To Save A Life

Leo Frigo Bridge

Leo Frigo Bridge (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I was glued to the television yesterday while I watched an unbelievable live footage of a woman called Tina Zahn who was in the throes of committing suicide  due to post natal depression.

She had sped to the top of Leo Frigo Memorial Bridge in Green Bay, Wisconsin, United States, got out of her car then walked briskly to the edge of the bridge and jumped.

I couldn’t tear myself away while I watched opened mouth as the implausible footage was shown and miraculously, this woman was saved by a brave state trooper, Les Boldt and his colleagues.

As a mother, I know the stress involved in taking care of children especially if one is a working mother, I am not an expert on post natal depression but I do know it’s a feeling of utter hopelessness compounded by being responsible for a baby who is wholly and completely dependent on you.

I cannot begin to fathom the desperation involved before a person will want to take his or her own life and it saddens me greatly. But I do know this, love can halt this evil, malicious monster.

I know depression must be this total feeling of being engulfed in the prison of complete darkness with no possibility of a parole or been trapped and unable to reach out for help, this story ended in a miracle but sadly some don’t.

I do know that we have a duty to save a life, like that state trooper, we can be more friendly, loving and kinder to people. You never know, you might be the miracle somebody somewhere needs right now! Maybe a little whisper, maybe a smile or even a nod could send love signal to a dying soul.

I have this infinite belief that this world is full of loving people and like my husband would say,

”See the doughnut, not the empty hole.”

Just a little love  and a listening ear could banish that demon of hopelessness.

Let us save a life today…

Will you?

To Kill Or Not To Kill?

The Kill

The Kill (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It’ s a little frustrating for me when I kill off some of the characters I don’t like in my novels. Like the current one I am writing now, I had to kill off a guy I loved ( I thought he was going to be good and then decided against it) I noticed he’s got some hidden secrets and so I just had to let him go, if he stayed, it could ruin things for a lot of people (characters).

It’s funny because I actually FEEL my characters… I often questioned their motives, behaviour and reasons they are in the plot. Boring and time-consuming isn’t it? But that’s just me, a realist fiction writer!

I was still battling with my decision when my children came back from school and they asked me about the novel, this conversation ensues between my 6-year-old daughter and myself, her name is Elizabeth.

Me: ”Hey guys, how was school today?”

Elizabeth: ” It was ok mum, how was your writing?”

Me:  ”Not bad, I am thinking of killing one of my best characters,” And I told her a little about the plot (She’s written a hundred word story by the way, we’re still looking for publishers, she told me she wanted to be rich like me, I wish!)

Elizabeth: ”I think you should still give him a chance…” then there was a pause and she added, ”Don’t you think you’ll go to jail if you kill XXA (name of the character)

Me: ” No, I won’t, I created him, so I can kill him.” I explained smiling, such innocence.

My son entered my office, ( a cool corner in the house) and the expression on his face was one of uncertainty (he’s ten), he asked politely if he could give his opinion and I agreed.

Samuel: ” Why not ask your readers what they want?”

Me: ”Thanks dear, I’ll put that into consideration.”

And that ended our conversation but I was back to square one, to kill or not to kill? At the end of the day, I decided to give him another chance but I am still going to kill him, soon…

I am a very shy writer, I get so protective of my work so I won’t be asking what you guys think yet until the novel is out.

And I am feeling emotional right now, I have met some wonderful people on this blog journey. Creative, intelligent and brilliant  friends and I  just want to say I love you guys!

Au revoir…

I’ll be back! (Arnold used to say that in most of his films, right? How weird!)

Be The Change!

English: Black Patent Leather Fetish Shoes 197...

English: Black Patent Leather Fetish Shoes 1973 – 1977 These shoes have a 7-inch stiletto heel and are a size 11 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Twenty years ago, (I was seventeen then) I was a young slim girl with long hair, skinny legs and a very big smile, I could give you anything but don’t you dare go near my shoes! And I had a lot of sisters (four to be precise) who all loved my shoes.

