Patience

(Photo credit: Lizabee. The beginning )

(Photo credit: Lizabee – The end. The artist spent hours working on this stunning image.)

Life is in stages.

Just like an artist drawing a picture, the images always come in a sequence of thoughts, and then the sketching takes place followed by shading the lines to bring the perfect vision to life.

Books are the same. A writer has an idea and as the story takes shape, unfolds, and the plots unravel, we see the overarching purpose of the book. But by the time we come to the climax of the story, we can then exclaim with signs of relief. In some unresolved cases, it may cause pangs of disappointment.

Creative people, especially writers, are always keen to share their experiences through words using different genres to reach their audiences. Artists, writers, filmmakers, poets and everyone working in the creative industries all have a singularity of purpose; to reach audiences who would read, enjoy, and maybe critique their works.

But it all starts in stages.

Let’s learn from creators by not being in a hurry to reach our destination. Every experience in our lives has a purpose, to either break us down and make us better, or to build us up, and strengthen us, then we can be kinder to people in a weaker or similar state.

There are several reasons writers create, some write for themselves, but others write to teach us patience. Unfortunately, we live in the ‘now’ generation where we always want a quick-fix to everything.

If it were possible to get pregnant and the child will get to the stage of babyhood, then adulthood and leave our home before nightfall, some people would prefer that experience.

We should learn to find the reason things work, and the reasons some things don’t. And that takes patience and a lot of learning. Some school of thought might argue that some things are best when they happen at once, but where is the joy in savouring a tasty meal when you swallow it whole? Books could change our lives, and if it does, we should not forget the core themes in the narrative and the patience it took to write it.

A book that ends with the beginning, the middle, the end, teaches nothing. However, some people might still argue that it does.

Don’t be in a hurry. Patience is an important virtue we should all learn.

Much love, always! 🙂

Patience is the calm acceptance that things can happen in a different order than the one you have in your mind.” David G. Allen
David G. Allen

Notoriety And The Human Psyche

Mar19

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”The mind is like an iceberg, it floats with one-seventh of its bulk above water.” Sigmund Freund.

Sigmund Freund was one of the greatest influencers of the twentieth century. He postulated the fact that our minds are like icebergs, what is seen is much different from the unseen. His quote reminded me of the story of an Australian woman, Noela Rukundo, whose husband hired assassins to kill her on a visit to Burundi for the burial of a relative. In a nutshell, the situation boomerang and he got nine years for inciting murder. It must have been a shock to Noela. Her husband certainly didn’t belie the fact he was planning her murder, this was a classic case of notoriety and the human psyche.

According to ask.com, ”The human psyche is the mind or soul. It is the center of an individual’s response to his environment.” While Cambridge Dictionary Online described Notoriety as ” the state of being famous for something bad.

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Love is the easiest emotion in the world, yet it could be costly and it needn’t be, love should be the backbone of our world, however, is it? I doubt it, because if it is, we wouldn’t be so divided with our different views. Some may argue that we need to exercise our freedom of expression hence the need for some people to be free to hate. Hatred would certainly make some people notorious and there are people who crave that kind of attention.

I believe love shouldn’t be all about our families and people close to us. We get suspicious of people who look and dress differently to us, we love our little space in the universe and aren’t too keen to share. We moan incessantly about the weather, the Tube (if you’re a Londoner), the government, whether we should leave or stay in the EU, (the UK again). We snort our noses at immigrants, we’re quick to judge but are slow to proffer solutions. For millennia, there are have been wars, unrest, hatred, disaffection and all sorts. Unfortunately, that is the world, it’s not perfect, that’s why we really have to raise the bar of our love level.

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Why do humans commit murder and relish mayhem? I believe the response of people to different situations differs which may ultimately be the catalyst for many destructive reactions. It’s nothing new that notoriety springs from the mind. ‘For who among men knows the thoughts of man except his own spirit within him?’ 1 Cor: 2:11. This scripture is spot on! The mind is so complex that throughout millennia, people have tried to decipher its secrets.

The human psyche is as complex as the millions of electricity that pulsate through our brains, little wonder detectives bring complex cases to their behavioural psychoanalysis unit. People have recurrent patterns to their lives, following sets of rules which when pointed out to them, they are always surprised at the patterns of their behaviours.

