#MotivationalMonday – Attitude

Yesterday and over the weeks, so many incidences made me have a re-think about people and situations and as much as I try not to compare them, when you see a pattern – it is easy to tell if there’s change coming or we are in for a long horrible ride with that person.

Bad attitude sucks!

Granted, no one particularly likes being scolded or corrected. But like our on-point manual and Book of Life says, “God corrects those He loves” and in another place, “Godly sorrow leads to repentance.”

Yes, I know some people have taken the duty of criticizing everything you do. But when what is being complained about is done by other people too, then you really need to Stop, Listen, Sieve and get to work; on YOURSELF!

These days when I hear certain complaints, I take the exercise myself. Other times, I simply just feel the check in me immediately and I rearrange or ask different buddies for their opinions and then I easily see a ‘Repeat’ suggestion which I follow.

• Stop
• Listen
• Sieve
• Work
• Intentionally become the New You.

Sometimes, people don’t change. So, you work on you!

@imaniking

© 2017. Frances Kelvin Otung. All rights reserved.

 

#MotivationalMonday – Interruptions

The word by itself already tells you that your flow won’t be so straight-forward or steady. You have waited long for an opportunity to show the world what you are capable of and here you are on top speed to catch up with time and you get interrupted!? Who does that to a waiting-mother, single lady or broke man? That’s just not fair!

Interruptions are good. Of course, it doesn’t always look that way, but they are like road bumps or warning signals that cause us to slow down and rethink. Check out the cause or reason for that interruption, you will find a ‘flaw’ that would have brought the whole system crashing after you had painstakingly put the blueprint together.

This morning we were on our way to work and my friend noticed that the temperature went up a bit and back down and up again. We turned off the AC and drove on. But at some point we had to park the car for it to come down and forget about clocking in on time. After a while, we opened to the radiator to discover there was no drop of water in it. Imagine, if we drove on just so we could clock in, we would have had a blown gasket, probably a knocked engine (don’t know much about cars). But it definitely wouldn’t have been nice. That would mean spending money on something that was avoidable.

All it took was enough water and the radiator’s thirst was assuaged! LOL!

It may be a mind-set or an attitude. Check it out and enjoy your interruptions that will lead to your opportunities – the right way.

@imaniking

Picture Source: thetyger.com

©2017. Frances Kelvin Otung. All rights reserved

#MotivationalMondays – Preparation

Last week, I read from one of my pastor’s page and these words jumped at me “Preparation is an act of Faith!” As I pondered over these words, I realized that nothing could be truer than that.

How do you mean? You ask…

Yes, the driving force behind your action or inaction shows how ready you are for the many opportunities that abound. Getting ready by honing your not-so-good abilities, shows that you believe that there is better ahead of you, there’s a canvas in front of you waiting for you to splash on the colors and release a masterpiece which the world has never seen before. You have an idea about what drives you and what aspect of you/creativity you want to share with the world, there’s someone that has gone down that path before. Make use of available information and add a bit of you in it and that’s the difference the world has been waiting for.

Though the ingredients abound, without preparation, the soup or sauce is nowhere ready for eating. Let’s get to work then!

@imaniking

©2017. Frances Kelvin Otung. All rights reserved

WHEN ARTISTS MEET…

Whenever I’m to go for an event and the ‘stress’ is much, I usually would still go because that tells me there’s something I need to learn there and I’m about to miss out on it. That was the scenario I found myself in before deciding to go for the Connect Nigeria 3^rd Writers Conference, tagged “The Business Of Writing” on the Saturday, 21^st May 2016, which was my first!

Like I said, I got in quite late with 2 hours left to go and I’m wondering “why did I burn N145 per litre of PMS and a family time-out to get there?”, but I didn’t regret it a bit. I’m still excited and motivated and on a whole new dimension. When it comes to my articles, I’m so looking forward to the next conference. I guess you won’t understand it until I share what is making me gush even days after.

My time there started out with Efe Paul Azino, he is an interesting fellow. If I saw him on the road, I would readily call him a sculptor or painter (he had those hands and keen eyes) but he’s a poet! You see, I was discouraged before now about my poetry, by someone I shared the desire to publish them years back, as in his expert opinion (a doctor by the way) “Nigerians don’t read much, talk-less of poetry”. Listening to Mr Efe say things like

• To be a really good poet, “your consumption = your production” READ! READ!! READ Everything!!!
• When it comes to performing, if you like theatrics, go ahead and perform yours like that. If you prefer to read out the poem, by all means, do that. Just perform it the way you are.
• For a wider audience, try writing poetry in other languages. I’m trying out my pidgin English skills on this one.
• Find your voice! Be original, so whenever anyone reads your poem, they can tell it’s yours. I would refer to this as your USP!
• Learn to withdraw amidst all your successes and recreate yourself.
• Form or join other poetry groups.

…I’m ready to go beyond the stars with the poems.

Mr Onimisi Adaba spoke for 5 minutes on the importance of having audio books, as some of your audience might not be the hard-copy crowd. For an intelligent writer, it is expedient to meet the needs of your diverse crowd in a fast-paced world, “Don’t just do hard copies, bring your words to life with the requisite emotion and pronunciation, using audio books.”

I’m not sure I was expecting to gain much from Ike Nnaebue a renowned Nigerian Movie Director/Screenwriter, as I’m a poetry and prose person, but by the time he started speaking I was yearning for more and already seeing myself as a screenwriter or applying the elements to my poetry and prose. As Mr Ike gave the ELEMENTS necessary for a good Screenplay Writing and I sat awed.

• The Art of storytelling = The Art of Seduction. Try to woo, lure, entrap, persuade and capture your audience to remain in that world you have created till you are done and ready to release them. I love this! Yummy, I tell you.
• To be a good writer, continue to ask question, make your audience asks questions too! Do not answer their questions, until you have new questions for them.
• Have a unique idea. Make your characters, hate-able or likeable to the point that you create an emotional bonding.
• Make your tale unpredictable by creating unique dialogues. Step out of the norms. Try not to use the first idea that comes to your mind, keep writing, more and better ones will come.
• Though you are to consider the budget of your market, low budget doesn’t mean mediocre. Let your creative juices flow!

For Okechukwu Ofili, a self-published author and a non-conformist, Self-publishing is the way out. He expounded on his 10 Rules of writing. I love those rules and even when we refer to him as a non-conformist, all he said is a re-enactment of what others said. Be unique, everyone has got the same number of alphabets to work with, be interested in the writing as well as the sales amongst others.

It was a time well-spent seated amongst people with like-minds and if you want more, check my tweets @imaniking . Connect Nigeria Writers Conference 2017, here I come with other writers!

©2016. Frances Kelvin Otung. All rights reserved