Stories and Book Talk

Author: Elly in Nairobi

  • Five Reasons why you need an Editor in Kenya

    Five Reasons why you need an Editor in Kenya.

    Editing is lifesaving to writers.  A good editor will make your work shine, and help you tell your story in the clearest way possible.  A good editor will ensure you are bringing out the best of your content.

    editing
    Editing Notes

    Here is why:

    1. Language:
      • Editors will make sure you have structured your sentences, full stops, commas, ellipses, dialogue tags…all these important tools and ingredients in the right way. This is no excuse for you to ignore the rules of language.  A writer should be well-versed on language, and the tools it requires to write a good story.  The editor helps you refine your language.  You don’t want to punish your editor, you want to inspire them to help you polish your work.
    2. They are your first audience:
      • A good editor will resonate with your work. If they read it, engage with it, and interact, then you’re one step closer to reaching a wider audience.  Do listen to their advice, even when you don’t want to.  It will help you in the long run.
    3. Your Editor will help guide you in the right direction
      • Depending on the relationship you develop with your editor, any conversation you have with your editor can help the direction you take with your work. They will challenge you to break long time habits, explore your talent, and push it beyond the limits you have set yourself as a writer.  Be careful to choose an editor you can communicate with.  Don’t forget, Editing is a service, shop around until you find the right fit for you.
    4. Editors keep you honest – If you’re writing fiction, and your editor knows your style, the moment you start to cut corners, your editor will call you out on them and keep you honest.
    5. They are always right, not always, but most times– This is the hardest thing to take for a writer. The moment your editor reads your work and you find a series of red marks, suggestions and comments.  Do not lose your head.  Take a walk, then return to your document and give it a second look.  You may argue a point out with your editor, sometimes, you may win, most times, you won’t as they are only trying to help you tell your story in a clear manner.

    Once you have finished writing your fiction, or non-fiction book, get yourself an editor.  Do not mind the cost and take it as an investment.  To ensure the fiction/poetry or non-fiction book you produce is polished, and readable.  Remember, your book is a product, you want to produce the best content quality possible.

    Have you found your right Editor?

  • Saturday afternoons in the Flower garden

    Today, our favorite companions, two white cats, with the most expressive eyes.  I, most times, believe they understand every word we say.  They’re both girls and get those moments when they huff and walk away…..clearly, they’re speaking here.

    I saw them playing in the flower garden and it reminded me of another Saturday not too long ago.  As mentioned before, I love gardening, flowers growing around the house, digging fingers into the dirt…all of it is therapeutic and a great mind-clearing exercise, as Mum says.

    006.jpg

    So, on this Saturday, we (Mum and me, worked in the flower garden, while my sister baked) spent time weeding, loosening dirt for the flowers, kneeling right in to pull out weeds. It doesn’t take long.  Afternoons are the best around three p.m., going into dinnertime.  It’s funny, but when we start working, everyone in the compound gravitates to that spot, and wild conversations arise.  The last time, my sister (the bakerette), was reminiscing on when we were kids and each of us got a small patch to dig and plant.  We each had digging tools, and even planned out what to plant.  Of course, Our Mum would be supervising, and we grew flowers mostly, while she planted veggies, but it was a fun way to keep us occupied. Many years later, looks like we’re all still tending to flowers, and pretty grass.  Of course, our little helper, Bindi the cat, always inspects the job, to make sure it was done right.

    Bindi checking progress
    Mum trimming the fence

    Afterwards, we all sat on the stairs having tea with pancakes made by our in-house bakerette. Thinking about gardening today, I went to check the flower gardens thinking next Saturday, we need to do some garden work…the cats seem to agree.

    She didn’t help carry out the dirt
    But she looks forward to the next time.

    Read a Story:

    Save My Heart is available here, get the pdf, and read away.

