My Guest This Week, J.R. Nova

My Words

by J. R. Nova

I write fantasy, and when I'm not at my computer I'm playing guitar, practicing Yoga, or reading a book. I blog at http://jrnova.blogspot.com/ and http://spiritmyst.blogspot.com/. You can connect with me on Facebook and Google+, and if you enjoy my writing and want a little more, feel free to check out my debut novel, “Rising,” on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Rising-The-Czar-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B007PFZZTO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332992834&sr=8-1

I picked up a pen at the age of 12, for the same reason many people pick up a pen. I did so to write down a feeling I had. It was a painful feeling, and what came out was a poem. I began writing poetry in sixth grade, at the bequest of my teachers who enjoyed my essays and other work. They saw a promise in me, a skill.

The poetry I wrote was emotional. It was therapy. And that was my first experience with writing outside of schoolwork. For several years my words were really all I had, as so many others have experienced. Words are the window into the soul, and it’s through that doorway many of us live.

My writing is no longer just therapy for me. It's no longer just emotional. I blog, not about my darkest thoughts, but of my interests, my life, my work, my relationships and experiences with humanity. I use a computer now, instead of a pen. My words have evolved from simple emotions to complicated and passionate introspection.

And this is writing, for me, for so many others. I started writing fantasy at age 16, and by the time I was 20 I had pretty much given up on poetry. I have branched out into writing fiction and nonfiction, but the core of why I write is intact.

I write because I'm a human being, and I see things in life that need to be put down in words. They need to, not quite be immortalized, but at least be remembered for me, as well as shared with others. Sometimes I put these things into the form of themes within stories. Other times I blog them or write long-winded essays to get to the bare bones of my ideas.

One of the biggest questions for any writer is whether or not we should—or even have the right to—share our words.

For years I kept much of what I wrote to myself. Some of the things I shared were welcomed, some weren't. But as I grew older, as I began to explore the deeper reasons of writing, the more I realized that not only could I share my writing—that I did, indeed, have the right to do so—but that I was, on at least one level, obligated to do so.

Every writer needs a reader. Every reader needs a writer. It is an injustice to readers for writers to keep their words to themselves.

Why?

Because we never know what piece of writing may have a profound effect on another human's life.

And so I write, and now I share.

Why do you write?