@Ezegburugburu 8 September 2022

My Journey And Motivation To Being A Writer

Before I started writing, I've always been someone that thought I loved reading. Unfortunately my reading was only limited to books with less pages. I came from a family where my Dad always gets back from work each day with a current newspaper for the day. A family that has a library at home. Is my Dad a scholar?, No. Is he learned? No But he loves reading. At that tender age I enjoyed reading the entertainment and stories section of the newspapers. Gradually I started falling in love with writing. I gradually began to create stories in my mind but I didn't really know how to put them in words. I can vividly remember telling my eldest sister my imaginative stories and how she applauded me and encouraged me not to ever stop. In her words " You've got a great pictorial mind l. Don't stop using it." Well at a tender age I didn't really understand what she meant by "pictorial mind". But I knew that she was impressed and that was the only motivation I needed. I moved on to gently putting words together on paper. The more I tried the more it felt like I wasn't doing much. Until one day I was at a friend's place. I never knew his sister was a writer. When I mean writer I mean writing as a means of survival. A published author. That day I saw his elder sister put together words and gradually they grew to become an interesting story. I wondered how she was able to do it. That was where she gave me the tip that changed my writing life. Just a few words but they mean a lot to anyone that wants to excel in writing. In her words she said " A great writer is a vast reader" She was nothing far from the truth. At that age I only sticked to the newspapers my Dad bought and never push my limit to reading other books. Although we had a library at home. I was scared of reading books with many pages. I always saw it as a stress and wondered how people do it. But after that day, I gave myself the assignment of reading anything at all no matter the size. Now here I am. I might not be the best writer yet. But I know I'm gradually getting there. Would I ever stop reading? Not even in my wildest dreams. I intend to inculcate this habit down to my kids. My Dad will always say to me "no information is a waste no matter how little" and definitely he's right. I once saw a picture of a man with a shirt boldly written on it; "I don't need google my wife knows it all". That might be sarcasm but if at all it happens to be true then definitely the wife is a vast reader. That's the power of books, the power of information. And as we all know information is power.