endless Foolery,” where, she posts entries ranging from short stories to daily thoughts and streams-of-consciousness.
Berlin’s inspiration for starting a blog came from a high school creative writing workshopping class.
“I was really happy with the things I was coming out with and I felt like I just wanted other people to see them,” she said.
Several months ago Berlin committed to writing in a journal each night before she goes to bed.
“When I write something I like, I type it up and put it on the blog,” she said. “That’s usually about once a week.”
The front page of the blog includes a Shakespeare quote: “Lord, what fools these mortals be!” After coming across this quote in a Shakespeare quote book, Berlin was struck by the word “fool” and found it expressive as a title for the blog.
“I think no matter how seriously we want to take ourselves sometimes, we are all a little foolish,” she said.
For Berlin, the blog is as much for personal fulfillment as it is for sharing her work with a broader audience.
“When I’m writing, I’m writing for myself. But I am hoping that other people feel something from it,” she said.
As a first year, Berlin is in the midst of the transition from living at home to college life, and she has grappled with the transition in many recent blog posts. She hopes other students sharing this sentiment feel consoled when they read her posts and realize that someone else is feeling the same way.
Berlin draws stylistic inspiration from Virginia Woolf. After reading a book by Woolf, she says she subconsciously adopted Woolf’s stream-of-consciousness style, particularly in her blog entries.
As for her Bowdoin career, Berlin is on the staff of The Quill, where she will have work published later this semester. She is currently taking Visiting Assistant Professor of English’s Sarah Braunstein’s Advanced Fiction Workshop.
Beyond Bowdoin, Berlin expressed her dreams of becoming a published fiction writer.
“I see myself writing for my whole life, and I would love to think I could be this aspiring novelist,” she said.
Berlin’s greatest satisfaction comes from hearing that people are reading and appreciating her blog, and she hopes to get more readers interested in the blog in the future. Yet her writing also serves a personal purpose, forming a framework for how she navigates the world.
“I know that for me it’s such a therapeutic thing to write; it helps me stay sane and self-aware,” she said.
Visit Berlin's blog here.
To suggest an artist for Portrait of an Artist, email Arts & Entertainment editor Emily Weyrauch at eweyrauc@bowdoin.edu.