Answers from "400 Posts" + ALR Winner

Happy Monday, everyone! Hope you had a good weekend. I know some of you thought I would never get round to doing this... sorry for the delay.

The winner of the copy of 'A Love Rekindled' is... Bunmi! Please send your postal address to myne@ mynewhitman.com to arrange delivery.

Below are the questions and answers... I hope I answered everyone.

how was your childhood like? was it fun? wre you a happy child? did you feel pretty? what were the challenges you went through on your road to adulthood?

I was born in Enugu, a very playful, studious tomboy. I was happy, I had three sisters and a brother. I felt pretty, but maybe not beautiful - I felt my sisters were prettier than me. However, I think my parents did a good job; they didn't do favorites.

are u a professional writer? if yes, did you/are u study(ing) anything that has to do with writing? single? married?
Professional writer? I belong to a professional association of writers (Pacific Northwest Writers Association), but I don't consider myself a professional writer, because I did not formally study writing. I write full-time, and I am married.

If we could get a personal profile *why you started writing, what u studied, interests etc* childhood, where u grew up, bullied?, bully, pet peeves lol

I've always written; I remember writing as a preteen, and beginning to write again when I was about to finish university. I decided to change careers after moving to America and took up writing full-time. I studied Applied Biology for my first degree, and Public Health Research for my Masters. My interests are varied, but the main ones are reading and travel. I was bullied in primary and in secondary school; maybe it was because I was small, and I did well in class, so bullies felt that I was a teacher's pet.

My question is how do you deal with situations when you have brilliant ideas but seem too busy to pen it down? That is if you ever do.
I do procrastinate and become demotivated, but I have an encourager in the Holy Spirit and my husband is very supportive. I only have to mention something, and he will hold me to it, if not immediately, then soon. He will go as far as reminding me and providing a conducive environment.

Question - 3 things you wish to achieve in the next 10 years..
I hope to be a mother, I hope to have more books written, and I have big dreams for Naija Stories. Let's see how it goes in ten years.

I'ld just love to know how you started and what were the challenges you faced then. Did you ever think of quitting?
I started my writing by joining a writing group. Along the line, one of the members suggested blogging, and I started this blog. Through this blog, I found out about other bloggers and writers who became self-published authors, and after considering it with other options of publishing, I decided to take that route. My first book was published in December 2009 and since then, I've faced the challenge of bringing it to the awareness of the general public. I do sometimes doubt myself and wonder if I'm putting myself up for a big fall, but I didn't think of quitting because I got a lot of good feedback from bloggers, the Nigerian community and generally from readers.

As for my question, what is your real name?
Ask your nearest Igbo friend to directly translate 'Myne Whitman'. I'll give you a clue; my first name is Nkem, which means 'Mine'.

PS, Have a great week. Mwah!