One weekend I came home( I just got an admission to the university then) and one of them took my shoes, the best out of about twenty pairs!

Everyone in my family knew about my addiction to this particular pair and Christy, my sister wore it to a party, even though it wasn’t her size. When I told my mom what my sister did, she’d looked at me in a very strange way. I had thought she would come to my defence and tongue lashed my sister for the invasion of my ‘privacy’, the unlawful use of my personal stuff without my say-so but nah! She did no such thing.

I knew my mom did not condone what my sister did but she had a lot to say about my reaction to it, and when I mean a lot, it could be a phrase or word loaded with meaning. Before she spoke, she closed her eyes briefly and when she opened them, there was a twinkle in her brown expressive eyes,

”Be the change in the world and you can sleep with both eyes closed.” She said simply. I didn’t understand what she meant by that statement and wasn’t ready to listen.

”But mom,” I had protested against the obvious injustice of the situation, not the lesson she wanted me to learn, ”I don’t want to change the world, just speak to Christy to stop sneaking behind my back using my things, just tell her to steer clear of my room!”

And I’d stomped out of the house, exasperated with my mom’s unrelenting idiomatic expressions, deep down I thought she was turning me into a villain for protesting but my mom is an incredibly wise woman, she knew in order for me to live in peace with my sisters and brothers, (and now my husband) I should sometimes put myself under the spotlight and see if I am the problem.

Am I been irrational, irritable, unforgiving, selfish, careless and stubborn? Well, the lists can go on and on but as I grew older and had my own family, I finally understood what she was trying to do.

My mom was training me to be a better person, not a fool that could be trampled upon but a disciplined, principled woman who would treat others the way she wanted to be treated. A woman who would respect, love, forgive and appreciate and treat everyone equally, irrespective of their race, religion or sexuality.

If every human being desires to be the change, the world would indeed be a better place. And it’s never too late, take a look at the man, woman, girl, boy in the mirror today and say to him or her ( I am speaking to you, if you’re still reading this post)

”Be the change…”

Who You Chose To Be…

English: In January 2009, President of the Uni...

English: In January 2009, President of the United States of America, George W. Bush invited then President-Elect Barack Obama and former Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter for a Meeting and Lunch at The White House. Photo taken in the Oval Office at The White House. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Life is about choices, right now in some states, Americans are already voting for their next President, the man who would lead them for the next four years. If Obama did not seek for a re-election, someone else in his party would be standing in his place right now!

But he chose to do it again. Obama could have been selling drugs but he chose to go to school, study hard and make something of his life. Romney ( I don’t really know much about him) chose to get rich and he did.

Where am I going with this you may ask? It’s simple, you can choose to ruin your life or choose to forget about the mistakes of your past, your failures, your bitterness, hurts and forge ahead to break down new barriers.

Like yesterday, I chose not to write a single word of my novel, and today I am itching to start, I can even write more than five thousand words, it’s all about choices.

You can choose to be poor by not going to work or by drinking yourself  into a stupor every night, psychiatrists call that addiction right? But I call it bad choices!

And you can choose to sit tight and write a 50,000,00 word novel this month of fiction fever (NaNoWrimo) and win a publishing contract. Or maybe, self publish it and make no sales or… a lot of sales.

Life is about choices and I hope to God, we’ll make the right one today!

My Letter To Fear!

Nothing Left to Fear

Nothing Left to Fear (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Dear Mr. Fear,

I write to you today to let you that your hold over my life is over. I don’t hate you because in a way there are times when you actually pushed me to excel, especially in my career as a writer. And there is one aspect of you that still remains with me, which is my fear of the creator of my soul. I am in awe of Him, I love and respect Him, so you see, that is the only part of you that I can say I allow in my life.

