How I Started Writing
My mom pioneered my writing journey, knowingly or unknowingly.
She had been the librarian at my second primary school.
Being the librarian, she was involved in sourcing for books for the school, she was the first to know when the school had storybooks for other parents to buy.
She always got me books.
Before the age of 10, I had owned a mini library. I had a lot of series written by Enid Blyton, I owned a dozen or more of ladybird books.
I had read the borrowers before I watched the movie and knew from a young age the difference between books and the movies.
I had read so many encyclopedias, I had my uncles avoiding me because I always quizzed them to know what they knew.
Then I owned The Harry Potter books.
Then I stumbled into romance books as I grew older, then in secondary school some Christian peers had introduced me to books by Francine Rivers, Frank Perreti, Dee Henderson, Karen Kingsbury, Ted Dekker.
I had consumed a bulk of their books before the age of 16.
In my final year, I had written a few poems for the school year magazine.
I also wrote an article about sexual harassment which was never published and I was forbidden to speak about because it was indecent.
I just wanted to raise awareness to young girls and boys my age to what kind of touching was appropriate or not but it never saw the light of day. I still can’t wrap my head around that till today.
The first time that someone really praised my writing was in University. I had written a Facebook message to this senior of mine who had replied that I wrote really well and should consider writing more.
I started a blog in university, on Wordpress. It’s still alive, don’t ask me the name, didn’t take it too seriously.
Then I owned a travel blog through which I documented my travel, I lost that.
Then I stumbled into Chinese translated books and Asian storytelling — a very different approach from Hollywood and Bollywood.
Then I owned a culture blog, since I could no longer travel, I wanted to bring the Nigerian culture to the world.
I was discouraged by a close friend who explained that I wasn’t social media savvy and didn’t have many followers and could not be successful.
Oh well, lost that too, I didn’t know that I could learn marketing and networking.
I have been on medium for a while now. I’m still a learner compared to a few younger writers on here.
But I’m learning the ropes and hopefully I’ll get to the height of all that I am and have to give some day.
Feedback does matter but more than feedback, your determination matters the most.
The most remarkable parts of this journey so far are these;
- My mom who introduced me to books
- My senior who gave me positive feedback
- My determination to keep writing
Someday, I hope to have released a book that will be beneficial to all who read it, it may be slow in coming, but patience and diligence have their rewards.
Hi, I’m Nguper. I write about relationships, life lessons, poetry and health issues. To see my stories in your feed, I’d love for you to follow me (Terngu)