Forgive me if my post is a bit based on psychoanalysis, it’s got to do with the books I’m working on. Lately, I’ve conducted loads of research on human minds and behaviours, when my new books are released, I guess you’ll all understand more.

I’ve been offline for the past few weeks, my sincere apologies. I’ll be visiting as many blogs as time permits. In the meantime, have fun and stay blessed! :):)

(Photo Credit: Flickr)

Much love, always. 🙂

Failure Is Not Terminal!

Jun23

(Photo credit: Flickr)

“I really don’t think life is about the I-could-have-beens. Life is only about the I-tried-to-do. I don’t mind the failure but I can’t imagine that I’d forgive myself if I didn’t try.” Nikki Giovanni

“No man ever achieved worth-while success who did not, at one time or other, find himself with at least one foot hanging well over the brink of failure.” Napoleon Hill

“It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.” Theodore Roosevelt

When we have peace within ourselves, we can think clearly. I stared at this picture for ages and it gvae such tremendius joy!

Just like this amazing creature, let’s pause and gather our strength, we can succeed!

I love these three quotes on what I’ll call ‘the near success syndrome’ a.k.a failure. Life is so dynamic yet mysterious and sometimes, what we call failure could well be delay. My dad used to say that the fear of failure mostly propelled him to succeed. He did failed miserably in some aspects of his life, but he succeeded in several as well. To ignore failure or looming failure, we must have courage. Courage is also borne out of the ability to build on one’s failure and squeeze success out of it, Abraham Lincoln failed continuously before he became the celebrated figure most people adore today.

I also believe that dreams have a way of taunting us if we don’t do much about it, I don’t think losing or failing should discourage or cut our enthusiasm short. Succinctly put, don’t give up! There’s more to learn from failing than not attempting something in the first place. I also believe that success derived from failure is the sweetest of all.

I don’t why I’m writing this, but if it touches someone to continue living and not give up on their dreams, then I’m happy.

NP: I’m still hard at work writing my books, it’s not as fast I would have loved but it’s still worth it. I’ll still ensure I visit all your blogs as time permits. I appreciate your friendship and visits guys, thank you!

I hope everyone would enjoy the rest of this great week!!

Much love, always. 🙂

Dilemma!

Jan15

It’s kind of crazy but I’m in a creative dilemma. I’ve got two abandoned projects (two books with different story plots) that I want to reopen and I’m feeling very ambitious. Should I work on the two books simultaneously? Or, finish one before embarking on the other one?

I’m kind of between the devil and the deep blue sea on this one. I could defeat the devil and get a boat to cross the sea, can’t I? 🙂

What do you think guys?

I really need your advise!

Much love, always! 🙂

To Begin Again!

Nov14

Beauty In The Eye Of The Beholder!

(Photo Credit: Flickr)

”Let someone love you just the way you are – as flawed as you might be, as unattractive as you might sometimes feel, and as unaccomplished as you think you are. To believe that you must hide all the parts that are broken, out of fear that someone else is incapable of loving what is less than perfect, is to believe that sunlight is incapable of entering a broken window and illuminating a dark room.” Marc Hack

We all have our moments of doubts in life, times when we believe we could have done better. Times when we feel less beautiful, less talented, or just plain stupid. I felt like that yesterday when my laptop slipped through my laps and fell to the floor. Silly me, I didn’t have any backup files, and to make things worse, I have several work files on it as well. I’m not looking forward to work on Monday but I guess we all make mistakes, the only problem is, some mistakes are simply avoidable.

My laptop is now working fine, I was able to repair it but in the process, it wiped off years of hard work. More than twenty manuscripts are gone, five of them mine, two short stories kaput! Files upon files!! I was mad with myself, but I guess I would have to start all over again, just the thought of putting the pieces together is daunting. However, if there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s admitting I’m wrong and making amends.

When I saw the quote above, it spoke to me. And if there’s anyone reading this and feeling like I do, don’t beat yourself up too much. Just pick up the pieces and deal with it.

I hope you’ll have a wonderful weekend, I intend to! 🙂

Much love. Always. 🙂

Unknown

Aug19

”It is said that in 1923, seven of the world’s most successful men met at a Chicago hotel: the president of the largest independent steel company, the president of the largest utility company, the greatest wheat speculator, the president of the New York Stock Exchange, a member of the President’s Cabinet, the president of the Bank of International Settlements and the president of the world’s greatest monopoly. Collectively these tycoons controlled more money than there was in the United States’ Treasury.

