Tag: updates on writing and reading

February going into March

February 28th, 2020
I am ready for March! It’s my birthday month and I am here for it simply because I hope I can catch a break from being in my feelings and out in the field.

In line with this, I thought I’d share some of the insights and experiences I gained in February. When it comes to reading, some of the titles I enjoyed reading this month are:

Some of the articles I’ve enjoyed reading include:
- The Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance: I was particularly drawn to their report on “Agendas 2063 & 2030: Is Africa on Track?” because I work closely with public primary schools in improving infrastructure with the end goal of seeing to increased attendance of pupils in schools while improving the quality of education. I was sad and not surprised that the quality of education has since 2014 reduced in Africa.
I am also in love with Tarot readings and this new obsession/fascination has had me closely following three wonderful humans:
On writing: I reached out to the publisher who saw to the production of copies of SIFUNA, to have my books ( Fire, Water, Wind & Earth) printed for the readers here in Kenya and we are still working around the costs and number of copies.

I know it’d be a great read this April.

The progress on my latest work, “Zuri: The Chronicler of Enzi” is taking longer than I’d hoped and this is my fault because I killed my main character and the villain and now I don’t know what to do with the story. I have not written anything for two weeks.

My favorite song in the month of February:

Life lessons learned in February:
1. Rest, eat well and most of all, rest…you can’t get anything done when you are worn out.
2. Do not take things personally…if you do, you’ll be bogged down by the wrong things everyone has done against you and that is a heavy burden to bear.
Books I’m looking forward to reading into the first week of March:

So, that’s it for now, I truly hope I can clear my mind, get some much needed rest and focus on writing and making the much needed updates to my work in progress.

Have a lovely weekend,

Stay safe. Live. Love. Laugh and Call the people you love 🙂
Staying on Track: What happens when your plans go South

January 22nd, 2020

It’s nine days to the end of January and I am already dreading February!

I have loved this month because I’ve seen the projects we envisioned late last year come to fruition. New permanent classrooms and smiles on kids faces because they get to enjoy studying in well ventilated, spacious and solid classes!

Seeing kids this happy about studying in such a classroom is the motivation I need to keep doing what I do. #workdiaries pic.twitter.com/gdiQujUU40

— Archie Okeyo (@herhar) January 20, 2020

I intended to write more so I could have the final draft of my next book done by February but that won’t be happening. I think I killed the villain, and in her place another one sprouted and I don’t know what to do with her! So, this turn of events has thrown me off balance- and being a planner, I am frustrated to the point of not being able to align my thoughts to writing anything else.

What do you do when things go south?

I have had tea, taken a walk along the Lake, had some fresh mango juice, taken a nap, done some push ups (awful ones!), listened to my playlist on shuffle, set aside the draft…all these within a week and I still can’t get myself to calm down and get back to writing!

One of the greatest highlights of my day has been reading “Break your glass slippers” by Amanda Lovelace

My favorite lines…

“create a safe space

for yourself to go to when

it feels like the whole world

has turned against you.”

I am struggling to stay on track, trying my very best to follow this through and maybe going with the flow would help see to the completion of this draft, maybe not.

I guess I’ll not know unless I try…

Have an awesome week!
Updates on the reading and writing life

September 14th, 2018

Today started out great.

It means I got to do most of what I wanted done, and that a cup of coffee was involved, a few good conversations and a walk around town.

However the best part was being able to listen to Kiss Daniel’s Laye without breaking into dance on the street. If you saw some girl in a grey t-shirt, khaki shorts, black ngomas and a maroon back pack dancing in the ‘Plastics aisle’ at Choppies in Kisumu, please don’t rule her out as crazy, she could have been me.

This song right here:

Let’s get a move on, so I have not done much writing given that I was unwell earlier this week. What I have done so far is to take notes and I realized that when you are half dizzy, you can actually come up with some pretty solid stuff, even though I can barely make out what I wrote, I feel quite refreshed.

So, I sent my entry for this years Miles Morland Writing Scholarship. I’d like to submit another entry too for the Commonwealth Writers Short Story Prize. If there’s one competition that I have never failed to submit an entry, it’s got to be the Commonwealth Short story prize, but hey, it’s always a great feeling piling up the regret letters, looking at that email banner and smiling thinking…”I’ll win this.”

On reading:

I am looking forward to reading three titles this weekend:

McMillan Cottom has crafted a black woman’s cultural bible, as she mines for meaning in places many of us miss and reveals precisely how—when you’re in the thick of it—the political, the social, and the personal are almost always one and the same.

How do you recognize the love of your life? Do you have butterflies in your stomach? Do you see showers of sparks and fireworks as soon as he steps into the room? Or, is your big love composed of something quieter? Annie longs for nothing more in her life than someone to love her with his whole heart. With Holden, this wish seems fulfilled, and the two build their own world. But how much pain can happiness bear? When something utterly shocking happens, Annie’s life becomes unstable, and nothing is as it once was. Then, she unexpectedly bumps into her teenage love Seth, and her life is completely thrown off balance—especially when fate intends its own tragic story.

The template comes in three parts provided in three books: 1) The Archetypal Big Debt Cycle (which explains the template), 2) 3 Detailed Cases (which examines in depth the 2008 financial crisis, the 1930’s Great Depression, and the 1920’s inflationary depression of Germany’s Weimar Republic), and 3) Compendium of 48 Cases (which is a compendium of charts and brief descriptions of the worst debt crises of the last 100 years). Whether you’re an investor, a policy maker, or are simply interested, the unconventional perspective of one of the few people who navigated the crises successfully, A Template for Understanding Big Debt Crises will help you understand the economy and markets in revealing new ways.

That’s all from me today, have a great weekend!
Updates on Writing and Reading

June 9th, 2018
It’s been a week since I got home. However, the truth is, it’s been one month and one week since I wrote anything. When I say ‘anything’ here, I mean, writing to advance a plot or story that I have been working on. I am not bothered by the pace…I should be, but I’m not in the frame of mind to write and I knew I did the right thing by halting the release of Sifuna on May 26th.

What a way to start a post!

Well, have you ever made a decision that you were solely proud of?

I’ve never taken such a long time writing, editing and releasing a book as much as I have with this book. First, I had an idea, I tossed it about for three months, wrote a chapter or two and deleted it and had so many eBook cover changes that I finally decided to let it breathe!

On reading: I got down to Ready Player One by Ernest Cline because of this awesome conversation-> here. I’ll watch the movie!

I read the book in one sitting. Yes, not because it was as remarkable as the star ratings on Amazon, but because I found the 80’s reference too much to my liking and the writing faltered between utter fascination with unnecessary detailed descriptions. I’ll admit that I’m not a Gamer, so the fascination is lost on me, there were some parts where the writing seemed rather clumsy to me. So, here’s the deal…Spielberg’s got reigns of the movie and I am watching it! Ochieng…let’s toast to this “the movie’s gotta be way better than the book!”

I am still reading The Queen’s Fool by Philippa Gregory and cannot wait to finish reading it and get started on these titles!
- Teen Trailblazers by Jennifer Clavert.
- Priceless by Zygmunt Miloszeweski
So, there you have it…I’ll spend my Saturday reading and maybe drinking tea as I wait for my clothes to dry…I might pick up my pen and go over my drafts sometime next week and see where I go with writing.

Have a great weekend!