Criticism and Nominations

What a week I've had. I had been having a bit of writer's block so my work wasn't flowing very well and I got frustrated. I was feeling guilty because I spent all week in front of my computer and I still didn't have much to show for it. Then I finally finished writing the second chapter of my book and got negative comments! I was quite discouraged, to be honest. I had got good feedback with the first chapter and I was excited because that encouraged me to think I was good at writing. Now what? I was hoping I would continually improve with my work, not get worse. The truth is the criticism is quite valid too, which makes it more crushing. Gosh, dealing with criticism is so hard because I feel the person is critical of me and not just my work. I guess I have to go back to the drawing board and really assess what I'm trying to achieve with my writing. Maybe I should leave it for a while and come back to it when I feel better.

Then I got some bad news that made me sad for a couple of days. When I couldn't bear it any longer, I went on my knees to pray about it, and God gave me His peace. So I feel much better. The issues are still there, but I feel God's grace and assurance that He is with me no matter what happens. I'll be alright, I need to trust God to work everything out in His own time and in His own way.

Thank God I've got something nice to cheer me up at the end of this week. My Journey Down the Aisle blog was shortlisted for one of the categories in the Premier Christian Blog Awards so I'll be attending the dinner and award ceremony tonight! I'm taking hubby with me and I'm really excited about it. Well a lot of the stuff I've been writing on the blog is about him so it's only fair. He's also been patient with me when I'm glued to my laptop and I appreciate that. I would never have imagined though, when I started that blog that an organisation such as Premier Radio would find it interesting at all. I just started writing it for my sisters to read about my relationship and maybe learn a thing or two. I've been surprised with the response I've got from people who've read it. I hope I win the award but even if I don't, I'm still excited to attend the ceremony, wine and dine and meet a lot of inspiring people. I'll take my camera with me, so I'll try to get a couple of photos if I can. Should be fun!

I've also got a friend's wedding to attend tomorrow. Between now and the end of the year, six of my friends are getting married. I love weddings though and since I'm not under pressure anymore, I just enjoy the celebrations. So I'm looking forward to a nice weekend- I really need it. Hope you have a nice weekend too.

Another Start

So I begin another year on blogger now. It's almost unreal that time has flown by so quickly.(Thanks everyone for coming to the anniversary party, it was fun!). I hope we will all still be blogging for many years to come. Although I can imagine how much technology will change in the next few years. Perhaps, blogging will not be as popular as it is now. Perhaps some other Internet phenomenon will come around and take its place. Like we've seen with the social networking sites hitting the news almost everyday now. My parents' generation would never have imagined where the world is now, when they were in their 20s. I can't imagine too, where the world would be, by the time my children are in their 20s. Communication and technology will be so vastly different to what's the hype at the moment. My goal is to keep up to date with the technology, so that I won't end up like the 60-year olds of our time who don't know how to send an email or a text message!

Speaking of those social networking sites, has anyone noticed that hi5 is now copying Facebook lately? Before Facebook became so popular, hi5 didn't have a lot of features. Now I just checked my hi5 account after many months of neglect and I noticed that hi5 now has the photo-tagging facility, mutual friends, activity and news feeds, and some other features which were exclusive to Facebook before. I don't blame them sha, somebody only has to come up with a good idea and before long, other people copy it.
I spend so much time on Facebook right now, even I am getting worried. I only have to be away from my laptop for a few hours, and as soon as I log back in, I have to login to Facebook to see what's been happening since I left. Oh no I'm addicted! Somebody please tell me there's a cure for this. I may have to go cold turkey and not sign into Facebook for a few weeks, otherwise at this rate, my life would be more virtual than real. I suspect the interest will fizzle out after a while, fingers crossed.

Hubby and I were invited by a couple of our British friends to come on holiday with them to Prague. We agreed to go, but we told them not to book the flight tickets yet because we would need to apply for visas. They looked shocked! They could not imagine why we would need visas just for a short weekend trip. We had to start explaining to them that even though we are resident in the UK, we are not citizens, so we are still subject to passport and immigration control. They were just saying "So you mean you have to plan holidays in advance?" "So you mean you cannot fly to Prague as a last minute trip?" "You mean you need permission to go to Europe?" and so on. In the end, hubby and I just shook our heads. They just didn't get it. I now realise that they can never understand what it means to be a foreigner living in the UK. It has never happened to them. It got me thinking about so many situations that people try to explain to you, but until you have experienced the situation for yourself, you cannot understand where they are coming from. For example: If someone has just lost a parent, can you understand how they feel, if both your parents are still alive? If someone has just been told they have terminal cancer, can you really put yourself if their shoes? I doubt it. Even when I went with my mum to her physiotherapy session, the exercises they told her to do looked so easy to me, but she was finding them difficult. I had to remind myself that she is not as strong as me, so I shouldn't expect her to be able to do those exercises so easily.