     

     

  • The Liebster Award

    Starting my year with a bit of fun!  Thank you Dora of Nilichoandika for the award nomination.  It was a great surprise to discover as I jump back into the blog for 2018!

    What’s The Liebster Award all about?

    The Liebster Award is a blogger award for new bloggers, those with few followers, who are still getting the hang of this dynamic industry. It is a fantastic way of giving exposure, recognition, and motivation to these talented newbies so as to keep their blogging fire blazing!

    Rules of the Liebster Award

    1. Create a new blog post with the graphical image of the Liebster Award as the one above.
    2. Thank the blogger who nominated you while also providing a link to their blog.
    3. Answer the Questions you had received from your Nominator(s).
    4. Nominate 10 bloggers and share your blog post with them so that they can accept their awards.
    5. Create a set of questions for your Nominees to Answer.

    Fantastic, let’s get started!

    • What would you say has been the highlight of your blogging experience this year (2017)?
      • The best  part of blogging in 2017 was getting personal messages in my email from readers who discovered my stories.  I can’t begin to express how exciting that gets, and I felt truly happy.  Getting fiction out there is hard work, and it was good to get such positive feedback from readers.
    • If you could pick a theme to blog about, any theme that scares you or you know very little about, what would it be and why?
      • Stocks and Bonds!! Hahaha…Okay, to be serious, anything IT oriented.  Stuff is changing so fast, it’s hard to keep up I think.
    • What’s the best and the worst part of being called a blogger?
      • The best part comes from someone following your blog, and connecting with you, truly.  The worst part…I haven’t discovered it yet.  Honestly. I will update that when it comes to me.

    My Questions:

    1. What Fantastic thing do you want to accomplish with your Blog this year 2018?
    2. What is your favorite topic to blog about?
    3. If you were to go on an adventure then blog about it, where would you go?
    4. How has your passion influenced what you blog about?

    I would love to know more from these great bloggers:

    1. Kenyan TrepLady
    2. Vincent de Paul
    3. Child of Destiny
    4. Vinz Poetry
    5. Wild Ventures
    6. Kevin Wanderlust (This blog gives me wanderlust, so beautiful)
    7. Maremma Gee
    8. Demogorgon’s Fiction
    9. The Social Crazies
    10. Humphrey Osoro

  • Art Adventures at the Hotel Waterbuck-Nakuru

     

    pack the bags
    taking a trip out of town

    It feels like it’s been a while since I went on a road trip, so this was incredibly fun.  Nothing on the mind, but being on the road, noting random things, lush green scenery and that family of zebras, having their lunch.

     

    lunch time
    So many
    What do they do with all these?
    They make a picture

    Nakuru was rainy when we got there, so our contact sent us a tuk tuk man.  I now believe everyone should have Mr. Ngugi when you first hit Nakuru.  He got us around town and answered a billion questions with patience.

    travel6.jpg
    View from inside Mr. Ngugi’s Tuk Tuk.

    We had a stress free transport time thanks to him.

    The trip was a fun day out, but it was also for a conference, organized by Topserve Baking Accessories and supplies, who have relaunched their shop in Nakuru.  The Conference was held at Hotel Waterbuck, Nakuru.  While the event continued, it was hard to ignore these gems on the walls of this hotel.  So much art, there is no chance you will be bored checking in to this hotel.

     

     

    Ring, Ring….hahaha

     

     

    Nak18
    Let’s Join the Jazz Band
    IMG_5971
    All that and a Cup of Coffee

    Nakuru is about 3hrs away from Nairobi.  Very quiet, very laid back, and definitely a lot of fun to be had.  New Goals after this trip –> Not to take everything too seriously, gotta take time to have fun.

    Check out Hotel Waterbuck next time you’re in Nakuru.  If not to stay overnight, then to eat, at their delish restaurant.