Now, fast forward 25 years and let’s see what happened to them. Charles Schwab, president of the largest independent steel company, lived the last five years of his life on borrowed money and died a pauper. Arthur Cooger, the greatest wheat speculator, shot himself. Richard Whitney, president of the New York Stock Exchange, spent three years in prison. Albert Fall, a member of the President’s cabinet, went to prison for bribery. Leon Fraser, president of the U.S. Bank of International Settlements, shot himself. Ivan Kreuger, head of one of the world’s largest monopolies, also committed suicide. If the recent economic upheaval has taught us anything, it’s that money brings neither security nor happiness.”

I agree with the writer of the above stories that we ought to use our money to reach a hurting world with love because that’s the essence of life, the only way we could truly live. I read this a few weeks back and it had a profound effect on me and I thought, why not throw this open and find out what others think?

Now I’ve got a question for you guys! Where do you think you’ll be in 25 years? I get to choose the best answer and whosoever got this right and I’m sure many would. 🙂 would enter my world of creation, which means that I’ll use the best answer to write a short story based on the commenter’s vision of the kind of life he or she would be living in 25 years’ time.

In the meantime, you can all listen to these awesome guys, their song is truly refreshing! You can achieve a lot if you put your mind to it! And in 25 years, you could be on top of the world…

I know I’m creature of impulse but I just feel like doing this! 🙂

So where do I think I’ll be 25 years time? Hmmmnn, I wonder…

Love you always guys! 🙂

In The Beginning… There Was Nothing…

May28

That was how it was.

The Beginning of time. Time is predominately the controller of our destiny, but then, I believe that in life, time would not have meaning without proper documentation. Therein lies the work of a writer. I’d always told all who cared to listen that I would die a writer, and I mean it. If I become the Prime Minister today, I won’t feel fulfilled if I stopped writing. It’s like the air I breathe. Almost all my friends knew of the recent event in my life, and that really crippled me somewhat because I sort of lost that desire to write… I simply lost interest but now, I’m back and it’s as if I’ve never taken a hiatus, I guess I simply needed to rest.

With that out of the way. I’ve been graciously invited by Sherri Matthews of www.sherrimatthewsblog.com to join in a blog hop, she splashed my shy face on her blog a few weeks ago and today, she’s my muse! 🙂

Here’s the lovely Sherri!

Isn’t she gorgeous?

Sherri has worked in both the legal and medical fields but her defining and most fulfilling career was that of full-time mum for many years to her three, now grown children. Widowed young, remarried twice more, Sherri has faced many challenges, both in her home country of England and in California, where she lived and raised her family for almost 20 years.

The call of the pen beckoned throughout but it wasn’t until 2011 when Sherri lost her job due to office closure and her daughter was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome that she began to pursue her writing dream.

Now, while writing her first book*, Sherri writes articles, poetry, short-stories and flash fiction, some of which have been published in national UK magazines (Prima and Your Cat), as well as writing on her blog, ‘A View From My Summerhouse’. She also guest blogs for a variety of websites.

Today, Sherri lives, writes, walks, gardens and takes endless photographs in the West Country of England, happily with her husband, daughter, two cats and a corn-snake called Charlie (her daughter’s, acquired after many years of persuasion).

In Sherri’s words, she passionately describes her writing career as progressive: Read that here:

”I can best define my writing process in a few short words: I fly by the seat of my pants. I struggle to rein in my writing discipline and have yet to attain a working balance, even though on an ideal day I get all my off-blog writing completed first thing in the morning before I dare check my emails.

However, ideal days don’t happen very often. So many writing projects vie for my attention and I know this is all-too common for many writers. I am learning, I hope, to listen to the writing voice that yells the loudest!

The problem is that I could write all day (on my book) and nothing else would get done. When I decide to take a ‘quick look’ on my blog, the day is lost. Certainly, I write every day. Just not on my book.

This is something I am working on changing and hope to achieve in the very near future. A cottage by the sea for six months without any internet would be very nice…maybe!