I'm beginning to question my own fitness levels anyway. I went for an hour-long exercise class two days ago and I still feel uncomfortable! Now it's going to take me longer than I thought to get back to the level of fitness I'm dreaming of: where I can run for a bus or train and not get out of breath. Maybe I should keep dreaming... lol

One Year on Blogger!

Wow, it's been a year since I started blogging! I've had so much fun in the past year writing and reading other people's blogs. It's been like a hobby, a passion, a job and an addiction rolled into one. I didn't start blogging with any particular purpose in mind, but it's been a very interesting experience so far. It's been fun writing things that come to mind, and getting comments from the good folk of Blogville.

Soon I started writing another blog (JDTA) and I've been really encouraged to see that people actually read and enjoy my posts and find them inspiring. I've enjoyed documenting the changes going on in my life, life's ups and downs, random tit-bits of gist and thoughts in my mind. I've enjoyed getting a glimpse into other people's lives, and some of the episodes on blogville have cracked me up, some things have made me sad, some news has made my day or week! I've even gotten so used to my "Favoured Girl" pseudonym, it's almost like my second name now!

Sometimes I've been inspired to write something while I'm away from my computer and I couldn't wait to get home to blog it! Sometimes I've spent so much time online, blogging and reading other people's blogs that I've lost track of time. I would like to thank my wonderful hubby for being patient with me when I haven't made dinner because I've been blogging!

In the past year I've joined a community of "Blogville" residents, made both online and offline friends, laughed and cried over posts I've read, and rediscovered my passion for writing. Now I've even been so inspired, I changed my career path! It just goes to show that even the most insignificant things we enjoy doing can change our lives.

So, to celebrate my one year anniversary on blogspot, you are all invited to my palace for a grand affair tonight. There will be six-course meal, lots of drinks and live music, you don't want to miss it. Here's to many more "favoured" years in Blogville!

Many Thanks, Other Stuff

Thank you everyone for your kind words and prayers about my mum. I'm really grateful and I pray that God will bless you in return! Mum is doing much better now and I'm trusting God to fully heal her. She has already improved a lot since she arrived and I can see the difference. Hubby and I are going to see her tomorrow and we are going to her physiotherapy session together. I'm glad I can go with her, we may even have a small bonding time by going shopping afterwards! That is if she feels strong enough to brave the shops on the high street. I'm excited about that, I must admit.

Well my writing's been going well so far. I'm working on a short story at the moment and it's harder than I thought! I thought you know, it's just a short story of no more than 5000 words - how hard can it be? But I've realised it is hard. I have to tell the whole story and come to a conclusion in a short space so it's not easy at all. So that's my first learning experience about writing a short story. I'm still working on a novel as well so my head is full of different characters and story lines right now, really cool! I've actually started dreaming about the characters too, is that weird?

In the past week I've "met" and spoken to some amazing people who are writers and I've been awed, challenged and inspired. I feel like I've got so much to learn about how to continually improve my writing, how to carry out research, seek out inspiration and overcome writer's block. I formed the "Nigerian Writers" group on Facebook and I've met more writers that way and it's great! I'm developing a new obsession: stalking other Nigerian writers and their work. I'm not just interested in Nigerian writers though, I think I'm just particularly curious about how they express themselves through their writing.

Speaking of Nigeria, I've just heard about the currency reforms the Central Bank is proposing. They are proposing a revaluation of the naira so that the current denominations will be a hundredth of their value ie N1oo.00 will be worth N1.00, the N20 note will be the highest in circulation etc. I've read about the supposed benefits the revaluation will have. It will reduce the amount of notes that people have to carry around, it will make the exchange rates with the Dollar and Pound Sterling more comparable and so on. But I just can't help wondering: Did they not change the Naira notes a few months ago? Why didn't they reform the value then? Why do the new notes need to be phased out again? Are there not more pressing economic problems to sort out first? How about lowering inflation and creating more jobs? Would revaluing the naira make any difference to the average trader in the market or the average salary earner? I very much doubt it, but we'll see.

