Guest Post: IT WON’T HAPPEN IN ONE DAY - Yinka Morawo

"Nothing great happens overnight and to every success story there is always a point of failure and discouragement. That’s what makes the story a ‘success story’ because despite the odds, you pulled through."

Ayoyinka Morawo is a short story writer, a content writer and a blogger. She is currently a Civil engineering student in Covenant University, Nigeria. Her works have been published on CREF magazine, sprinng literary movement and has written scripts for stage plays. Ayoyinka resides in Ibadan, Nigeria.
 
After I was asked to write this post. I began to think of what I would write that would actually help other writers. I don’t want to bore you with big words and grammar that would not leave an impact.
So I decided to write on the journey of a writer. Yes being a writer is a journey and sadly or maybe not sadly there is no final destination but there are victory stops. I’ll explain, but first how do you even start this journey?

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 I’ll give a few bullet points.

• WRITE- One of my favourite poets, Tolu Akinyemi once said; to be a writer you have to actually write, that’s the first step. I know it sounds shocking, how can you be a writer when you don’t write? It’s possible, I know there are people who have the talent, reading this post but haven’t had the courage to put it out there; maybe because they feel like they’re not good enough. That’s a lie we tell ourselves when we are afraid. Just so you know a lot of writers in the world today didn’t even study literature or the likes of it like Robin cook, Danielle steel and many more. It doesn’t matter what anyone has told you and I am not just trying to be motivational here. Thomas Edison was told by his teacher that he was too stupid to learn anything, his name lives on today.

Mine happened in a really twisted way, when I was little, I wrote a story and showed it to a family member, and you wouldn’t guess their reply. “I don’t believe you wrote this, you must have copied it from a book”. I was crushed, as a kid I actually stopped writing for a while but here I am doing it again and this time I’m not listening to any discouraging voice even if it’s mine!

• DON’T MIND THE DISCOURAGEMENT- I’d like to say that there are lots of discouraging periods for writers especially. You could say not everyone is into books or even reading! (This world we live in) and even some who are, are too busy doing something else. If you’re going to go on this journey of being a writer, you have to be ready for disappointment; if books were like sugar, all ants would run to it. But don’t stop writing, don’t stop. You don’t have to wait till you publish a book, I am still on that journey. Social media is a great platform, I tell people all the time that social media is what you make of it; engage it, own it. There are many ways to do that, you could start a blog, post on your Instagram page, Facebook or Twitter. Never stop writing, even down times produce inspiration.

 

• THE UNAVOIDABLE SEASONS - There are two major seasons for writers, but they are not independent of one another. They are the reading and writing seasons. Even as children we were taught to read and write simultaneously. When you read, you develop yourself, you expand your imagination. It’s even better when you read wide, read all kinds of books, if you’re a poet read novels too, if you are a fiction or non-fiction writer read poetry. All these genres are still by writers; they just express themselves in different ways.

 

• VICTORY STOPS- I mentioned this earlier. As a writer you grow every day, you grow as you write and as you grow, you make accomplishment and those accomplishments are celebrated, that is what I call a victory stop. The victory stops are not outright stops but a point to reflect, give yourself a pat on the back, note your mistakes, keep moving and do better. There is no final stop and that’s what makes it amazing. But don’t be a victim of a ‘victory stop’ don’t forget about writing and relish in the feeling of the moment, I’ve been a victim of ‘a victory stop’. Before I knew it, time had gone by.

 
 Finally I’d like to tell you that you’re unique, everyone sees the world differently. Nobody can write the exact way that you can, believe me. I try my best not to confine myself by ‘qualifying’ my type of writing, at the end of the day whatever genre, it’s still writing and it is speaking to people. So don’t copy anybody, aspire to be a better version of yourself every day. Whilst looking up to people, don’t forget yourself. If the world hasn’t seen through your eyes yet, what are you waiting for?
 I’ll stop here, I hope I was able to get through to someone. Thank you for reading.