My Hand is free + Using the new blogger

Hi everyone, hope your weekend is going well?

Yay, I took out my cast and now I have both hands to play with again. What a relief!

Having that cast was bearable but there were days I got so frustrated with it, especially because I couldn't get it wet and had to wrap it in plastic each time I had a shower. Then a friend pointed out that my hand was getting smaller, and it was! I've lost some muscle definition in that hand and much of the strength. But no fear, the Occupational Therapy people have given me a series of physio exercises to bring the hand back to speed. I laughed yesterday doing some of them, it's amazing how we take so many things for granted until you can't do them again. Like squeezing your hand or touching your thumb to the tips of your other fingers. Well, small small...

On other news, have you started using the new blogger interface? I logged in a couple of days ago and old Blogger said I should try it out. I was like, meh, I'm used to this one, but Atala wanted to see what it looked like so I clicked over. TBH, I haven't gone back to old blogger since. The look and feel is so clean and more integrated, and I like it, lol. Maybe I'll do a proper post about it soon.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend people. For those in America, have a great Labor day.

Myne Whitman Presents: The Vow by Lowladee

Lowla Dee is a Nigerian born in the heart of Kano. With a B.Sc in Mass Communication, she's a writer/blogger and philanthrophist who believes in making the world a better place is by impacting one person at a time. You can contact her at ladydeedollie@yahoo.com

Her website, LOWLADEE.com is a fast growing lifestyle website set up as a channel for others to be inspired. She says, "our readers mean a lot to us and we strive to affect their lives in divine ways." This description comes with a warning, "You are about entering into a world where fiction feels so real. Once you start, you won’t stop." After reading the story below, I hope you agree with them. TGIF. This is a long story, but I promise you'll love it. Enjoy...

Beyonce's Love is on Top - Baby Bump Reveal!

One of my country people sang it this way, This na serious love nwantiti, lol.

Beyonce announced recently at the VMA's that she's pregnant and performed a song - Love on Top - from her latest album where she showed off the baby bump. I saw the video, and my heart was melting. Still is, I'm such a sucker for public displays of affection, lol. I wish them all the best!

Enjoy the lyrics and video after the break and may the new month bring us all lots of love and goodness. Mwah!

BLOGFEST: Design Your Book Cover

This is from Teralyn Rose Pilgrim of A Writer's Journey, she wants us to stretch our cover design skills, lol. I have to admit that I had professionals design the covers of both my books, A Heart to Mend and A Love Rekindled. I'm terrible with GIMP, Paint, Adobe and all those other arty softwares though I have the free versions on my laptop. Anyway, I did the one below on paint for my current WIP.

I know, I know, it's terrible. Bear with me. :) And this is just the tentative title.

A Fiery Love: Thirty year old Dunni returns to Nigeria on vacation and is seduced by local lothario, Babs. Can the chemistry between them translate to lasting love?

PS, the writing is going slow but it's going. I should post an excerpt next week. Cheers!

Re: Mercy Johnson - Marriage and Divorce in Nigeria

I read some of the drama that preceded Mercy Johnson's wedding on Linda Ikeji's blog, and it got me thinking about marriage, and how some Nigerian women view the institution, viz-a-viz divorce. Note the last response by the first wife.

Linda, I can give you my lawyer's number, please call him and ask him if he signed any divorce papers or if he was in court on Tuesday. I'm still legally married to Prince Odi Okojie, I have not returned any bride price and if Mercy Johnson wants to marry him, let her go ahead. She should just know that she's a second wife.

Now, I didn't read all the posts, but from when the story broke, I was interested by this lady's story. She claimed to be the wife of the man a popular actress was about to get married to (in a 3-day Jamboree)  with photo and documentary evidence that proved the man had actually married her by law and custom.

A Love Rekindled reviewed in Sleek Magazine

I think this is an old issue but pick it up if you see it, ALR is reviewed in the book section.