I know I shouldn't look back and regret things I can't change, but sometimes I can't help wondering why I had spent all that time at uni studying the wrong degrees, and then graduating and doing the wrong career. I feel as if all those years were a waste and I'll never get them back. An acquaintance of mine called me recently, we went to uni together and I knew her through a mutual friend. She was calling to invite me to an event and then she just asked: how is work? I told her I had left my job. She asked to why and what I did now. I told her I was now a writer and she was like wow, just a few days ago, she was thinking of leaving her job to follow her dream of starting her own business but she was afraid. I told her not to give in to her fears anymore because further down the line, she could end up regretting not taking the plunge earlier. She said she would think about it, I really hope she goes for her dream!

This summer has been such a dampener, it's so annoying. Imagine, it's raining in the middle of August! Hubby and I had planned a day out last week, but the weather forecast had predicted rain so we decided to move it to this week. Well it's been raining this week too, so we've had to cancel our outing. Sigh. I guess I shouldn't complain too much, I should think of the green grass and the lovely flower hedges enjoying all the rain. Hope you are all enjoying the summer where you are.

Mummy, Health and Writing

I've been away from my blog for a while, I know. It's not because I didn't have things to say, and not because I was stranded on a remote island somewhere. I didn't have the inclination to blog for a reason, or maybe a few. I got a phone call recently that my mum was ill. My aunt didn't want to tell me what was wrong with her, all she said was that my mum had fallen ill and had been taken to hospital. I asked how mum was doing and my aunt said she was responding to treatment. I was quite worried because my mum is never sick. She is one of the most active and hardworking people I know. I can't remember the last time she was ill and had to go to hospital. Initially I thought maybe it was a fever or something, so I told hubby and we prayed for her. I called my dad and he was being very vague as well, he just told me that she had been admitted into hospital and she was getting better. But he wouldn't let me speak to her. So everyday all I could do was pray for mum to get better. It wasn't until a week later before he told me that my mum had had a stroke. A stroke?! I was stunned and I couldn't speak for what seemed like several minutes. The first thing I asked him was: why did you keep it from me all this time? There I was thinking she only had malaria or something! After I had recovered from the shock, I calmed down enough to ask more important questions about her health and how her treatment was going.
Well to cut a long story short, mum came around two weeks ago. I had been so scared that she would be permanently disabled or something, but to God be the glory, she is recovering well and she is able to walk and talk almost as normal as before. I spent the last five days with her and I'm really glad she is improving everyday. She told me what she could remember of when it all started happening and how she was rushed to hospital, how she was unconscious for many days, how she herself didn't believe she was so ill until the doctors told her. She is undergoing physiotherapy now, so she will be around for a while until she fully recovers. I'm just really really really grateful to God for sparing her life and I pray she will be perfectly healed - amen. When she gets better, I'm going to tell her that she must not stress herself again, she needs a long holiday.

That got me thinking about how much we take our health for granted. It is so so vital, something that cannot be bought in the market. I mean, for me that I had never seen my mum being in hospital, it did come as a shock. I had never imagined it could happen. I now thank God for my health everyday, it is a precious gift. I now appreciate life itself a lot more as well. My mum's friend said that after my mum got ill, she started appreciating that life is short, so she has started wearing all her nice clothes that she used to keep for "special occasions"! I thought that was funny but there is an element of truth in there. Why wait for another day to start enjoying your life? Who knows how long we will be around to live our lives anyway? I've made up my mind to live my life to the full everyday, because I don't know if I will be given another day.

I'm glad I could take the time to be with mum last week since don't have to be "in the office", but that does mean though that I've fallen behind my writing target for this week. I was hoping to have written a short story and another chapter of my book by Friday but that didn't happen. I couldn't do any work during the weekend either because I had to attend a wedding all day on Saturday, and I was so tired on Sunday. I'll have to adjust my deadline now but I intend to work extra hard and have something substantial to show for it by the end of the week. I'd better, otherwise my friends could start ribbing me like Brian in the funny clip below.

I hope not! LOL, have a blessed week everyone!

One Month, and a Celebration

It's the end of July! Wow time really does fly. I can't believe it's been a month since I left my job. It's a good feeling though. It seems like a noose around my neck has been loosened. I feel I have made the third best decision in my life. The first one was giving my life to Christ. I have been complete since I made that decision. The second one was getting married to my husband. That I haven't regretted.

My work is going a bit slower than I expected though. Sometimes everything flows, I'm excited and I can't wait to get all my thoughts down on paper. Sometimes I have stuff in my head but I can't work up the enthusiasm to write anything. And sometimes I get on my computer and start stressing instead of doing useful work. Still I'm learning a lot as I research and write a little every day. I've resumed my passion for reading as well. In the last week I have bought four books that I want to read. That should get more ideas going.