Now, Mr. Fear, do you remember you almost killed me two years ago? That bright winter morning when I believed most of your lies that my heart would give way, even with new life growing inside me, you told me I would not hold my son in my arms and my heart was panting with the images of your lies which was deeply entrenched in my soul,  till this day, it still baffles me when I allowed you in, I didn’t know when you crept in and almost crippled my faith. But you lost because I am alive!

I am here today by the grace of God, and my son has a mother standing by him, holding him and wiping tears away from his eyes when he is crying. My children have a mother they can see and touch, not the one who is in the grave.

I thank the lover of my soul who showed himself strong on my behalf.  I am worthy, I am valuable and I mean a lot to my friends and family.

I guess there is nothing more to say… Actually there is, maybe someone is reading this open letter and is plague by fear. Just shake it off… Fear is a coward, it would flee!

Good bye Mr. Fear,

No Regards,

Seyi Sandra David.

Back to my NaNoWrimo novel…

 

Battle Of The Birds

I was awoken from a very deep sleep with the droning voice of my ten-year old son complaining about his sister’s incessant noise. Well, I had to stand up and calm a rapidly disintegrating situation. I was up till like four in the morning writing my NaNoWrimo novel, so I was not in a very good mood.

Duck mob

Duck mob (Photo credit: jf1234)

And then there was a miracle, my husband had taken the day off work and skillfully rescued my life from the lion cubs (that’s what I call my children when they are in that kind of mood) by suggesting that we all go to the park.

I didn’t think it was a great idea but off we went and we had a blast! The only snag  was, I left my camera at home, I would have taken pictures of how Squirrels, Ducks and Geese were battling to have a taste of the nuts my children were carrying. They did give out the nuts but it got to a stage where I was scared we would be mobbed by the ravenous birds.

My son then remarked, ”Mom, it’s the battle of the birds” And that was where I coined the title for this post.

The ducks got the upper hand partly because they were bigger and though the squirrels did put up a good fight, they were outnumbered by the ducks and geese. An hour later, we were on our way home because it was getting cold and I couldn’t help but relate that experience to life generally.

Life is incredibly hard and sometimes just surviving from one day till the next is a mammoth task but we should be very grateful to God for every little blessings!

Now, I’ll get back to my writing…

Immolation? I Hate Fire!

Thich Quang Duc

Thich Quang Duc (Photo credit: HopeTom)

I saw this caption, ‘I hate fire’ embedded in a picture on a blog I visited recently and I thought, why not quickly pen this down before returning to my Nanowrimo novel.

Yes, I hate fire and it was actually strange and saddening that some people could light themselves up in protest against oppression! Don’t get me wrong guys, I am not against people demonstrating, albeit, peacefully, but burning yourself? That is a bit in the extreme.

A few months ago, I saw the picture of a Tibetan monk literally lighting himself up! He was protesting against oppression and when I did a little research, I found out the story of Thich Quang Duc, a very popular Buddhist monk revered to this day.

Early in the morning on June 11,1963 at a popular intersection in Saigon, Thich Quang Duc had made his intention known to his superiors that he was going to burn himself to draw attention to the plight of the monks who were being severely oppressed by the US-backed Catholic regime of Ngo Dinh Diem in South Vietnam.

Now I won’t bore you with the graphic details but this Duc guy died for a cause he believed in, and I can’t begin to imagine the excruciating pain he must have felt when he was being burned alive! And so… he died!

The war finally came to an end and many people attested to the fact that his sacrifice was instrumental in drawing the attention of the world to the plight of the monks, and also in a way ending the war.

I don’t encourage anyone emulating that in any way, but that is just my opinion!

Life is a mystery and we can’t understand it all…

A Word War?

English: Monument of Henryk Sienkiewicz, Polis...

