More like a mile, but here I am sitting on this bed in a hotel room, braids hanging on my shoulder, thoughts keeping me company.
I was in Mwilala, some place in Khwisero in Kakamega. I’ve been to many more wards in this county, Bungoma, Siaya and a bit of Kisumu and my heart yearns for silence.
A bit of thrill amidst the chaos.
A bit of sunrise when it pours in Kakamega.
A bit of coffee, an afternoon at Java and a dash of fried fish…it’s these thoughts that led me here.
A subtle reminder that I love being on the road, that new places, experiences and people enrich my perception.
It’s been a while.
More like a while but for what it’s worth, I am glad that it’s led me here, and I’m able to write about it.
The weekend’s here. I’m so happy and well rested I could read three books and listen to some Sauti Sol.
So, I have been on the road daily since Monday.
It’s great traversing Siaya County and talking to farmers about their expertise and food security. I had fish stew at some hotel “Furaha Hotel” on Monday night and my stomach rumbled for two straight days!
I had to wade through mud to get to a school called Malunga and this three year old kid kept staring at my gumboots before stating that he never knew boots could be green in color.
I really miss home food and being on the road has exposed me to different kinds of people. I am learning that:
It’s good to say hello to people.
Farmers are the most hardworking people and they don’t even know it. I have been calculating how many days they spend on the farm from land preparation to harvest.
Sweet potatoes and black tea is the best meal ever.
The best way to heat your feet is to wear gumboots the whole day.
Certainly not…I mean, maybe, just a little…okay, I may be.
Have you ever given this kind of response?
If you have, then thank whoever made you realize all that because they are precious and as few as can be in this world.
You’d think that for someone who has written a story or two and published, that I’d be confident and certain of the next step when writing a story. Truth be told, I’m not. I struggle with every step of the writing process and not every story I’ve written has made it to publication.
stocksnap.io
There have been many stories that sounded epic in my mind but fizzled out on paper.
There have been characters that I loved but readers hated.
There have been also sales expectations that have never been met and yet, I still fret over one sentence, a cover image or just keeping the reader’s attention from the first to the last page.
So, today has been one of those days for me because I feel like time’s running out on me and I’ve got to set a story free. So, I found myself wallowing in my thoughts and constantly refilling my cup with tea until my sister asked “what’s wrong with you?”
I said “nothing, why do you ask?”
She said, “You always drink so many cups of tea when something is bothering you is it work again?”
“Really? Me…tea? You’re joking.”
“It’s true, but if it’s nothing then stop drinking all that tea, you’ll keep going to the toilet.” I had just been served the raw sauce by my sister and truth is, I am scared, not because this book will be out but what if it is nothing like I’d envisioned and what if it makes it to a reader’s hand and it doesn’t have an ounce of impact, not even an “I didn’t like the cover,” kind of impact?
I had a list of all the what if’s and just when it seemed like it would all make sense, my Mentor sent me an email detailing his thoughts on my writing and one sentence stuck out “this is new for you and it’s worth thinking about.”
So, if your dream scares you- great! Let it, maybe it’ll make you either shy away or push on. Whatever you do, if it involves fiction and writing- there’s nothing as satisfying as creating worlds with words…isn’t that how we’ve often known of the past?
Have you ever struggled with getting something done?
I could receive a crown for procrastinating especially when it comes to the latest book I’ve been writing and I got so frustrated today that I had to check in with a close friend. She’s writing her first book and we have this way of texting each other best wishes. So, when I shared my struggle she said “Just write a little every day.”
Well, I tried to do just that but it’s not helping!
So, what do you do when you seek advice but are not content or willing to try out the advice given?
I’ll admit that to some extent, my frustration lies in my expectation of a perfect script. A story that’s so seamless and entertaining that’ll leave the reader swooning and talking about it for years to come. It therefore follows that everything I do now with this kind of expectation is bound to fall short and that adds onto my frustration.
As I ponder of this dark cloud that I’ve refused to let go of, I figured why not look back at my April goals and share what I have been up to the past few days?
I made it to Nairobi and was there just in time for the celebration of #YALIat2000 held at Kenyatta University.
While in the capital city, I also treated myself to three of my favorite things: bookmarks, books and earrings.
5 bookmarks for $1 at Hilton Arcade-Nairobi Bookhaul 🙂 courtesy of Inama Bookshop near Fire Station on Tom Mboya Street.I love glass earrings so, I had to get these!
These two lovely notebooks are gifts from my insightful sister who knows that stationery is my kryptonite! She got them at a new store called Miniso 🙂
I have to work on my impatience with this script and the only way I know how to do this is by venting my anger on paper- or by starting another script, but doing the latter would cost me time and probably make me lose focus on this current script.
I’ll mull over it for an hour or so, but all in all, I can’t wait to cozy up to this book:
I love April but not as much as I love March. This month started out great because it’s bliss to start the week on a Tuesday, but personally, this month’s been great and I am getting healthier by the day. I had a bad case of food poisoning and I have never loved the washroom as much as I did this past week.
However, that’s not all there is to this post, I’ve been working on some major goals for this month and I’m looking forward to seeing them come to pass.
On writing:
I’d love to post more often. April is National Poetry Month, so I’d love to post one poem every week.
I want to collaborate with awesome writers from East and Central Africa for the holiday issue of Nilichoandika Magazine. I’m looking at five pieces of fiction or non-fiction from the contributors for the issue.
Having a session with five beta-readers and going through Sifuna before doing the final revision and publishing it.
On reading:
I’d love to get down to reading these titles this month:
On fitness:
I downloaded this app, well, technically, I installed three Home Workout apps and then deleted two, and kept the one that did not have “abdominal crunches” in any of the workout plans.
I’d love to plank for more than 30 seconds.
I want to also cut down on my sugar intake.
PS: I tried green tea and that stuff ain’t for me, I had to drink two cups of black coffee to get the taste out of my mouth, but it turns out that taking it before going to bed is like summoning the gods of sleep! Works wonders!
On leadership:
I would love to attend the YALI@2000 event on the 13th of April. Even though I have quite a flexible work schedule, being there to celebrate the young African leaders and to appreciate this awesome leadership program would be great.
Those are my goals for this month. I may come up with more or achieve more during this month, but all in all, I’m hopeful.
nilichoandika 