... the strength of the novel is the emotional journey that the author takes the reader on. She creates a sympathetic picture of both Kevwe and Efe, showing their innermost feelings as they interact with each other and with others who are not so favorably disposed towards their relationship. She deftly weaves both stories together, showing them alternately falling in love by gentle degrees, and then struggling desperately to regain that love they once had. And ultimately, in the final third of the novel, she brings the narratives to a dramatic crescendo as she shows not only the searing heartbreak that betrayal can bring, but more importantly, for hearts torn apart by such heartbreak, the power of love to heal.

The magazine is available in various countries including Angola, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Zambia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, UAE and the UK.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend and watch out for my post coming up soon. :)

Jacob Olisa Jones - The Septavalent Stone: Guest Author

My guest author for today is a YA aspiring author living in the Ukraine. Jacob Olisa Jones describes himself as currently studying a very weird branch of medicine where he treats spirits, ghosts, and beasts including werewolves and banshees. Of course, when I read that on his blog, I was immediately intruiged. I've downloaded his book on my Amazon Kindle (only $0.99), and can't wait to dig in. Enjoy our interview...

What inspired you to want to become a writer?
Right from when I was little I have been fascinated by weird things, you know. I liked watching X-men a lot so the idea of having powers that make you do things that others can't it an exciting feel for me. That being said, I really started writing after I read Prince Caspian of the Narnia series.

Please tell us about the Septavalent Stone
The Septavalent stone is a young adult novel set in two countries, Nigeria and Ukraine. It's about a boy called Andrew, who has a mother who is paranoid about almost everything including her brother Uncle Jeffery, and who is also not as normal as other mothers can be. Andrew gains admission into a medical school in Ukraine, but on getting there, he discovers it's not just a medical school, it's actually a school where apart from human beings, ghosts are treated, magical beasts and a couple of other paranormals stuffs. As the story unfolds, Andrew discovers new secrets about his family and himself, he also discovers a cousin he never knew existed, ad realizes that his mother is not all about cooking utensils and aprons but that in fact there is more to her paranoia and lies than meets the eyes.


Do you have any other books in the pipeline? What are your goals for future projects?
I am a sucker for magic, anything mystical (I hope my mum does not read this) Like I said before the idea that there are unexplainable powers is fascinating to me. Right now, because I'm on holiday, I am doing research on superstitions and myths of every country I can find. By the end of maybe next year, I hope to release a picture book drawn from my descriptions of all these superstitious creatures.


Have you achieved your aim of writing The Septavalent Stone?
Partially yes. I think my main accomplishment will be when someone even if it''s just one person can truthfully say my book really did something to him or her in a positive way. And of course, I would love to sell loads and loads of my book.

Tell us your most rewarding experience since being published.
I have this very negative friend that almost sees nothing good in anything. He asked me he wanted to read my book. I refused, but he took it anyway and read it and kept saying it was really good. What really touched me though wasn't his comment. He actually finished it in two nights, because we had exams during the day, and we were both talking about the characters like they were real. Honestly, forget the sales, that was a golden moment for me.

How are you enjoying being in Ukraine? How has the reception been like?
It has been quite good that is if you don't count the time my initial illustrator stopped working with me when we met in a restaurant and he discovered I was black. But that was a good thing because right now, the comments I am getting for the book cover from my new illustrator is awesome.

Platform Building Campaign for writers

Most of you know that both of my books are self-published, but a lot of people are amazed at how well they're doing.  I've heard the question, What's the secret? a few times and I never fail to refer them to my blog. I've worked hard on this blog, but more than that, I was able to connect to other blogs and bloggers through it. I'm taking this opportunity to build it even further through a campaign pioneered by a fellow writer.

Rachael Harrie is a blogger and aspiring author of YA Horror and she started the Writers' Platform-Building Campaigns as "a way to link writers, aspiring authors, beginner bloggers, industry people, and published authors together with the aim of helping to build our online platforms. The Campaigners are all people in a similar position, who genuinely want to pay it forward, make connections and friends within the writing community, and help build each others' online platforms while at the same time building theirs."