Still, I am making progress, albeit slowly! As I press on with my book, I am soon to have a poem and a ‘slice of life’ story published in two anthologies. I am also pursing ideas for putting together some of my poems, photographs and musings borne out of my private struggles (in pain and joy) while helping my beautiful ‘Aspie’ daughter navigate through life.

It is only recently that I dared to call myself a ‘Writer’. Ultimately, I pursue the holy grail of writing so that I might, one day, be able to say that I am a ‘Published Author’.”

You can find a lot about Sherri on this awesome sites:

*Memoir Book Blurb: http://sherrimatthewsblog.com/memoir-book-blurb/

Blog: www.sherrimatthewsblog.com

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/aviewfrommysummerhouse

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/sherri-matthews/60/798/aa3

Sherri is a fantastic friend and a precocious writer. I can’t wait to devour her book when it’s out, hope you would too. Do me a favour and stop by her site to see what I’ve raved about! 🙂

It’s good to be back blogging fully. I would still be stopping by your blogs as soon as I could! Much love to you my friends and do enjoy the rest of this rainy week (at least in London!)

Peace! 🙂

Seyi David

In Search Of Innocence

Jan21

I first heard the news on TV, that a 3-year-old boy had disappeared at Edinburg overnight, (this was a few days ago) my heart was in my mouth and when the police revealed that they weren’t looking for little Mikaeel Kular anymore, my heart sank. (To some, this is stale news but I couldn’t get the face of the boy from my mind) I’m the kind of woman who believes in the impossible, miraculous acts that usually astound and even confound the most obstinate heart. However, the story of this little, innocent boy hit me hard.

You may wonder why, I am not in any way related to the Kulars, but I am a mother, who had experienced the loss of a child, although not in that way. You may read of my true story here: https://seyisandradavid.org/2012/11/14/death-and-the-angels-of-mercy/

The most disturbing aspect of the story, is this, the mother seems to be the major suspect, I don’t want to delve too much into the story of the mother or what propelled her into such an atrocious act but of that innocent boy. Someone once commented that people shouldn’t be taken on facial values (whatever that means!) and that no one should be trusted, in a way, the commenter could be right. We live in a very dangerous world but I am forever an optimist, and would remain so, even in the face of outright evil. Mikaeel must have loved his family, but something went wrong and now he is no more. Whatever the circumstances of his passing, I believe he’s at peace now, safe from harm.

I only hope we live in a world where the innocent would not pay for the sins of the wicked and like Louis Armstrong’s song, we do live in a wonderful world minus the murderers, perverts and the indescribable. Although our world is often tainted by evil, we can do our bit to make it a better place, by being our brother’s keeper – watching out for others in our own little way… endlessly searching for the innocent… helping the homeless, like the man in the picture… That way, the innocents would be safe from the onslaught of wicked people!

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Now, on to more uplifting news. An online magazine, upcoming4me.com, recently published an article I wrote chronicling the story behind my new book ‘Cydonia,’ you would find the article here: http://upcoming4.me/news/book-news/story-behind-cydonia-by-seyi-david and my publisher, arrowgatepublishing.com also carried the same story here:

http://arrowgatepublishing.com/2014/01/10/story-behind-cydonia-by-seyi-david/

My book trailer would be out soon, and the eBook, the iBook, Kobo and other ereading devices would release ‘Cydonia’ in the coming weeks. However, if you prefer to read ‘real’ physical book, you can click on my sidebar and it would take you to the right place to buy it or better still, click on these links:

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cydonia-Rise-fallen-Seyi-David/dp/0957593031/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1390301384&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=cydonia%3A+rise+of+the+fallen

Amazon US : http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_17?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=cydonia+rise+of+the+fallen&sprefix=Cydonia%3A+Rise+of+%2Caps%2C241&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Acydonia+rise+of+the+fallen

Waterstones:

http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/seyi+david/cydonia/10190216/

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Cydonia–rise-of-the-fallen–seyi-david?keyword=Cydonia%3A+rise+of+the+fallen%2C+seyi+david&store=book

Book Depository: http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Cydonia-Seyi-David/9780957593039

Abe Books: http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?kn=Cydonia%3A+Rise+of+the+fallen%2C+seyi+david&sts=t&x=50&y=8

Hive.co.uk: http://www.hive.co.uk/search/cydonia%3A+rise+of+the+fallen/mediatype/all/

I reckon this should do for now, you can buy ‘Cydonia’ from all fine bookshops world-wide. I don’t like long posts but I believe a bit of self promotion wouldn’t do any harm. 🙂 I hope you’ll all enjoy the rest of this week, wherever you are in the world!

