Nyida Strong

When I first discovered my talent for writing, I was thirteen. I discovered that my loneliness wasn't the worst thing in the world. By creating other places, other worlds, other characters, I wasn't so lonely any more and grew accustomed to simply being alone.

As a teenager, I discovered the sheer power of words alone. They can hurt, the can heal. Words can incite a riot, or calm the crowd. The power of the words before me and in my head compelled me to place them on paper, then upon the screen. No, I'm not obsessed with this power, not by any means, but sometimes I feel it is obsessed with me. I can't seem to stop writing. I don't really want to.

My genres include Young Adult, Fiction, Novellas, Poetry, Prose, and Autobiographies (in the form of journal and blog entries). My favourite is the short story. I love how a short story can contain everything; beginning, plot, character development, ending, it's all there in a compact package! It's beautiful.

The pen became my weapon to ward off dangers, the paper my shield. These things are what protected me when I needed protection the most, even from myself. In giving into that protection, I allowed a gift to grow and become something I never expected....