If you follow my other blog, you might have guessed I had a special date this month. Yes it was our second wedding anniversary! Traditionally that's the cotton or china anniversary right? Hubby and I went out to celebrate and we had a great time. I still can't believe it's been two years already. Time really does fly. I remember talking to a couple recently. They had been married for 46 years. I was like wow! That's a long time to be with somebody. Sometimes I still find it scary to imagine being with the same person for that long, but that's the essence of making a lifetime committment. I pray that hubby and I will go on to celebrate 46 happy years together - and more!

I took up jogging recently. I finally stopped giving myself excuses not to improve my fitness level. I've only been doing it for two weeks and it's only early in the mornings for now. But I hope to continue with it and get better and fitter as time goes on. Maybe one day I'll be able to join blogville's long-distance runners: Londonbuki, Vickii and Calabargal at the London marathon. Ok maybe that's going too far....

Infinity - Olori Oko

I love this song! These guys are so talented. Enjoy!

Question?

I log into MSN Messenger this morning. A friend is online and he says hello. The conversation goes:

Friend: hello
Me: hi
Friend: I heard Shola is going to Naij for a year
Me: yes she's going for NYSC
Friend: are you not going?
Me: no, it's not on the books right now
Friend: when are you getting pregnant?
Me: WHAT?!

First Steps

It's been a week already! Wow, this week really flew by. I guess that had to do with the changes and adjustments I am making in my life and my career. Right now I still feel a huge sense of relief. I know it won't always be rosy and there will be challenging times along the way. But everything feels right somehow and I know I've made the right decision. At least I've decided to give it a go. And I'm determined to see my work through. And my dreams becoming a reality!

My first week as a "writer" has been good, I can't complain. (I'm wondering if I should start calling myself a writer already, since I haven't actually published anything yet. That can be rectified right?). Anyway, I haven't had to commute or follow a rigid working pattern this week so that's good. I've had to set myself some targets though, so that I can measure my progress everyday and every week. I think I still have a long way to go and a lot to learn. But hey, every accomplished writer, poet or novelist had to start from somewhere, and I'm starting at the beginning. I've enrolled for a writing course which starts in September. I'm hoping to have written enough stuff by then, so that I can get some feedback from the course tutor.

Now even though I'm just starting out, I can already see God's grace and favour at work. I mentioned in my last post that I met two girls at the London Literature festival last week. What I didn't know was that one of them was Funmi Odulate! She is a leading fashion expert and journalist, author of a vintage fashion book (see here) and she is currently working on her second book. I hadn't known who she was, I had simply introduced myself to them because they happened to sit beside me during the programme. Since the festival, we have kept in touch and exchanged several emails. She is very nice and down-to-earth and I've now appointed her as my unofficial mentor......

The Caine Prize winner was announced on Monday. The shortlist was as follows:
Uwem Akpan (Nigeria) for "My Parents Bedroom", Monica Arac de Nyeko (Uganda) for "Jambula Tree", E. C. Osondu (Nigeria) for "Jimmy Carter's Eyes", Henrietta Rose-Innes (South Africa) for "Bad Places" and Ada Udechukwu (Nigeria) for "Night Bus". The prize was won by Monica. I guess her novel stood out because it touched on a taboo subject in many parts of Africa : lesbianism. I'm looking forward to reading some of the works because they sounded so interesting at the readings and the interviews were good.

Hubby bought me a new laptop yay! It's actually a very late birthday present, but he said he gave it to me now, to mark the start of my writing career. Apparently I had to prove that I was serious about it. The only rule he gave me was that it should be for strictly business use, so I'm not to download messenger and fun things onto it! OK o. Meanwhile I've started working on my first novel. I have a vague outline and I've started working on developing my characters so that's interesting. I'm discovering there's a wealth of resources available to amateur writers on the web. I just have to sift through the fluff to get the useful stuff. Special thanks to Abidemi Sanusi for her website http://www.christianwriter.co.uk/ which has been a great resource. Her blog is here and I've just ordered her book, Kemi's Journal. It arrived today and hopefully I'll start reading it next week once I'm through with the one I'm currently reading. (Thanks for your comment, I'll keep it in mind!)

I'm looking forward to a nice, chilled out weekend. A friend is organising a birthday party for her baby's first birthday so I'll be attending that. I can't believe that baby is one already, when was he born? Apart from that, I'll be spending quality time with hubby *wink*. Hope you have a great weekend!

