The Plagiarism Curse!

Just imagine this scenario…

You’ve worked your brains off, burnt the midnight oil, toiled endlessly to bring out your dream book. Then just imagine your horror, when you see your book ( yes the same one but with some changes here and there) on Amazon and maybe by a mainstream publisher! You can imagine your horror and dismay.

It’s akin to someone violating you, taking away what belongs to you. I have read at least two posts on the subject and I just want to add my bit to it.

If you are a self published author or traditionally published or whatever, just ensure that you get a copy right for your works. It’s so important, it’s SO vital. Don’t make the mistake of thinking, ‘yeah, my work is out, nobody can plagiarise or steal it!’ But people do STEAL novels, works of art etc.

As much as I love people and all that, I’m not a novice… There are BAD people out there, worse than the devil (if you believe he exist!) So a word is enough for the wise.

If you want to register your work in the UK, go to the this link, I registered mine there. http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/ If you live in other parts of the world, I believe you can still register your works with them. But you can still do a bit of research, Google it, find out from other sources and try to REGISTER your work now! It’s just a few pounds or dollars as the case may be.

And this is a disclaimer; I’m not being paid by anyone to do this but I believe I owe it as a duty to my fellow authors, we need to stick together against rogues and thieves!

The plagiarism curse will not happen to us, and if you’re not a writer but need patent for your business, please, don’t delay! Register your work to save you heartaches in the future!!

Now enough of my moaning, how are you guys doing today? I hope you’re all good wherever you are. Enjoy the rest of your day and live well.

Much love, always! 🙂 🙂

A Close Shave…

Jun13

( Photo credit: Ludeza)

I woke up today with a languid feeling and a nasty headache.

Naturally, I should have called in sick at the office but I had deadlines to meet, meetings to attend and one million things that needed my attention. When it was two on the dot, I left the office, dashed to the grocery store to pick a few things, and made my way to my children’s school.

I had a few things on both hands and was angry with myself, I shouldn’t have bought so much stuff when I didn’t take the car. I looked straight ahead and saw cars slowing to a crawl. I walked briskly to the toucan crossing and wobbled along…

Shortly before I got to the other side of the toucan crossing, everything seemed to slow to a stop. I heard a whooshing sound and wondered briefly why that was, cars were still at a standstill on both sides of the crossing, but something was not right. I hesitated briefly and thank God did.

If I had hurried past the crossing, I would have had a nasty collision with a daredevil driver, who slipped past the other cars who were waiting at the crossing. The green light for the pedestrian was still on, so naturally, I had the right of way. Suddenly, a ‘Smart‘ car appeared from nowhere and zoomed past me…

It was a close shave and a terrifying experience!

Well, I am glad to be home and not on a hospital bed. I would still be able to admire the dawning of a new day, to appreciate life and nature. To all my friends, please keep safe. God be with you all.

Much love, always. 🙂

Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jun4

‘What in heaven’s name are you screaming about?’

My dad asked harshly, his eyes going a shade darker, turning blue, then white and finally yellow.

Is my father an enemy? I thought sadly as my insides itched with desperation. I’m consumed with grief, and my days were at an end. I called to Hades but he refused my plea for death.

‘Can’t help you young lady, I am under strict instruction to let you be,’ he said with a certain amount of pity. First time I’d seen him shown any feelings for me. You see, I had to work with him, since I’ve realised how important, he was to my job.

I bet you don’t know what I’m rambling about but I guess you’ll have to wait a while for Seyi Sandra to tell my story, but I do need help, I don’t want to stay hidden forever…

Seyi Sandra is playing with my fate, say, can you help?

**************************************************

Hey dear friends, how are you? I’m terribly busy and out of the blues, I remembered ‘TIME’ the story I whipped up ages ago about a nineteen year old girl fighting against an invisible enemy. Now, I’m at a cross road, I’ve got the gut feeling to self-publish ‘TIME’ as a short story but ArrowGate (my publisher) is interested in publishing it as a full length novel, (I’m gonna write it first, I’ve written a couple of thousand words now) and not a short story. I have another novel coming out in a couple of months. What should I do?

Here’s a recap of the first draft of the story here: https://seyisandradavid.org/2012/11/21/time/

By the way, I own the rights to that IMAGE and I did the cover myself while playing around with Photoshop.

What think ye?

Much love, always!

Your friend,

Seyi Sandra David. 🙂

Are Writers Seers Or Plain Old Liars?

May30

It’s strange really, but I do tend to write stories that has a poignantly close resemblance to reality. When I wrote ‘The Feet Of Darkness,’ I wasn’t setting out to save the world but just believed that love can truly work its magic on a vengeful heart. But how some events has played recently, got me thinking – some people would not respond, even if you heap a universe load of love on them.

