I am in awe of how fast time flies. We are 10 days to October and I went out and about today doing things I love.
I came across these five insights on writing that I absolutely love and I hope you do too.
Step into a scene and let it drip from your fingertips.- MJ Bush
Write until you surprise yourself.
You can’t blame a writer for what the characters say.- Truman Capote
What would you write if you weren’t afraid?- Mary Karr
A drop of ink may make a million think. – Lord Byron
Have a great week and I hope you surprise yourself too!
One thing that I know I ought to work on is consistent blogging, however this season is my season of writing and submitting my work for review so I find myself spending more time away from posting here.
The first week of September to me has been filled with travel, work ( wrapping up projects, initiating new ones), reading and well, writing. I am looking forward to taking part in NanoWrimo so I am at the ideation stage, refining a story that I intend to carry on even after November comes to an end.
On work: From handing over projects in Nyakach to Mfangano Island, I have been encouraged just by witnessing the appreciation the schools and pupils have now that they can access proper sanitation facilities.
On reading: I started out this month by reading NoViolet Bulawayo’s We Need New Names and it’s interesting written from the point view of a 10 year old, however the themes on Africa, poverty, corruption and immigration were not new to me. I posted the full review on Goodreads.
I am currently reading 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson.
Life events: My younger sister also finally got to wear her graduation gown and attend her graduation ceremony and we love photos, or maybe we act like we do in this family and I took the chance to let my hair down and pose for a picture.
I have enrolled for 2 professional certificate courses that start this month and end in December and trying my best to juggle work, travel, and studies and the network glitches that come with learning via Google Meet!
On writing: I I have been prepping for NanoWrimo and re-writing the book that I was to release this past August.
I made it into the longlist for the 2021 Kendeka Prize for African Literature (my work’s mentioned here)
Quote of the week:
The forces of tyranny expand inexorably to fill the space made available for their existence.- 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson.
We have traveled the world
Of joys and sorrows,
Of expectations and disappointments.
I know not what awaits us tomorrow,
We have traveled the world,
Only to return as friends.
We are in the final week of this month and I look forward to more opportunities to grow in my thinking, learning and to finally commit to working out every morning- at least for 30 days.
July’s come with surprises for me; I bought more books this month than any other month of the year thus far. I traveled to Nairobi to spend some time with my absolute favorite humans. I had fun shopping for kiondos, bookmarks and brass earrings. I also came to appreciate freedom of movement when I got to stay out past 7pm without panicking that some police officer would hound me or clobber me for staying out past curfew time.
The other surprise was my patience when traveling back to Mbita and our bus had a flat tyre that took two hours to fix and I had to get to the house at 8:42pm which is way past the curfew time here.
So, I collected some snippets of things that I got, experienced and also look forward to courtesy of this month:
Stationery: I love buying pencils by the dozens and this month, I got a number of packs which I shared with some of my friends and neighbors while keeping some to myself.
I also enjoyed watching some awesome Korean Dramas on Netflix and let’s just say that of these three, I loved Healer and K2 the most!
I also came across a quote on the Instagram profile page of: BusinessMindset101 which had me stunned and I couldn’t help but jot it down:
“Jealousy can come in the form of jokes. Pay attention.”
Books: What would this month be without not one but two major bookhaul deliveries? Here are 4 titles I am reading next.
And when it comes to music, I would say that some of the songs that I have enjoyed listening to this month include:
I am looking forward to spending more time eating healthy, staying fit and writing more in August.
Have an awesome week ahead!
Go where you are celebrated,
It’s what they say,
It’s what I hear and sometimes on days like this,
It’s what I aspire to.
So, here I am…present in this moment, with myself,
Grateful.
I knew I was home when I saw her,
Flowers in her hair, heaven in her eyes,
I knew she was real,
Because she made me feel.
A soul so profound, that moment, like cream.
I choose to be happy on this day. It’s a sunny Sunday with highs of 26 degrees Celcius. I woke up today at 6:34AM to do laundry and finish braiding my hair and since then, I have been listening to songs on my playlist and drinking cup after cup of coffee. I am officially on my fourth cup.
We are 4 days into July and June was a scary month for me, for I realized how weak my body could be and the mere mention of being on supplements to keep me safe scared me. However, I did manage to get in more sleep and read more books but write absolutely nothing when it comes to my WIP. What I excelled at was watching Korean Dramas on Netflix late into the night and working on my work reports.
I would absolutely recommend the following dramas: Warm & Cozy, Man to Man, Healer, I am not a Robot and Tomorrow with You.
From March I have been buying more books to read and my June and July book hauls demand attention and I look forward to reading them in the coming months.
I am also looking forward to starting a professional certificate course to further improve my skills and knowledge in my field. It feels great getting back to some kind of structure and I can’t wait to see this through.
On future projects: The Miles Morland Foundation Writing Scholarship call for applications have been released and I’ll do what I always do, submit my application and keep my fingers crossed. I have been working closely with my Mentor/Professor who always critiques my writing to see to the release of the next book “A Hundred Little Things” in the first week of August.
My expectations for this month are:
I want to have coffee with you on a Monday morning,
Let’s sit down at the break of dawn and talk,
It’s been a while,
I want to see the dimple in your left cheek when you smile.
I want to watch you frown when you talk,
Or how you shake your left leg,
Ten minutes into a conversation…
It’s been a while.
I want to have coffee with you on a Monday morning,
Just like we used to.
I fell in love with the soul that had wind in her hair.
She came into my world and whisked me out of it,
I followed her scent.
I fell in love with the soul that smiled in the midnight air.
My Mother warned me about it,
Be careful or she may shred your heart.
I followed her scent, to my descent.
I fell in love with the girl that had wind in her hair,
No one could catch her, mold her, wind her, break her, capture her.
nilichoandika 