English: Monument of Henryk Sienkiewicz, Polish Nobel Prize-winning novelist and journalist, Okrzeja, Lublin Voivodeship, Poland. Village seen on the left side is Wola Okrzejska — writer’s place of birth. Polski: Pomnik Henryka Sienkiewicza na szczycie kopca jego imienia w Okrzei. Po lewej stronie widoczna jest rodzinna wieś pisarza — Wola Okrzejska. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have declared a war of words on the State of Noveliar (that is a new word I just coined right now!) I am going into battle from the first of November. The melee actually began last week when an email was sent to me about the National Novel Writing Month, (NaNoWrimo)

I decided to join and write a fifty thousand word novel in November even though my hand is full with projects. It’s strange but I find out I write more when I am under duress or let me rephrase… When I’ve set a deadline or a target for a particular project, it doesn’t have to be about writing alone.

Because I am currently reviewing a novel, and I have a lot of writing projects slated for the end of November, I wondered if I have bitten more than I could chew? After thinking for a couple of minutes, I looked at myself in the mirror and said out loud,

”Seyi, (I love talking some sense to myself sometimes, it does keep me sane ) who on earth are you kidding? Can you actually pull this off?”

After some deliberation with my muse (inner self) I decided to proceed with the challenge of Kill A Word Month! (my own interpretation of the literary month) I am sure I can nail it!

I don’t know if any other human being is like me but I would really love to find out because I seem to enjoy working under tight deadlines, and I also set too high a standard sometimes. All the same, I am in this for the long haul and I am going to enjoy myself thoroughly.

I have got three strategy which I believe if properly applied, I should be able to pull this off brilliantly, and here it goes;

* Tell everyone who cares to listen that I am writing a 50,000,00 word novel in November (so they can wish me well and won’t be mad when I don’t their pick calls)

* Talk less on the phone.

* Plan every infinitesimal details of my life starting from November 1st so there won’t be any distractions.

(I would still be blogging by the way, it’s like my way of life!)

If anyone has other ideas do drop a line but I am really, really excited!

Squally Sandy

East Didsbury

East Didsbury (Photo credit: paulhome)

It’s all over the news, a mammoth storm ( tagged Hurricane Sandy, what a horrible name!) of great proportion is to hit the East coast of America affecting more than 50 million people spanned over eight states which has now declared a state of emergency.

My heart goes out to everyone in the line of this brutish, atrocious monster. Nature is arrogant, stiff-necked, downright selfish. Nature can take your house and you dare not talk! What courtroom would you take this gargantuan monster to? Nature cannot be tamed, it cannot be held to account. How would you approach it? Can you scold nature, can you tell it to shut its horrible howling face and tell it to get lost?

It will come back with a vengeance to haunt you! It will slap your face and you dare not retaliate? How can you? When you’ve got sand in your face and gravel in your mouth! When your fancy stiletto shoes gave you no refuge.

But I want to drag nature to court!! Now who is with me?

(I think every where is kind of silent)

I asked James Bond (Daniel Craig) and he took to his heels, even his fancy, custom-made cars were no match for nature. I knocked on the door of Barack Obama but he told me he was preparing for his election, but he promised to protect the American people, ( now I believed him, no fancy speech can halt Sandy’s fury) I drove to Romney’s house but his stern face aides won’t let me in except am a devout Mormon or his die-hard supporter, but I am neither. But I screamed my voice hoarse that nature is on the loose and we have to contain it. The door was slammed on my flushed face… Can you imagine my disgust at been shunned for trying to bring nature to justice?

Now after exhausting all my options, I sank to my knees, surely God would intervene and avert a major catastrophe.

Can you guys at least pray with me?

 

 

Nominated For The Liebster Award!

I have been nominated for the Liebster Award!! I was nominated by JackieP of  Change

Piers Morgan Tonight

Piers Morgan Tonight (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For Better Me. What an honour!

 Thanks Jackie for the nomination, it’s awesome and I have still got a big grin on my face as I am writing this but you may be wondering;

What Is A Liebster Award?

