| | The best time to write | | I get asked all kinds of questions, the most asked being the best time to write. It’s not rocket science, and to be honest, my answer is not vaguely interesting either, but I’ll tell you anyway
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| On being politically incorrect | | I yearn for the day when people would say what they actually meant without fear of being labelled racist, ageist, youngist and all other ‘ists’ that a political maverick will no doubt think of in future.
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| The day the crazies came out | | The sight of a woman running at the crack of dawn is not an anomaly where I live. However, once in a while, the crazies come out to play. Last Saturday was one of those days.
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| I'm a writer, not an editor | | When I tell people I’m a writer, 80% of the time, they tell me about their literary masterpiece that’s languishing in a drawer and would benefit from my professional editorial expertise. I graciously refuse.
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| On watching foreign-language films | | I don’t really watch English-speaking films. I prefer foreign-language ones and always have done. Overall, I think they’re better written, produced and acted. Sure, there are some truly awful ones out there
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| Just shut up and write | | What I’m about to say is nothing new. I’ve been saying it for years, and I’ll say it again: if you want to write a book, stop talking about doing it and just write the blooming thing
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| My celebrity tat rant | | No, I’m not interested in using my hard-earned cash to buy Jordan’s Stunning perfume, which, like every other dubious celebrity-branded olfactory tat, probably smells like bloody teen spirit.
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| What it feels to start afresh | | I've just started working on a new project. It's all so strange and yet so familiar; the euphoric dread in the pit of your stomach as you approach the keyboard knowing that normal life as you know it will effectively come to a halt the moment you start ty
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| When I write | | Something exciting happens when I open up the laptop and I insert my memory stick into the usb port. As I open my latest Work in Progress (WIP), my fingers start tingling in anticipation as they savour the precious moments before they're unleashed
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| The magic of books | | It is fair to say that I read a lot of books. Because I have to. Because I don't just read books - I study them. Suffice to say, over the years, the studying has taken the joy out of reading and become onerous - just like my writing.
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| Through the fog | | Not many people know this but heck, I'll say it anyway, I don't enjoy writing much. Maybe it's because I live from deadline to deadline. Maybe it's because I'm sick and tired of the drama associated with 21st century publishing...
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| To cut the long story short | | With a full length novel, I write with relative abandon, knowing that I have 90k worth of word arsenal at my disposal to develop my characters, flesh out the plot and build my way up to a good sized novel.
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| You did this in six months?! | | For what it's worth, I started writing Eyo around 2002/3. Many times, I would get to the 10-15,000 word count and delete everything I'd written. After about seven deletions, I finally decided to tell Eyo's story the way she wanted it to be told and damne
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| Me? An award? | | My book, Eyo, has been regionally shortlisted (Africa’s Best Book) for the 2010 Commonwealth Writers' Prize.
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| Why we all can't be writers | | I say there must be a more enjoyable activity to engage in because let’s face it; no one would want to write if they knew the level of hard work involved, a lot of it, sweat and blood.
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| Bleary eyed | | Haven't slept. My eyes popped open at 1:30am today and refused to close. I think my major panic about the course I'm applying for and how to get funding for it, the Eyo situation (or lack thereof) and other stuff that I can't get into right now had someth
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| Career change | | Writing is a lot like self-flagellation. You start and somewhere along the line it dawns on you that it's a really stupid idea. Come on, all that pain and aggro, for what? To see your name on a book cover that in all honesty you probably don't like anyway
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| Eyo update | | I was talking to a fellow writer the other day and she said she would much rather get on with the action than waste time describing stuff. I'm of the same view but the truth is that my descriptive skills are pretty much non-existent which is why I'm curre
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| Merry new year to all! | | I'm working on my book /Eyo/. It's about a 10 year old Nigerian girl who's been sold into sexual slavery by her father. I've got boxes and boxes of papers, websites and everything else that I thought would help my research. This book is like 3 years in th
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| I let go | | One of the powerful things about this book is how Kazuo shows that human beings are intrinsically made to love and to connect with another human being, that special someone.
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| The Kite Runner | | Finished reading this book at 1115pm last night. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Very evocative. I think it was the author's simple language that did for me. I've always classed myself as a popular fiction writer (aka easy read
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| Books, books, books | | As much as I pride myself on being an avid reader, the writing workshops I taught whilst on my book tour revealed criminal gaps in my knowledge of African literature. The participants spewed out the names of supposedly well-known African literary giants f
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| The Book Tour | | Imagine this scenario being repeated for (almost) every radio, magazine or even television interview. And through it all, you're smiling. Well, gritting your teeth. Sales, I'm doing it for the sales, I tell myself.
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| What's a Writer To Do?! | | So, I thought I would write a screenplay. I mean, how hard and how different can it be? I don't care what anyone says, it's hard. Novelists write in paragraphs. Screenwriters write in odd forms. Ever seen a screenplay? It's like a play on speed.
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| Screenwriting | | Right. Major difference between a screenplay and novel. The former is visual and the latter leaves the visuals to the reader. Why did I start this screenwriting malarkey?!
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| To blog or not to blog | | I never thought I would hear myself say this but blogging has enriched my writing life in more ways than one. I can't think of any other medium that is as private and as public as blogging.
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| All things creative | | I start my new book this weekend. Tentatively called White Man's Curse, it's about a young girl in a post-African country who becomes a sex worker and become HIV+.
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 Kemi's Journal, now available on Kindle. Get your copy now!  Eyo, my latest book, shortlisted for the 2010 Commonwealth Writers' Prize.
 Eyo, the ebook, now available on Kindle and on iTunes. get your copy now!  God has Daughters Too, the ebook, is now available on Kindle! |
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