Someone once called me a liar, in his words,

‘Writers believed they have a complete knowledge of the human psyche, how people behave, what they might do, how they might react, but writers are plain old liars.’

I asked him to expatiate but he scoffed and left me staring hard at his retreating back. I didn’t know what to make of his assertion and I didn’t bother to try. Two days later, I was having my lunch break when my friend wobbled to my side and snatched my sandwich, I was furious.

‘Hey,’ I yelled, ‘bring that back!’

Nope,’ he refused, daring me to charge after him, after weighing my options, I declined and watched open-mouthed as he gobbled it down, belched, and patted his stomach, then left.

When I got home, I wrote a very good story, based on my experience, I didn’t tell my friend that he was the source of my inspiration but his behaviour helped my creative quest. I simply conjure up a character that bore a close resemblance to him. Now, did I lie? No! Spice it up a bit? Oh, I sure did.

My upcoming novel, Cydonia, Rise Of The Fallen was written about four years ago. I just dumped it in my library when I couldn’t get a publisher. That’s all ancient history now, but the events in that book was played out in the Vatican a few months ago. And believe me, I was shocked. When People read ‘Cydonia,’ I’m sure there would be lots of comments about the story line and plot.

In my opinion, I don’t think writers are liars, we just write from deep within, our writings may be significant, or not, but we can’t seem to do any thing else. It’s my pleasure writing this post.

Thanks for reading.

Much love, always!

🙂 🙂

Illusion…

May20

(Photo credit: Krappweis)

We rushed through our days,
We dashed through our nights,

We ploughed and worked through our years,

We toiled and built and heaped on wealth,

We didn’t wait to think;

What is the purpose of it all?

Is everything a mere illusion?

Is there purpose to this life?

Or do we just live like a leaf in the wind?

With no care in the world.

After all, a leaf has no illusion

Of the fate that awaits it.

But if we do wait and pause,

And behold the glory that surrounds us,

At the smile of a new-born,

Or the toothless grin of an old man,

Or the splendour of the morning,

We’ll surely know for a certainty…

That life is not an illusion.

There is a purpose to it all…

Much love dear friends. 🙂

Rights?

May18

( Photo credit: arifhasan)

The burglar crept stealthily through the house, his eyes darting everywhere.

His mission? To steal, to kill and to destroy.

The home owner woke up with a start, his heart in his mouth.

He was sure there was an intruder.

He stood up and made his way downstairs.

And their eyes met.

There was a scuffle and the burglar screamed,

‘I know my rights!’

The home owner yelled,

‘Your rights comes with responsibility.’

‘I know my rights,’ has been the song of the free for a long time, especially in the developed countries. Expectedly, several people have abused this freedom. Imagine the terrorist who killed innocent people, claiming human rights, or convicted criminals trying to buy their freedom through crazy scheming lawyers. I reckon we should all have rights but we shouldn’t trample on other people’s rights as well. We are all the same, brown, black, white, orange or whatever colour, race or creed. We are humans, and we should respect one another.

Just like this beautiful picture taken in Spring time Toronto, that’s how delicate ‘Rights’ are, so beautiful but very fragile…

Thanks for reading my post, have a great weekend friends.

Much love, always. 🙂

The Man (Or Woman) In The Mirror.

May13

I stared hard at the mirror, studying my well-shaped eyebrows. I smiled, I frowned – I did all sorts of things. Like widening my mouth to expose my teeth. I saw all my flaws and my only spectator was my twenty-four month old son.

Why was I doing that? You may wonder. I was doing a bit of soul-searching. During my ‘man in the mirror moment,’ all sorts of thoughts went through my head.

I have been hurt.

I have hurt other people (unknowingly!)

I have been fearful!

Others have robbed me of things.

I saw a fairly pretty woman (believe me I had to make serious effort)

I saw a kind-hearted woman.

I saw a lover.

I saw a wife.

I saw a mother.

I saw a friend.

I saw a woman who wanted to change the world in her own little way.

And then I saw other people as well.

My husband (I love him! even when he refuses to take out the trash!)

Friends, bloggers, writers, (even some of my characters crept in)

I saw the homeless, the orphans, the rich, the Queen, and I zoomed in.

And I saw myself.

And then the song of Michael Jackson slowly fills my mind ( I love his music!)

”I’m starting with the man in the mirror,

telling him to make a change!”

What about you? What do you see when you look in the mirror…

I love you guys, let’s all make a change!

