First Time Authors can Overcome Fear of Irrelevance

I authored my first book before my undergraduate degree when I had no idea of where to start or what to write.

Book writing was the least in my to do list while in college since I believed I had no intriguing story to tell. My teenage life had little fracas and my background is average so nothing much could hook the eye.

A friend invited me to a writers workshop. Even though I had no interest,  I went to please her. After all she had offered to pay half of the workshop fee. 

It was during the workshop that I was able to understand where my story could come from. I do not have to tell a story about my encounters but I could use other people's real life stories to develop one with a little twist.

Writing is all about creativity and ability to think outside the box. You can decide to come up with a title before crafting the story. For example, if your title is The Rat's Wedding, then you need to figure out how rats can plan a wedding. Maybe a rat is marrying a human being, so your story will be humorous with human appeal.

Book Writing is Simple as ABC

You don't have to pay for any workshop for you to write and complete your book, your day to day experience is what you need. You do not need to choose a complex topic to write a book, you only need what is within your finger tips.

Area of expertise is what you need to look into, are you a minister of the word? Write about your sermons and ministry. Are you a teacher? Write about a topic that interests you in your specialization. Are you a marriage counselor? Writer on how your conselling has impacted couples' life.

Ridicules and Critiques Proof your Progress

Has anyone reminded you that people will gossip you as long as you are alive? Your writing will be criticized as well so long as you are still writing for dead people cannot be gossiped. 

Do not regret when you receive negative reviews for they are there to sharpen your writing and not to kill it. Other writers disapproved my views when we were at the workshop, but that never stopped me from going to the workshop. 

Writing is not Limited to Native Speakers or Top Scorer's

 

People have phobia as far as authorship is concerned since they believe that only those who scored straight A's are entitled to write books. Others believe that native speakers who went to reknowned schools are the ones to write books of all times.

Even if you do not sell a copy of your first book, you should never be discouraged for successful writers never quit. In the world of music, an artist may receive fame after releasing the fifth album. You will never predict if your fifth or sixth book will be a best seller, but you have to keep writing for passion.

Do you think everyone is going through a financial hiccup this year?

Covid19 spread through the entire world with ease leading to economic crisis as most companies are affected. 

So many people have lost their jobs as their businesses shut down. In most cases, there are survivors who make profit out of a crisis. It is not a secret that there are booming businesses out there soaring up the economic ladder while others struggle to survive.

The law of the jungle is applicable even during tough times when you think everybody is going through what you are facing now. You need to look for a tool that will leverage you out of this tough economic situation.

Do you know what a book is?

You have heard severally about researchers claiming that Kenyans have a poor reading culture. But it is important to understand the meaning of a book first

before admitting the claim.

A book is any material that preserves, expounds and transmit knowledge to a literate readership across time and space. 

As you desire to gain more knowledge, you will look for a book to read. This week being international book readership week, let's celebrate our authors.

Trauma faced by learners with eye defects

What you think is learning disability or laxity in your child’s academic progress could be an eye disorder. Due to their age, children are expected to have good eye site for the entire childhood and early teenage.

Eye defects can be treated if diagnosed at an early stage since they are caused by bacterial infections. Vision lose is what most learners are exposed to without proper treatment for a long period or failure to receive treatment at all.  

Alice Opondo who works as a Data Clerk Assistant admits that parents contribute to permanent or partial vision loses in their children. She feels that her situation could be different if her parents could have noticed her poor sight at a tender age.

She has been battling with her condition for her entire life amidst various challenges she could not avoid as a nine year old child. “My parents blamed me severally for poor performance in school thinking that I was not taking class work seriously. I was just in class three and could not understand the change in my vision as I thought other learners experienced the same challenge,” Alice recalled.

Her teacher made the discovery after observing her squint when copying writings on the board. He reported the unusual behaviour to her parents who received the news with unbelief before taking her to an ophthalmologist.

The physician confirmed that she had a condition where light from distant objects converge before reaching her retina thus making her see blurred images instead of clear ones from distant or small objects.

“Eye glasses have become part of my life since then, a habit that makes me forget them whenever I go to bed or when taking a shower thus receiving scolds from my mother,” She reiterated.

 Alice faced numerous challenges including studying without eye glasses whenever her parents refused to buy her a new pair of reading glasses after breaking or losing them. Other learners were not left behind too, they nicknamed her ‘chopi’, a word for genius since they believed she lost her sight as a result of too much studies.

Research by American Optometric Association recommends that children should be examined as early as six months old to ascertain their eye state. They further suggest tests to be done at three years as well as regular eye examination when they begin schooling. 

           

Kenyans are voting in thieves

It is very sad to see culprits involved in a scandal being nominated for various sits. What can one gain from money received in a day compared to lifetime loss?

Anne Waiguru won through the Jubilee ticket yet she was openly involved in NYS scandal. Does that teach you something. If you must win be a thief and not a petty thief who steals petty cash because soon you will be behind bars.

Crisis in Nairobi due to flour shortage

Residents in Nairobi were forced to go to bed hungry yesterday after finding out that all shops had no maize flour stock in their shelves.

The residents wondered whether there was maize shortage or the companies hoarded the commodity in order to increase prices.

Readers point: A visit to Fort Jesus

Having missed a trip to the coastal region with my classmates in Campus I had lost psyche of touring the place any time soon but the enthusiasm came after touring Fort Jesus virtually.

The virtual reality drew auditory images in my mind after reading a book on The Great Siege of Fort Jesus by Valerie Cuthbert published by Phoenix publishers.

The remarkable historical description of the siege which had befallen Fort Jesus between 1689 to 1698 made me think of visiting the Fort in the Kenya's coastal region. It's a historical place. Read the book and get the gist.