Bday! (Season Finale)

I was still feeling a little down in the dumps after what transpired in the last episode as read in STUCK IN A DAYDREAM? A seemingly wiry tangled knots of confusion, unexplained tiredness and a sense of feeling lost felt like a negative anchor pulling me down, leaving my soul hungry for freedom and a sense of spiritual upliftment and direction.

 Upon fearing a possible breakdown, I decided to call a friend for moral support and after patiently listening to my cry of woes, heaved a deep sigh and tried encouraging me never to give in to my mood, instead, he dared me to dream and strive to achieve it, going on to task me to branch out of writing for just #Kuwda but also write a work of fiction for sale,

"...You can do this Maj, you're an incredible writer and you've been writing about your day to day life on Keeping Up With D Adagiris and it is such a beautiful write up but why not  task yourself to write a work of fiction for publication, either as a hard copy publication or online for sale? It would go further in cementing yourself as a writer and get people to take you more seriously plus you get to make some bucks from it... Kuwda is dope but people don't want to know just about your family issues, a lot is going on in the world, stories abound that needs telling, write on themes of new issues arising in the world like terrorism, feminism, sexuality, a lot of themes to pick from....think about it Maj, you can do this but unless you try".

The last words of his statement echoed through my brain, tingling my pores and left me ruminating over the idea of writing a book. Several times in the past, I have thought about writing a fictitious story but writing as a craft isn't exactly a walk in the park as other writers would agree and I had gotten way too comfortable writing strictly for #Kuwda that the thought of branching out scares me but I knew in my heart that my friend was right, if I need to get people to take me seriously as a writer, I have to show them my work, not just my work writing a reality blog series so I swore to myself I was going to get to work and prove to myself that indeed, I am a grounded and balanced writer besides I realised that part of the reason why I was in such emotional turmoil as stated above was because I needed money badly and felt like, as a family, we need to have multiple income stream with the recession biting harder and our expenses getting higher and this angered me a lot most especially as my birthday was approaching and from the look of things, nothing yum seems to be in the offing, no whispers amongst my brothers, no secret meetings between my Mom and siblings, their body language lately had suggested no secret plans is being hatched and Mom had been particularly moody lately all because of the gloomy financial state sweeping through the country in the form of recession. I might come off as quite spoilt for saying this but It felt quite scary to spend my birthday with everyone just mouthing a "happy birthday" phrase and nothing more which even added to my woes, leading me to sink further in my angst against everything and everyone thus naturally getting me into spells of throwing tantrums unnecessarily and at the slightest provocation from feeling exhausted and foggy in the brain.


 I tried to calm down, brainstorm and conduct a research about what story of fiction to write about but i just couldn't find a suitable idea or theme to write on, my brain felt blank It felt as though I was going through a creative hibernation and the feeling sucked like hell but with a dint of determination to not let my issues overwhelm me plus knowing that my friends and family weren't to blame for all of the above, I decided to seek God out in prayers, I beseeched him fervently, asking him for divine direction and also create a soothing balm to my parched soul. Truly, prayers do work magic and God listens for after a short while, I began to feel calm in my body and in my soul, I took lengthy leisurely strolls around my area every evening and listened to songs that lifted my spirit for as my birthday approaches, it would be sad to be a very bitter person on that day so if I needed to be happy, I had to work hard to create my own peace of mind and a sense of calm.

One Tuesday afternoon, I went to my Aunt Hubaida's place to check on them since they had just moved to a new place and whilst helping them move things and set them in their proper place in the house, I stumbled upon an old magazine with an arresting cover of Janet Jackson which I settled down to read, flicking through the pages as I savoured every piece in it when I came across and read a story about a U.S army officer who shockingly turned against his own comrades at their base and shot a lot of them dead until he was gunned down by a female officer, it intrigued me so much it began to stir a hitherto hibernated creative juice in me as bits and pieces of a fictitious plot began to form in my head.

I quickly fished out my phone and wrote the ideas down before it all evaporates and armed with the advice given to me by my friend, I set out to work, if nothing, at least to take my mind off all my issues, financial et al. Thankfully, a day to my birthday, the story was set and I had gotten a perfect title, I didn't breathe a word of it all to no one, not even Hamz, I read and re-read the story over and over again but was feeling unsure whether or not to go ahead and publish it online, I was nervous, the thought of having my name on a book felt unreal...very surreal, like something from a dream, suddenly I began to fret, voices in my head began to tell me the plot feels unfinished, another said people might not buy it amongst many other negative voices trying to discourage me, my fingers began to fidget, I kept staring at my computer keyboard and wondering if I should go on and publish because I wanted whatever would be my first published work to be perfect, then a sweet sounding voice whispered in my mind telling me to just go ahead, that there's never a perfect time or moment to do anything amazing and if I never take a risk or afraid to take a risk, life would be meaningless and full of "what ifs", so with a defiant shrug and a feeling of having nothing to loose and everything to gain, I created my cover page, previewed the plot then published my book "The Sound of Silence" on Amazon and Okada books a day before my birthday. Once done, I felt the fear suddenly vanish, I felt quite relieved then I went into the shower and took a lengthy relaxing bath. At the stroke of midnight on my birthday, calls and texts started pouring in from friends, family and acquaintances, it felt good to be showered with so much love on my day but I waited till morning when the world was awake...at least on my side of the globe, my family hugged and wished me well, all apologising profusely for having no gift for me, I nodded understandably, telling them not to bother as I already got myself a birthday gift, their immediately inquisitive faces instantly urging me to tell them what this birthday gift to myself was then I dropped the news,

 "I published a book Mom...guys, I just published a book online, it's titled "The Sound of Silence" and it tells the story of a mixed, privileged but sadly deaf young lad whom life's circumstances led to the dastardly path of terrorism with the task of killing the U.S president...it's my birthday gift to myself"

All clearly in a state of utter shock, Mom covered her agape mouth with her palms, her eyes getting glassy with tears, she beckoned at me to come in for a hug and gave me a tight squeeze as my brothers all clearly stunned, dissolved into gales of laughter, patting me on the back then asking me for details on how to get the book and what I intend to do to promote it so we all sat down as I briefed them on my plans thereafter I announced it on all my social media platforms then the calls started pouring in from surprised friends who were so happy for me and quickly ordering a copy directly from me, colleagues from work, friends and acquaintances from far and near all showing their support and immediately transferring money to my bank account to get their copies, it made me teary, I was completely bowled over by all the love shown me, it was the best birthday gift ever as it would always be read and bought forever...a gift of a lifetime! Happy Bday to me! To get the book "The Sound of Silence", Click here to buy on Amazon or Okadabooks.

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