Enjoy the rest of your week!

🙂 🙂

Ancient Secrets!

May9

Evelyn found herself in a dark slimy pit.

She looked around wildly but knew she was alone. She stood up; trying to feel her way around, then heard a low rumbling sound.

Evelyn screamed and it echoed. The sound reverberated and seemed to bounce back on the thin walls. Sobs racked through her body at her desolation. Wherever she was, her destiny was worse than before. She felt a tremor, looked down at her feet, and saw a big opening on the floor. There was a cracking sound and the ground slowly divided into two. She found herself flying to the other side of the pit and when she looked up; the sun was streaming down into the pit.

Surprisingly, a chain materialized from nowhere spinning towards her direction. She grinded her teeth in anticipation as she grabbed the chain but it was so hot it burnt her palms and she screamed out in pain and released it. The gaping hole on the ground was now closing together, Evelyn knelt down and peered inside it as flames of fire spurted out and suddenly, a creature came out of the flames.

He was a very good-looking man.

His hair was dark and curly; his eyes brown and his skin was a bronze like colour, a white robe covered his body.

”Come and I will lead you out of this place but there will be a covenant between us.”

Evelyn stared at the creature and at her surroundings, she had no recollection of how she got into the pit but she did remember her daughter, Caroline. She wanted to get back to her as soon as possible.

”I will do anything, please just get me out of here.” She said desperately; hope lighting up her entire being.

*****************

Hey friends, this is an excerpt from ‘The Feet Of Darkness,’ I hope you like it. One thing I’ve realised about life is this, there are so many ancient secrets lurking beneath the shadows, all around. Look at the Ohio Kidnap – how can three women be held against their will for ten solid years! It defies explanation but that’s how cruel life is…

Here’s a link to the novel if you’re interested.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Feet-Of-Darkness-Overcome/dp/0957593007/ref=tmm_pap_title_0 Amazon US

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Feet-Of-Darkness-Overcome/dp/0957593007/ref=tmm_pap_title_0 Amazon UK

Do take a moment to hit ‘like’ on Amazon, and if you want to read more, you can buy the book! Have a great day friends.

Much love. 🙂

Your Face!

Apr24

(Photo credit: Leroys)

What’s in a face you may wonder.

The face captures the essence of the soul.

Your face is like the gate-keeper of your destiny.

It defines who you really are.

Your eyes draw people to you like magnet.

Your nose sniffs out success.

Your lips tastes life.

Your teeth sustain you!

Your cheeks impact on your glory.

It puffs up when you’re full and shrinks at your lowest ebb.

Your face is permanently yours.

You can’t divorce your face.

You’re stuck with it!

You might BOTOX it.

Plum it up.

Try to redefine it.

But you can’t go on holiday without it!

You can bleach it white.

Or darken it with suntan creams.

But it’s forever yours!

Your face is beautiful.

Your face is a mystery!

It’s the mirror to your soul.

Take care of your face guys… it would be with you for eternity!

I saw a man today on my way to work, my eyes locked with his for a brief second and we connected briefly. The man’s face stayed with me throughout today. He was an old man, probably tending towards eighty but he looked happy. I couldn’t help thinking of the kind of life he’d lived to that moment when we passed by each other like breeze on a country side. The writer in me sprung to life and when I got home, I penned this words. I hope you like it!

Much love to you my friends!

🙂 🙂

NP: This is my 100 post! How times fly…

No Secret Ingredient

Apr23

I watched this interesting film on Saturday, ‘Kunfu Panda.’ (It’s a great film, the story line is simply awesome!)

What really struck me about the film was when Po‘s dad told him something which really caught my attention. This duck dude, who was famed for his special noodles said,

‘There is no Secret Ingredient!!!…To make something special you just have to believe it’s special.’

Everyone thought Po’s dad had a secret ingredient which made his noodles tastier and different. But he simply believed in himself and his ability to make a great noddle.

You just have to believe in YOURSELF, your marriage, your friends, your job… Yeah, your job!

Self belief and self-confidence is not being cocky, or damn too sure of yourself. It is having the belief that you can scale greater heights… and succeed.

If you feel you’re worthless, believe me – you are, and why is that? You’ll start behaving in a worthless way, doing things that makes you agree with your thought processes! But the good news is – because you FEEL something doesn’t make it right! You can actually change your thinking! You can rise above your self doubts and lack of confidence.

And I think it’s really simple.

Every morning when you wake up, look in the mirror and say,

‘I can do anything I want to do today!’ (Positive things!)

And believe me, you can, when you believe!

Have a great day everyone!!

Much love, always.

:):)