If you're interested, you can read about what's involved in being a Campaigner, and the idea behind the Campaigns. For my followers who are writers, it would be great if you can join in the campaign, because with these things, the more the merrier. I already follow and read the blogs of some other campaigners and I can assure you that they're all very helpful in sharing posts on how to write better, and also about querying, publishing and promoting. See you there.

Blog Abandoned

When I read this article on GHOST BLOGS, I couldn't help nodding my head.

I'm talking about those strange spaces on the Internet that haven't been closed; they remain up, abandoned, their owners disappearing into the ether. There is no final post at the top announcing the cessation of the project. On the contrary, the most recent post (which is sometimes years old) usually gives no sense that the blog is coming to an end. It's like walking into a house and finding the table fully set with a warm meal but devoid of people.

I'm never sure what to do with these blogs on either the enormous blogroll I keep or in my personal blog reader. I usually leave them up on the blogroll because I figure the archives could still be helpful to someone seeking information. I also usually leave them in my Google Reader because there have been a handful of times that the person has -- years later -- popped back on (and, let's face it, I'm too lazy to prune my Reader).

Personally I have over 800 blogs in my reader, though more than half of them are ghosts. There are some that I take personal. Bloggers that I really liked, I thought we had a connection, or maybe were writing a series and just abandoned them. I'll list some of them below.

- QMoney of Discovery for women, only recently updated after 6months.
- Solomon Sydelle, finally replied my twitter message yesterday, but her blog?
- Naijadaydreamer is AWOL, she mentioned a tasking job, but still! And she owes me a story, and a book.
- Betrayed Naija Wife, I want to assume it is well with her life now
- September to Andrea on my life, hope she and family are doing well.
- Let me not even talk of the really old timers...Where is Baroque, Nolimits, Mancee, Kay9, etc...

What about you? Do you miss any blogs? Why do you think owners abandon their blogs?

The Don Jazzy/ DBanj Oliver Twist Phenomenon

Or you can call it the Nigerian takeover of Youtube. A few weeks/ months ago, all the rage was planking, and that was just for fun o. Can you imagine the foolywang that will ensue now that people will be paid for jonzing? I'm sure most of you guys have heard of the Don Jazzy and Dbanj's Talent Contest where the winner can get up to $2500 in cash?

Record a video clip of yourself or your group dancing/jonzing, upload to YouTube and email the link to oliver@mohitsrecords.com
It’s that simple.
1st Prize: $2500
2nd Prize: $2000
3rd Prize: $1500
4th Prize: $1000
5th Prize: $500
Top 10 entries will be part of the Official Oliver video
Top 50 gets a FREE Koko Mobile Handset

I've always believed it was a matter of time before the number of Nigerians on the social media platforms exploded, and the success of my books through blogs and Facebook seemed to bear me out. Recently, Nmachi Jidemma of CP-Africa called for more connected Nigerians to start blogs arguing that writing about day-to-day Nigerian life will overwhelm our reputation for internet fraud. Akin of NigeriansTalk responded that Nigerians cannot write good enough English to speak of blogging. When we discussed these posts, Atala made the very valid point that vlogging (video blogging) did not require one to know how to write English.

Fast forward to the tail end of last week and the above announcement by Dbanj and his group. Talk about vlogging raised to power 10, and you don't even have to say a word. Even simpler, you don't have to look intelligent or smart. Who knows, maybe the opposite will snag you the prize! So, while I don't know that this is what Nmachi had in mind, it is certainly going to provide a new influx of Nigerians and Nigerian content onto the interwebs; Youtube primarily with sharing via Twitter and Facebook.

OK, after all the turenchi, am I tempted to do an Oliver video? LOL...no comment, for now. What about you?