Writing has for so long embodied much of what I do. Even during my amorphous years, I can recall those solitary walks in nature with nothing but paper and pen on my person, making notes of the world around me. Looking back, I now realize that I was just trying to understand how stuff worked. Nothing could escape that scalpel called my pen. And my imagination, well… it ran as far as it wanted, for the filters of adulthood had not yet set in. The world and how it worked fascinated me, from the sounds of birds to the sight of crawling of insects, to our childhood scuffles in the playground almost three decades ago in my hometown of Negril, Jamaica, all had to be placed on paper. Unfortunately, I could only get a few words down. Only god knows what happened to those notes.
Now, what started out as mere curiosity, morphed into a full-fledged affair with writing. Why? I asked myself, was I so obsessed with these bits of hieroglyphs emblazoned on a page? After all, are these not merely words? That is what some people say, but any real writer will tell you that stories are more than this. They are, among other things, the repository of one’s experience and the experiences of the people and the things we write about.
Much of my narration is focused on power and that complex interplay of the dynamics that make up a particular power structure. That never-ending struggle between power and powerlessness occupies my work and hence I approach my writing by always asking myself this question, “What wound are you trying to excavate?” This is what a colleague of mine, Larry, once asked me when I was having problems conveying to him exactly what I wanted to do with a story I was editing.
Fiction, for one reason or the other waltzes out of me, and non-fiction is extorted from me by this oftentimes cold brutish world that I wake up to every day and has developed in me a proclivity to write what might be regarded to some as unseemly. To go where many writers dare not has become my forte. I have a penchant for doing this in my short stories; which I should add has was always been a favorite of mine since high school. Back then, everything else, particularly math could have been cast into a dung heap for all I cared. Writing was one of the few things I cared about and it was one of the few areas in which I excelled. The deeper I got into writing, the deeper I got into reading. I started with the likes of Dean Koontz, Robert Patterson, VC Andrews, and whatever my classmates were passing around. Eventually, I graduated to literary fiction. Faulkner, Marquez, Morrison, Walcott became must-haves. These writers and many others came to inform my perspective and assisted me on this writing journey.
However, it was not until my undergraduate days that my writing became more refined. As a communication major at the University of the West Indies, Mona, I honed my writing skills. But while I enjoyed researching and writing non-fiction, my penchant for literary fiction was never extinguished. So, after a 10-year hiatus, I started writing fiction again. By the time blogging on the blockchain emerged, I had found myself with quite a few unpublished pieces; stories, essays, and poems.
Being at a loss as to what I should do with my work, I was happy when I learned about Steemit. This introduction came just after my relationship with Bitcoin started. Being domiciled in Japan as an Assistant Language Teacher I was seeking new things to write and Japan provided a wealth of material. Unfortunately, I have not written as much about this country as I ought to.
My Blogging Reincarnation
Grappling with this novel Coronavirus has been a challenge. One is happy though that it has given me the time to reflect and hence decide the direction in which I would like to take my life and my writing. Now that I am on HIVE I am reminded of why I was drawn to blogging on the blockchain. I am being compensated for curating. For this I give thanks. Thanks for this sojourn, which began in on Steemit in 2017 or somewhere thereabout. Back then the platform was in its infancy. It seemed rewarding at first, but then after about a year and a half, I quit. My exit came because I was not pleased with how the space was being managed. After curating over one hundred posts I did could not move beyond a 50 something rating. To exacerbate this was the indignity of having to watch people with inferior content getting massive upvotes and payouts from the handful of whales who dominated the platform.
Even though I left Steemit, my love for blogging has neither deserted me nor has it been diminished. In fact, I have become more fervent in my resolve to produce content. Putting it out there is a different matter all entirely. For, with the exception of having a few close associates give me feedback on my work, I have not been able to get my work read by many people since leaving Steemit. Therefore, I must thank 
Somewhere Up Ahead
My next step is sorting out the non-writing aspects of this platform. So far it seems quite user-friendly. That said, god forbids that I become lost in a technical jungle, a quagmire of sorts, especially seeing that I am so deficient in this aspect of blogging. However, learning it is ‘a necessary evil’ as the old adage says.
After just a few days I must say that this platform has not been treating me too poorly. In addition to my aforesaid interests, I plan on posting about my time here in Japan. I will try to veer as much as possible off that too often tread path of posting the touristy stuff and bring to light some often overlooked stuff in this country. I will start with Ibaraki Prefecture where I now live. The last I heard Ibaraki was among the least popular of Japan’s prefectures. Let’s see if I can do my bit to address this. Ultimately, I want to add new dimensions and do some travel writing so if anyone can recommend a good camera I would greatly appreciate it. I would also love it if you could introduce me to some of your favorite bloggers. Anyone or any group is fine for I am quite promiscuous where my reading tastes are concerned. But as far as curating is concerned, I keep it narrow.
Happy blogging all!
Nicholas Richards
Welcome to my virtual fiefdom where I write prose, poems, essays, and hunt for exceptional content to upvote and comment on. I am an avid reader and occasional pre-covid traveler. These days I am either following tennis, reminiscing about Jamaica, or convincing my girlfriend to whip me up some Taiwanese cuisine.
