Jonathan Ojanpera the author of WATCH

Q1 why do you write?

I write for a few reasons. The first is an innate desire to do so. I feel like my words are restless when they stay inside of me, and I have to let them out. The second is that it has been my dream to be a writer since my early teens. The third has to do with opportunity. After having been an ironworker for over twelve years, and sustaining multiple injuries, I found myself in a position to choose a different course for my life. I decided to go for my dream of becoming a full time writer. I started with freelance journalism, and have since branched out into all kinds of other areas. Diversity is very necessary.

Q2 what is the main inspiration behind your book/s?

I have only published one book so far. It is a poetry anthology of different forms and different topics. Poetry comes easy for me, so it seemed like a natural first step for me as far as publishing goes. My inspiration comes from my heart; from a place that never runs out of things to write.

Q3 what effect did it have on you and what effect do you hope it will have on your readers?

Publishing my first book was a little scary. Writing the content was easy, but actually choosing what goes into such a final thing is a daunting task. I was very nervous when I hit the ‘publish’ button, knowing it was out there for anyone to see. I hope my readers see my heart in the pages of the book. I want them to feel love, pain, fear and all of the emotion that went into the writing of my poetry.

Q4 what do you have to tell to wannabe writers?

I would say to a wannabe writer that it is a very crowded room. There are millions of people vying for a few spots atop the writing world. My main advice is to know that it takes time to learn the craft, and it takes even longer to build a substantial audience. I believe that there are many brilliant writers out there that may never be noticed because of how the industry works. Some of the most famous writers of our time have been rejected multiple times and nearly passed over. If you decide to embark on a writing career, be sure to have sufficient income while you are learning, and by all means test the market in every way you can; writing contests, blogging and any other medium to get your words in front of readers. It should definitely be a long term goal to save the heartbreak of learning just how difficult the industry is.

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You can get his work here or contact Johnny in his blog Johnnyojanpera.wordpress.com, which I assure you is a blog worth daily visits, it is filled with fantastic poems, photographs and his works.

amazon.com/The-Watch-Poetry-Jonathan-Ojanpera/dp/0692216146/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407073445&sr=8-1&keywords=the+watch+jonathan+ojanpera

All the best Johnny!