What's Happening...

It's Wednesday!

I have to admit, that it is not my favorite day of the week, but today is very special because I decided to continue writing a story that I really hope I can share with you in a few weeks time.

I had submitted a short version of the story for this year's 2014 Commonwealth Writers Workshop to be held in Uganda, but haven't heard from them regarding my submission.
So, I figured why not put it out there? (Thanks Mark, now I can post it on Smashwords )

I had a wonderful day, though I was up by 5:40am and ready for the road by 6:10am, it felt like years before I left the house. I was at Ranjira Primary today. It's at Namb-Okana- just a few meters away from Rabuor, and my short stay there was lovely. I learned more about management and responsibility from the School Patrons, than I believe any MBA would ever teach.

So, what's happening?
I'm writing!

It's been a month since I shared 21 Days with you, and now this April holiday- it's all about another story. I did declare that I will improve on my writing by working on full length novels, writing in the first voice, writing about love and relationships.
I am doing just that- and I am pleased with my progress thus far.

About the Cover Image:
I am a member of Deviant Art and there are a lot of great Deviants in the world, and TynkaBillisek is one of my personal favorites.
Her works have a certain appeal that just grows on you. The image I've shared with you for my story- is her piece. You can check out her beautiful pieces on http://tynkabillisek.deviantart.com/

Choose Me

Check the right side bar---->

Click on that image.
It looks something like

It's a direct link to my first short story of 2014 on Smashwords.

It's been a good start for me reagrding my writing. I have to admit that following the realization that I do like writing about relationships and romance, writing this story felt good.

It's titled Choose Me. It follows the relationship of Alice and Jack- but I will confess that it's a teaser. There's more to this story than I have let on because it touches on sexual purity, and gives a glimpse of how the couple work through their commitments and understanding.

What inspired this?

A conversation I overheard in a matatu.

Yes, well...it was a bus really, the RASASI/JASET buses that ply the Lang'ata route here in Nairobi. I was making my way to my uncle's house when these ladies started talking about purity and the programme in their church that advocates for this and they went on to lay their fears and hopes about it. One girl (her voice was pretty strong- more like someone who's had a few smokes) said she would be glad to try it, but her concern was whether any guy would stay pure until they married.
This made the others laugh and chip in. I rather liked listening to them- but had to alight at my stop and when I got home, I was faced with the challenge of writing a story centered around purity.

The name Alice came to mind.
The name Jack was sought after- because I thought maybe Ben would have been good, but after a while I figured that I have used that name before.

So, what's the story between Alice and Jack?

Just click on that image (as directed by me :-) ) and read that short story. It's the beginning of the story between Alice and Jack #jalice , and I do hope to get your views on it too.

Have a wonderful weekend!

FROZEN IN TIME

Have you ever heard people telling you 'forget about it, let it go-it's in the past?"
Have you ever wondered or asked yourself why you seem stuck in that moment? I do love three things and I will tell you about them again; books, coffee and good music. I can sit down to a good book, sip some coffee while listening to some good music. To achieve this I visit the school library every day and walk through the floors-and browse through the shelves. I have some friends who do not know how the school online search system works (OPAC)-and some of them ask me where they might locate certain books. I would more often than not direct them appropriately but it's not because I use OPAC, but because I browse through the shelves. I pick a section, go through all the books and then walk to the next. There's something about books that draws me to them. I wish I had a better way of explaining how good it feels looking through those shelves for a good book.
So, today I picked a book "Thinkers of the East" by Idries Shah and was drawn to it, first by the quote " The rights that others have over you,remember them. The rights that you have over others, forget them."
It got me thinking-how often do we do the opposite?
Why is it so easy to forget the rights others have over us and remember the ones we have over others? Simple-it is because of our ego and the need to feel superior. It hit me that every day in whatever we do, one of the main objectives is to make the 'me' happy. It is all about being happy. Happiness in this case is simply about pride and not peace of mind.
I have often heard people say that they are having a bad day. If you ask them why, or what it is about their day that makes them declare it bad, they say 'things are not working out as I planned.'
If you were a driver on the wheel then you would say that. We often forget that we are people and we have minds. We process thoughts and at times desires that are manifested in our actions. We also forget that the same mind, can choose to make out a situation out of nothing, simply because we have these preconceived notions that we are supposed to have things work our way.
We get frozen in time, because we keep playing one moment over and over again. Each time we play that moment we forget to switch roles and often play the victim. It becomes more of a state in which 'I was wronged, it shouldn't have happened like that, I did not want it to happen like that, blah blah blah!'

Each time you replay an occurrence in the past, try switching roles and thinking of the other perspective-maybe then you will not be so frozen in time,who knows?