The Reason Behind My Voice

Inspiration is Everywhere! Many are curious as to where my inspiration stems from. This is rather a difficult question to respond to, since I dare say inspiration for my work flows from various sources. From nature to those around me; inspiration is everywhere.  Being in nature, even for a short space of time, is always refreshing. It definitely brings me peace and that tranquility is often accompanied with a flood of new ideas. The resilience of the trees themselves are an inspiration. Watching on as they grew new branches after a ravaging category 5 hurricane shook them, is a testament that there is life even after the worst storms. So that's why when I feel down and un-inspired, I often detach from everyday life and make time to go sit on the beach or near a river.  My students in their own unique way, often inspire me. These young minds and their drive for knowledge often sends me on a search for knowledge, too. I have learnt quite a few lessons from the...

Several of my readers have been asking about my recently published collection of poetry "Bonfire". The story is quite fascinating, if I do say so myself. Had someone told me a few years ago I would have been published at age 26, I would not have believed them. Don't get me wrong, I have always considered myself to be a writer. But it was never a priority; I wrote only when I felt like it.  My most accomplished piece of writing would most definitely be my manuscript for my first novel. But it has yet to be published. The reason for this is because I was turned down by several publishers and I let that deter me. When I finally found a publisher, I was also asked to change the plot of my story because it was too controversial. I considered self-publishing but I was afraid of how it might be received.  I felt defeated and I felt like quitting on the novel altogether. But that was when "Bonfire" came to me like a candle in a dark room. The poems cam...

The final week of the year, is a time where we see a lot of individuals planning for the new year. We make plans to try new diets, to change our attitudes, to be more productive etc. Those plans work for the first week and then we slowly begin to forget about those plans until we give up all together.   The reason for that may be because many of us fail to do personal introspection. Introspection reminds us of far we have already travelled, how much we stayed on course or how much we strayed, how much we achieved and how much more we could have accomplished.  It is only fitting to look back a bit before we venture to move forward, afterall there are always lessons to learn from the past.  Here are a few personal lessons I learnt this year: You'll never know if you never try Do more, talk less Write down goals, tick them off Time is money  You'll never know if you never try.  I would often hear my mother say this, but I had no idea that...

I recently had one of my senior students ask me, "Is life really a journey?" The question posed to me by someone almost half my age, really made me think. How often have we stopped to think of this overused yet true analogy.  "Is life really a journey?" A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. – Lao Tzu If you can’t fly, then run, if you can’t walk run, then walk, if you can’t walk, then crawl, but by all means keep moving. – Martin Luther King Jr. What about life makes it a fitting comparison to a journey (of any kind)? To journey means to travel from place to another. A voyage. A trip. An expedition. Those who embark on such trips are often referred to as pilgrims, travelers or sojourners.   In its own way, life can be said to be a journey. We embark on this journey, the moment we have been birthed into this world. From birth until our death, we should have traveled from one point to another. Whether it be as a result of personal...

Many have posed this question to me in my lifetime, "why do you write?" I often pause and ponder, "is this really what I want to do?" After much deliberation and contemplation, I have only one conclusion; this is what I was born to do. I was born to write. To share my pain, my passion, my victories and triumphs with the rest of the world. This is my greatest joy yet. "When I think about myself, I almost choke" (Maya Angelou). I often find myself sharing her sentiments. It is ironic that I would call myself a writer. A paradox even. This is where my laughter often stems from. As a child I learnt to read and write a lot later than my classmates. I was always behind. The last to copy notes and the last to finish a test. I did not make much of it at my age. I just thought to myself "I was slower than everyone else". So you can only imagine the look on my elementary teacher's face when she learnt that I had graduated with honors in Engli...