Tag: the crown of the sea

Getting back on track

April 25th, 2017

April’s not going down as I envisioned it. I know that challenges are part of life but in terms of writing, it’s not been an epic month for me. I managed to write 30,000 words of a story. Things were getting better until I sent it out for review and it was shredded to pieces!

Literally, it came back all red with one bold comment, “I thought we’d graduated from this kind of writing.” So, I set the manuscript aside, walked to Moha’s shop, bought a 500ml Fanta Orange, and had it while watching Spongebob Square Pants.

Ever since, I have not been able to write or better yet work on something else, until this past weekend where I decided to go with my gut feeling. It hurts when you write up something and it is met with such negativity, sometimes the criticism helps, but sometimes it wears you down.

I understand that not everyone would swoon over what I write. It’s just as well because as a reader I also find some genres not to my liking. As a Consumer, I stick to some products because of the value I feel they add to my life- hence my love for a sugar high with Fanta. I am not a Coca Cola person. It just isn’t my kind of beverage. So, in writing I use the same perspective to appreciate criticism.

The Crown of the Sea is out now!

It’s so short that you’ll wonder what I’m talking about in just 12 pages! Wonder what ideas will come into your head as you read this, and whether you’ll feel for the Narrator like I did, but all in all, it’s got me out of my funk and I am relaxed.

It’s free on Amazon, so how about you check it out here–> The Crown of the Sea
The man from the Sea

January 13th, 2017

And so it was that Neema went to the Sea. I visited the beach every night hoping to get a glance of the little girl with eyes as big as the moon, and palms as soft as the love of the sun, but she never appeared.

Image Courtesy of Pinterest- user @sinsaymo

The man from the Sea never visited, and with time I learned that one pearl ‘amani’ kept turning black every time I returned home from the beach. It darkened with every visit, and I feared it would lose its appeal, so I stopped waiting for them. I prayed for Neema and wished her well, but there are some things that a woman never forgets-the love of a child for instance.

My husband, the one who dwells in a mnazi den, stopped coming home and I had the nights to myself again. I sat on my mat, watched the moon and sang myself to sleep. Those were the days when the women laughed into the night, and the children chanted their prayers as the men thought about dawn.

The weavers created the best carpets and mats.

The cooks prepared the best bhajias, kaimati, andazi and kokoto. Those were the days I tell you…but even then Jabali was but a little one, his feet finding their way around the sandy beaches we graced. He had his mother’s eyes, charcoal floating in milk, and his father’s shoulders.

Years later, this little gem would be the one who unleashed a wrath worse than the heat from the sun.
The man from the sea

January 12th, 2017

If people knew about him, they would cast him out. He would be the genie they heard about. The face to the man they were told to fear as children. I wonder, did anyone ever lay eyes upon him and live to tell of it? When people speak of Neema, they speak of an unmatched beauty and unrivaled wrath.

They speak of her anger as though it was a strong wave hitting the shore.

Neema was grace.

She was silence.

She was the one who saw truth when our people saw lies and greed. Her mistake was to speak about it and fight it.

She was never one to keep her tongue between her teeth!

The man from the sea visited her every night until the day she took her first steps and that was the last time I saw her as a child. He handed me three pearls: uzima, baraka and amani. I carried these pearls home and wrapped them in my kanga and hid them under my mat.

My husband would have traded them for mnazi had he found them, but he would never give me a child had I asked.
The Crown of the Sea

January 11th, 2017

...continued.

I am going ahead of myself. I will tell you about Jabali, the handsome man of the sea. I will tell you about his eyes and smile, but for now let us start with her crown, for it is the only truth that has survived to date.

A crown of sea shells, pearls and a flower.

The sea shells were a gift from the ocean. The pearls were a gift from the one who ruled the waves and the creatures of the ocean.

It is believed that it was him who found her by the shore that night when her mother abandoned her. He rose from the ocean, laid his eyes on her and held back the waves. The first time I saw him my heart took to the nearby forest leaving me with my mouth wide open staring at fate. He had eyes like the ocean and a jaw of three men combined.

He gently placed a baby in my arms and though his lips moved no sound came out of them. The baby wiggled and let out a sharp cry but I kept my eyes on her knowing that this was a promise I would take to my grave. Every night, I carried the baby to the shore and waited until the waves kept calm and he would come and hold her, gently swaying her and looking into her eyes. For years I asked about the mother of the child and all he could do was look at me and shake his head. If people knew about him
The Crown of the Sea

January 10th, 2017

Chapter One

A tale is told among the old souls, of a Queen; the beautiful one who lived among the great creatures of the Indian Ocean.

She graced the land when the moon was high up in the sky. Those who saw her say that her skin glowed like the moon and the trees bowed when she walked past them. It was a soft swoosh of leaves, a swaying of such strong and tall living things. They believed she was not of this world, for no woman could have such grace and beauty at a glance. But how would they know without having laid their eyes upon her? Others say that she was a siren who charmed the young fishermen into jumping off their boats into the deep ocean floor with her. And I ask, how would they know yet no one graced the shores of the ocean at night? However, of all that is said about her, one thing rings true; her crown.

They all say that she wore a crown of sea shells and pearls with one flower at the apex. If I were to start from somewhere, I would start with her crown. Before we proceed, sit down, have some water and listen. This tale is told not because of her beauty or might, but because no one has ever heard it from the lips of an old soul. As word spread about her across the lands, so did fear and evil, but what is evil and what’s there to fear if not a lack of understanding?

Her mother crowned her Neema at birth. The ones who spoke of her beauty and cruelty knew nothing of the turmoil in her heart. They saw what they wanted to see.

It was Jabali who could have set things right, but even he could not withstand the purity she oozed and in denying her, he set upon us a wrath unlike no curse man has ever seen.

Tag: the crown of the sea

Getting back on track

The man from the Sea

The man from the sea

The Crown of the Sea

The Crown of the Sea