Complete New Beginning

I'm sitting in front of my computer this morning, thinking I should probably get some work done. Except, I'm not in the office. I'm at home in my living room. Yes I finally did it. I left my job and career in accounting to become a writer. I had handed in my notice a few weeks ago, but the enormity of what I was getting myself into didn't sink in at the time. Now I have been without the secure structure of a 9 - 5 job for a week, and it's finally beginning to sink in! It's exciting but very scary. I realise that success in my career depends completely on me now, so I had better deliver. It's scary also because the security of the monthly paycheck is gone. I'm so blessed to have hubby and my family there to support me while I find my feet. Otherwise it would have been a much bigger risk to take.
I was going to put up this post last weekend, but I came down with a flu. Perfect timing, I didn't have to go to the office anymore so I could stay at home for five days fighting the flu virus - a parting present from the City of London. I had made plans to launch into my new career with so much vigour, instead I was coughing and sneezing and feeling sorry for myself. So last week didn't exactly go as planned. On Thursday, I started feeling much better so I finally ventured out of my house. And I realised that I was now free. Free from the straight-jacket of the corporate world. Free from working myself hard to meet another person's targets. Free from the monotony of the j-o-b. Free from office politics and power struggles. I came up with a list of things I won't miss about my former career path, and some thing I would miss.

What I now miss:
1) The regular paycheck, knowing I would get paid as long as I was in the office that month
2) The funny banter of my colleagues, their jokes and grumbling.
3) My former boss, she's a really lovely person, so warm and kind.
4) Meeting up with my friend in St Pauls for lunch. On nice days we used to go to the cathedral gardens and sit on the benches gisting our lunch hour away.
5) Exchanging emails with my friend, planning our weekends and meetings after work
6) My morning newspaper - free Metro!
7) My evening newspapers - free London Lite and thelondonpaper
8) The Krispy Kreme shop just outside the station where I used to work
9) The whole London vibe, you just feel like you are in touch with what's happening

What I most def don't miss:
1) Waking up in the morning to the annoying ringing alarm at 6.00am
2) Running to the train station in uncomfortable "office" shoes
3) Getting the train and having to stand all the way into Central London - just awful
4) Sharing a carriage with people coughing sneezing and spreading their germs
5) Getting to work already tired before the day has even begun
6) Having a limited lunch time break
7) Getting back home in the evening absolutely tired
8) Paying one-third of my salary to the railway company for the dodgy service
9) Tied down to spending that rigid block of my time in the office
10) Spending most of my Saturday cleaning and cooking because I haven't had time during the week.
(There's more but I'll leave it as that for now)

In the light of this new path I'm now on, I've been looking for networking opportunities and events. Yesterday afternoon, I attended the London Literature Festival at the South Bank Centre. It's a series of literary events spread out over two weeks but yesterday's event was dedicated to African writers. The first part was specifically about three Nigerian writers: Biyi Bandele, Helen Oyeyemi and Helon Habila. All three of them read from their books and discussed their work. They were interviewed and we were able to ask questions and stuff like that. It was cool. The second event was the Caine Prize 2007 Readings, where the African writers shortlisted for the Caine Prize came up to read their works and were interviewed by Zena Saro-Wiwa. Some of the works read were so inspiring and intriguing. I have three books on my mind that I'm definitely going to buy. The Caine Prize winner will be announced later today.
I met two Nigerian girls there and after the first session, we talked and went off to have a chat over drinks. One of them is a fashion journalist, and they are both writers so it was good talking to them. We had fun talking about works we had read, analysing different styles of writing, Nollywood movies and so on. After the events, we swapped details and I intend to keep in touch with them. I told them I was a blogger and gave them my other blog address so they might read this (hi girls!) In the meantime, it felt so good to be among like-minded people. That just inspired me. I've got ideas for my book now so I feel more confident about becoming a writer.
I still have one or two things to work out though. The options and opportunities are so vast, it is a bit overwhelming. I'm thinking I might take up some freelance work because I want to build up a portfolio of written published work. I want to look into writing articles for magazines and stuff like that. I could do also some short stories before attempting a full-length novel, and I might look into writing for children. In any case, there are so many opportunities, and at the moment I'm taking one step at a time and seeing where each step will take me to in future.

For now I'm off to start my day. I'm going to register for a creative writing course to help me brush up my skills and develop my ideas further. And then I'm meeting up with my friend that I haven't seen in the flesh since 1998 or is it 1997. Thank God for hi5 and Facebook that helped us to keep in touch again.

I'll be back...