According to ThoughtProvoking Moments and I am going to quote her word for word, she says,

”The Liebster Blog Award is given to up and coming bloggers with less than 200 followers, and nominated by fellow bloggers. Liebster is a German word meaning sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing and welcome.”

What a cute way to describe me, I am chuffed! So there you have it, I was nominated by Jackie and I would in turn nominate other eleven bloggers.

You see, I’ve got a big fat imagination and I could just envision been with Jackie on ”Piers Morgan Tonight” He is a British journalist who took over from Larry King’s show, you know, Larry is quite a legend.

Well as I was saying, based on this assumption that I am on air with Jackie of course, on Piers Morgan’s show. Piers is just listening, chipping in every now and then, and yes, Jackie is dressed to kill, I won’t describe her cos she’s simply gorgeous, and right now I will be answering the eleven questions.

This are Jackie’s questions;

  1. What got you into blogging?

That’s a straight forward question, as a writer, I probe my brain by blogging and I also want to rub minds with other writers, poets, great people who blogged everyday. It’s very exhilarating for me.

2. What have you learned about yourself through your blog?

I have learnt that I could juggle five things at once and still get an incredible result. I’ve met great people online, and my imagination is at the peak, and it’s all thanks to my blogging.

3. When you aren’t blogging what do you do?

I am a freelance journalist, working for a London-based magazine, ‘Black Heritage Today,’ and when I am not on field trips, I am glued to my computer in the office, typing furiously. I am currently editing three novels at once and I am also a reviewer for Bookpleasures.com (I am not been paid by the way, just loved reading novels) And I am a mom of three boisterous and active kids, that’s like a twenty-four hour shift job! Never ending but I love it.

4. If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go?

Norway, I had wanted to go this year but obviously it’s October now and the kids are in school, So next year, it’ straight to Norway.

5. What’s your greatest vice?

None that I can think of, honestly! ‘Jackie why are you looking at me like that!’ (Piers is smiling everyone!)

6. Who is/was your greatest influence in your life?

My mother, she is strong, hardworking and very determined. She is also a great woman of faith, the word ‘impossible’ is not in her dictionary, I love her to bits.

7. Who is your favorite author?

I have a lot of them but I’ll pick John Grisham, I love all his novels especially, ‘The Firm’ His books are so real, it’s as if you’re in the story.

8. What music do you prefer to listen to?

I love gospel and cool smooth jazz. Music is powerful, I love all kinds, sometimes I go  country as long as it’s a great tune with inspiring words, I’ll go for it.

9. If you could, who would you like to have cook for you?

My husband! Yes, he is a very good cook but it’s been a while since he’d cooked last!

10. Imagine that you could meet anyone living or dead, who would it be and what would you say?

My best friend while I was in college, she died suddenly. I would ask her why she didn’t fight to stay alive! I missed her…

11. Are you happy?

Absolutely!

There it is, and we were honourably ushered out of CNN studio by studio hands, that’s what they’re called isn’t it? Anyway, Jackie and I had a great time.

Now I am honoured to nominate the following bloggers for the prestigious Liebster Award

http://wendy@escapeintofiction.wordpress.com

  •  WaytoKabul

http://waytokabul.wordpress.com

  • Talking Of Faith

http://talkingoffaith.wordpress.com

  • thebettermanproject

http://thebettermanproject.wordpress.com

And this are my questions, the same as JackieP by the way! Because I thought her questions are quite cool!!

  1. What got you into blogging?
  2. What have you learned about yourself through your blog?
  3. When you aren’t blogging what do you do?
  4.  If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go?
  5.  What’s your greatest vice?
  6. Who is/was your greatest influence in your life?
  7. Who is your favourite author?
  8. What music do you prefer to listen to?
  9. If you could, who would you like to have cook for you?
  10. Imagine that you could meet anyone living or dead, who would it be and what would you say?

That’s it folks, and thank you again JackieP for the honours and good luck to all you glorious nominees!