It's been a long year

Ah, where to begin? This year has certainly been a long one. Starting from the tragic event that led to my dear aunt's death to my relocation to my father-land for a year's program. If there's one thing I've learnt, it's never to take the little things for granted. They matter the most.

In this year, I have battled with an addiction known as 'gambling' and was at the verge of selling my precious items, until I confided in my love ones and they helped me through it. It was a difficult time, as I would earn a huge amount of money, only to lose it within a few hours of continuous betting. The main aspect of betting that affected me was knowing when to 'call it a night'. I am extremely grateful that I learned from this experience and have never gone back to it.

Another lesson learned this year was the effects of procrastination. Yeah, Yeah. We all know about the effects, but until it really affects you, trust me - you have no idea. It has held me back almost every aspect of my life; academics, writing, reading, socializing, job hunting etc. Some may say it's laziness, but I believe it's more than that. I have lost brilliant opportunities because of procrastination. This my fellow readers, will not occur again.

One good thing that happened this year was that I met a wonderful lady. She's been a source of inspiration to me during the past few months. I think I'm getting to admire her above any other lady in my life (EXCEPT MY MOM - OF COURSE)...lool...but yeah, she's special to me and I hope to learn more about her as we journey into 2014.

Lastly, I discovered that my creativity could be the downfall of me. I always have a new business idea or proposal to explore. Or I have diverse story ideas to turn into a novel. In fact, I was 'Jack of all trade - master of none.' One aspect of my life that coexisted with this phrase was impatience. I couldn't wait for things to unfold, I often moved to the next one. Whilst in the process of writing a book, I would get a business idea and suspend my book just to focus on the business. When I see the business isn't working out, I'll then return like the prodigal son to my writing. Again, this will not occur in 2014 and beyond - by his grace.

I will stick to writing, as this is what I cannot live without (apart from God). I am currently writing a project, which I believe will be a good way to reinvent myself. 2014 will be a good year for me, my loved ones, and well-wishers. May your wishes and heart desires be met as we cross over to the next year of our lives...

Mistakes of a writer.

I wrote my first book during my late teens. I hadn't researched more about the world of publishing, and decided to self publish with a vanity press. I regretted it. My work contained massive amounts of typos and grammatical errors. I felt ashamed and decided to do a bit of research before sending anything out to the public. Luckily, this book hadn't been read as I expected. Then, after huge amounts of rejection from Literary agents, I decided to turn to Amazon Kindle store due to the success stories of Amanda Hocking and John Locke. That didn't work for me too, at least as of now. Why? Because I was too impatient to work on my craft as a writer and give the world my very best.

I released, two novels and two novellas. One of the novellas was edited by a professional editor in Canada, so it was readable. The two novels were copy edited, but to my surprise, readers still found out errors. One advice I would give to upcoming authors, especially indie authors, is that make sure your work is at its best. If you don't have money, save money, and hire a very good editor to work on it, even after giving friends and family to edit for you. This pays a lot. Most of the reviews I received on Amazon and Goodreads were talking on the same subject "typos and grammatical errors". People won't have the interest to read your entire book if they come across flimsy typos. Also the usual "you're and your" may not be tolerated by most readers. I learnt this the hard way.

I have finished the series of my paranormal romance story, but I've decided to take my time and work on them before releasing them to the world. I will be in Canada next year and will hire professionals to design book covers and edit the entire series. I already have a budget of C$5000. Then, I will release it to the world and make good use of the lessons I've learned. I am currently in Africa, Nigeria to be precise undergoing a year's course, and in the meantime, I've written a novelette that would be sold to Secondary Schools over here. Also, I am working on a new series, but will speak about that later. The purpose of this post is to educate new writers, that CONTENT is the most important aspect of writing.  Learn more about writing, join writing communities (autonomy, wattpad etc) give readers to critique your work and accept criticism. Once you have a solid content, it's just a matter of time before you get recognised for being a prolific author. But it takes time. Rome, they say, wasn't built in a day.

"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." - Thomas Edison.

 

On the edge: I guess this is where it ends

it's been a while I started writing. To me, I feel writing is my life and most of the time, I prefer writing to speaking. However, I'm at the point in my life that I have to make a vital decision, for me and my future family.

There are so many secrets behind my writing career. I hope in time I'll get to reveal them to the world. No worries, they aren't bad things. 'I don't do bad'.

