234Star
by David Hundeyin
Writing and getting published is a tough task in any part of the world. It is even much tougher for the African writer, especially those living on the continent.
The challenges vary from economic, to cultural and even some that seem almost spiritual!
Here are 5 struggles that every African writer can totally identify with:
- They Won’t Leave Us Alone!
“Junior come and eat!”
“Nkiru! Have you swept the parlour?!”
“Deji! Come and drive mummy to the market!”
*Whatsapp*: “JJ we need to talk about what happened last night. What am I to you?”
*BBM*: “Baby, I think I’ve missed my period…”
- 1 Week… 3 Months… Who’s Counting?
Procrastination.
I’ll do it in an hour.
Ok. Tomorrow.
Well certainly before Wednesday.
Before the end of Friday…
Maybe over the weekend…
Definitely on Monday…
- UP NEPA!!!
NEPA Darkness Demon: [Evil laughter] “So you want to write abi?”
Poor Honest Nigerian Writer: “Oh yes sir. Writing is my passion. I want to pour out my heart and soul and express myself so that the world will see-”
NEPA Darkness Demon: “Come on will you shut up ya mouth there! Idiot! Take this blackout!”
Honest Nigerian Writer: “[sigh] Oh well my laptop battery has 45% charge so I can still work for some ti-”
NDD: “Will you close that smelling mouth! Idiot! I will hold your light for six days! Let’s see how you want to write with your one hour battery charge! Nonsense girl! You want to come and do JK Rowling for us ehn?! Stupid geh! You better go outside and become a hairdresser before I slap you!”
- English…
English is one weird language. It can be understood through tough thorough thought, though…
And the thing about English is that if you get it wrong, you’re gonna dread…
- The African Audience Reception!
These Guys. Are. Savage.
They will take the work you spent 6 weeks toiling over day and night and tear it apart in 3 minutes. It will just be like you just woke up and vomitted some words from your head.
They will make you feel so useless that the mere sight of a blank Microsoft Word document will give you panic attacks and stress dreams.
The struggle is real!
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