Writing has always felt less like a choice and more like a calling. Long before I ever thought about being an author in a practical sense, I was a reader first. Books were my refuge, my education, and my quiet rebellion against the limits of everyday life. I loved the way stories stretch time, deepen emotion, and tell the truth in ways conversation often can’t. Reading taught me how language works, but writing taught me how I work.

I’m drawn to many forms of writing because each one allows me to explore something different. Memoir invites honesty and reflection, asking me to sit with memory, loss, and growth without looking away. Novels give me room to imagine. I create characters who wrestle with the same questions we all do. They do so under different names, in different circumstances, at different places and times. Screenplays challenge me to think visually, economically, and collaboratively, where every line and beat has to earn its place.

What fascinates me most about writing itself is that it is both discipline and discovery. Some days it feels structured and intentional, built sentence by sentence. Other days it feels like excavation, uncovering something I didn’t know was there until it appeared on the page. Writing teaches patience, humility, and attention. It asks me to listen closely, to people, to silence, and to my own inner life.

At its core, my desire to be an author isn’t about publication or titles. It’s about telling the truth as clearly and faithfully as I can, and trusting that words, when chosen with care, still have the power to meet readers exactly where they are.

Janine R A