So recently I got a review for the first book in my paranormal series, LS: The Beginning. It was rated 2 stars out of 5. To be honest, I felt a bit hurt at first, knowing how much I'd given into this book. I can clearly recall staying home just to write each chapters, while my friends went outing. I'd sacrificed a lot to become a writer. Does this mean I should get 5 stars every time? A big NO to that. I believe for one to become successful at anything he/she does, there needs to be three main factors: Passion, Skill and Luck.

Passion: As I aforesaid, I love writing and even if I never make it in the future, I'll keep writing for the fun of it. I had to buy a blackberry just because I want to be writing even when I'm on the bus, on my bed, anywhere.

Skill: I won't say I'm the best, considering my age. At the same time, I won't say I'm the worst, considering my age. haha :) I have gotten a few 5 star reviews, which means at least I must be a bit good at what I do as a writer: creating compelling stories and characters. There was a reviewer who rated the same book above 3 stars out of 5. Then she left a comment for me on Librarything. Thank you again for sharing your work with me. Keep at it Kevin and remember you have readers out in the world waiting for more of your books.

I had chills just reading this. To be honest, I almost cried. Although, why do most people call me Kevin; it's Kelvin :)

Luck: Now, this is the factor I seem to lack. Although, I think it's the least of the factor. if one doesn't have any of the two above, I doubt even the luckiest man could become John Locke or Amanda Hocking, just saying. I've read some paranormal romance out there on kindle, and I say to myself, this book's okay and it's doing really well. Why aren't mine? I believe that's the period of weakness. I try to compare my books with others, which to me isn't right. Every author has a unique voice, and I'm learning to understand that.

So right now, I'm preparing to release a new romance fantasy book, but I keep asking myself one thing. Will readers like this? or will they hate it like some did to the rest. As the bestseller, Melissa Foster said in a guest post, "bad reviews don't mean your book is not good, it just means if fell into the wrong hands." Also, John Locke said this as well in his amazing book 'How I sold 1 million eBooks in 5 months' If you're an aspiring indie writer you need to check out this book. It's just $2.99. That's just less that £2 in the UK, and it could change your life. It changed mine.

I read a post on Patti Roberts blog, an amazing Aussie writer. She said we should complete this...

Mark Twain wrote “Sing like no one's listening, love like you've never been hurt, dance like nobody's watching, and live like its heaven on earth.”

So how should this end: 'Write Like....."

In an agreement to Mark's quote. I'll add, "Write Like No One's Reading"

The funny thing about this blog is that I started with an intention to tell the world how I frustrated I am with my bad reviews and slow sales, but now I just realized something: THIS ISN'T THE END, IT'S JUST THE BEGINNING

P.S: Please do check out the blogs of the mentioned authors on my blog list at the side. They are amazingly gifted. Also, do leave your comments on how you battle bad reviews

B for Barcelona football club

From a very young age, I have supported the famous Football/Soccer club, FC Barcelona. It's a Spanish football club suited in Barcelona. From the days of Rivaldo to the days of Lionel Messi, I have been a loyal fan of the club. So when it came to the letter "B" this was the only word I could think of.

Not only do they win trophies and games, they play excellently well, entertaining their fans and mostly - enemies as well. Presently coached by Pep Guardiola, Barcelona has become one of the greatest football clubs in the world. They have over 10 European cups, 21 La-Liga titles and 25 Spanish cups. They have never been relegated in history. Indeed, they are simply brilliant.

I love their game play, and how they move with the ball. Even though they lose a match, I still enjoyed how they played. I began liking their game play the moment they signed Ronaldinho. the Brazilian mid-fielder. Then I fell in love with the club the moment they signed Lionel Messi, the Argentine supporting striker. These two players brought out the best in the club. Ronaldinho helped them to win the UEFA Champions League in 2006, while Lionel Messi helped them to win the same title in 2009. scoring the second and finishing goal in the second half.

Barcelona brings out the best in players as well. If you take a look at all the Fifa World Best Football Player till date, most of them where in Barcelona during the time they won the title. Also, in the present competition, Barcelona broke history by having the first three positions of the Fifa World Player of the Year filled with their players alone. What can I say? They are awesome.

I know this post has been a bit one-sided, but I just wanted to share with you all my interest in sports. So the question for the week is:

What is your favorite sport, and what club/team do you support?