Much love, always! 🙂

Here Is It!

Nov19

”THE BIG clock in Ilford town centre in East London resounded at seven in the evening. The town centre was still bustling with shoppers when a glittering black GMC 4×4 slid past the shoppers and came to a screeching halt at Cranbrook road, a few miles from the town centre. Three men got out of the jeep and dashed into the Golden Oaks pub, brandishing AK-47 assault rifles.

The pub was packed full of people that cool Wednesday evening, and the men heralded a tense atmosphere as they barged in. There were muted gasps from everyone. Aaron Cohen was among the throng of people in the pub. Instantly, he knew they were looking for him.

A woman stifled a sob and her whimpering grated on Aaron’s nerves. Slowly, he slipped his face cap down to hide his identity: it would do him good to stay hidden.

There was complete silence.”

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Well friends, here’s the cover of my new supernatural thriller due for release on Dec 16th, I’m spellbound by the cover, and I want to appreciate you all for your love and kindness. I mentioned all my awesome blogger friends on the ‘Acknowledgement section,’ of the book. The novel would be available worldwide, wherever books are sold.

My publisher is ready to release Advance Review Copies (but PDF) at this point in time. Please if you’re on Goodreads or have an amazon account, and you’re interested in reviewing this novel before the launching day, please contact me on this email address: seyisandradavid@gmail.com and I’ll respond with a digital copy.

It’s been hectic on my end (always so), I’ll be moving house in a couple of days… yes, I’m excited but scared of the mammoth work staring me in the face. After all this, I’ll go for a week’s holiday and the only thing I’ll be doing is watching films and blogging.

I love you all and hope you’ll enjoy the rest of this cold week. To my friends who are still battling with that freaky storm in the US, I wish you peace and safety.

Much love, always. 🙂

The Borrowers

Oct10

(Photo credit: Flickr)

Ethan smiled and his blue eyes danced with glee, the contract was a done deal. He strode toward his private jet, a man with the world under his feet. He felt like he owned the universe but at the corner of his eyes, he saw a glimmer… And that was the last thing he remembered…

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Raja hid under the bed, his heart beating with fury, but his impotent rage would achieve nothing. He gritted his teeth and dug his nails into the brown smelly carpet. Then the men came in stealthily, searching for their target, their cold ruthless eyes noticed a flicker of a movement.

And they smiled.

Then the rapid sound of gunfire reverberated throughout the estate…

++ ++ ++ ++

Jonathan stretched his long taunt body on the sofa, his accountant breathing down his neck in excitement.
‘We did it,’ Jonathan said with a boyish grin. Two hundred million pounds worth of cocaine had sailed through unscathed.

Then the accountant’s smile slowly faded like a receding shadow.

‘Honey,’ his new wife called from the bedroom, ‘I’m waiting!’
Jonathan stood to his feet and then saw the gun,

His heart froze.

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‘The glory that goes with wealth is fleeting and fragile; virtue is a possession glorious and eternal.’ Sallust

I consider all men (by that I mean everyone!) as borrowers, we’re living on borrowed time. No one is going to physically live forever, and the earlier we let that sink into our subconscious mind, the better for us. When we realise how futile it is to wage wars, to keep malice and abhor love, I guess we’ve cracked the code to world peace!

I’m happy to be writing this, although I’m still navigating slowly through my deluge of deadlines but things are looking up. And I also have great news – I now have the official release date for my upcoming supernatural thriller, 16th of December 2013! I want to garner as many reviews as I can get, it always boost sales.

Please, if anyone is interested in giving a sincere review, do let me know and once my publisher releases the ARC (Advance Review Copies) I’ll send it to as many of my friends as possible. Thanks for your friendship, I’ve visited several blogs and enjoyed reading diverse and richly entertaining contents. I’ll still continue to do so, and if I’ve not stopped by yours, please bear with me and I’ll visit soon!

Enjoy the rest of your week and have a fantastic weekend!

Much love, always!

🙂