When Luca was a child, he was very excited to read. With a bookcase in his room, he was encouraged to read from an early age. His reading level was consistently above the other kids in his grade when he was in elementary school. In middle school, it was extremely common to see him reading a book in his free time. This was partially due to having a minimum book requirement at his school, but he also found reading a lot of fun. He always sought challenging books whenever possible, even when he didn't quite understand what he was reading. When he reached high school and the reading requirement was lifted, he found himself surprisingly reluctant to read on his own time. He still enjoyed it while he was reading, but there seemed to be little reason to before he would pick a book up. It didn't help that new clubs and hobbies seriously limited his time. Currently, he is reading The Book Thief, and he's read How to Read Like a Professor and Obasan over the summer. He hopes to read more regularly soon.
Luca learned to write when he wasn't very old, from school like anyone else, and this has been a necessary skill throughout his life. He's been writing essays for class throughout his schooling, and he thinks that he's gotten pretty good at it. He's also met and conversed with quite a few friends through writing alone, so it's important to him in that way. He believes that people write to share ideas, to communicate, to build off of what others have written. The difference between writing and speaking is that writing is a permanent record of what's said. There is always thought before you write what is written in a way that's almost never done before you say what is said. A lie in writing is a lot harder to cover up, so there's a sense of validity given to it. Luca has never been consistent in longform writing outside of class, but he has put some effort into different short stories over the years. He gets his ideas for writing from other stories that he reads. For example, last year he wrote a short story based around the style of White Noise by Don DeLillo for his final English paper. His writing has greatly improved over the past year thanks to his excellent Junior English teacher. He hopes to write more consistently and write better in the future.