  • Nakisanze Segawa’s The Triangle

    #New African Reads

    The Triangle 

    b29edce1ad816c9c735d6147eeaea2cf783d1b62A gripping tale of intrigue and war in precolonial Africa. Two young people — Kalinda, a page in the court of the King of Buganda; and Nagawa, one of the king’s beautiful young wives — are swept up in conflict as missionaries, rival tribes and soldiers of fortune vie for power in what is now Uganda.

    It is a time of upheaval in Buganda, an African kingdom on the verge of losing its independence. Anglican and Catholic missionaries are rapidly converting people to Christianity, in the process stirring conflict with their kinsmen who have embraced Islam. Three main characters – Nagawa, a young but unhappy bride to the king; Kalinda, a servant in the royal courts; and Reverend Clement, a Scottish missionary, are swept up in forces that will change their lives and reshape the future of their nation.

    Thoughts:

    Just got a message in my inbox about this book.  Unhappy Bride to a king, A servant in the Royal Courts, and Conflict in  the village….yeah, sign me up.  Looking forward to jumping into this gem in the coming days. Meanwhile, get your own copy here:

    Amazon

    Smashwords

  • 3 Important Things for Kenyans to Remember

    I’m guilty of falling into a dark repetitive cycle when what I expected doesn’t happen, or changes into what I didn’t want.  #ElectionsKe is a great example of jumping into this dark repetitive cycle that leaves you spinning on the same spot. Questions like, ‘Why is this happening?’ ‘Can’t they just stop or agree?’  ‘Oh my god, there is this side, and that side.  That side is definitely out to get this side‘, fill the mind. The blaming, the shaming, the hating, the pointing fingers…this is just a small part of the dark repetitive cycle, earlier mentioned.

    You have to make a conscious effort to pull yourself out of there.  To remember the important things, despite the turmoil bred by politics.

    1. Your Life’s Goals – Focus on that instead of negativity.  Allowing yourself to be imagessucked into the dark cycle will only derail your life’s goals.  This isn’t easy, especially for those of us in business. Every day Kenya continues in a state of anxiety, the harder it is to buy and sell, manufacture and deliver.  Costs run up, so we’re forced to think of new ways to achieve our goals.  It’s a challenging experience, but one that’s way more important than jumping into the dark cycle.
    2. Kenya is not one person, it is all of us.  Be kind to your neighbor as you have always been before, are now, and should be in the future.  We can only grow together.
    3. Let the Giants fight it out.  The rest of us, keep living, building, growing what matters to us, in our lives.  The giants won’t pay for your rent, give you money for your house, and family.  They won’t know what you’re eating for dinner, or breakfast.  You can only do one thing, vote, the rest, leave it to our more than capable Justice branch.

    Meanwhile, raptly waiting to do what I can, which is vote as needed, then see new trends, like #githeriman #Chilobae  on my nearest screen, and smile in amusement at the Creativity in this country. Gotta love it! While doing my own thing, through it all, because that’s what matters to me and my family.

    This is a Blog Hop Post! For a writing group called Literati.  The best bunch of people I’ve gotten to know.  Totally inspiring you and making you aspire to do better too…

    Read other posts.

    1. Politics 101
    2. The Ballot Box has a Hole

  • How To Copyright Your Book in Kenya

    Copyrights in Kenya

    Protecting your work is most important to a creator.  We recently went through this process as we start on actual publishing of real books.  It’s both nerve-wrecking and enlightening.  Nerve-wrecking in the discovery of limitations: like costs and printing drama, and enlightening in that with every book printed, you discover mistakes and tell yourself, I’m going to get that fixed in the next print.  It’s been an interesting time.

    So, for copyrights, I thought I should share this process with you.  It’s not so hard, you can do it too.

    Firstly, you need to have your work fully completed, and ready to go.

    The process below is the original method of copyright registration.  You may also visit the Kenya Copyright Board offices for any questions if you registered your rights using this method.

    1. Get a registration form from the Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO).  You can either visit their offices or download the form from their site.  Here is the link to that →Copyright Registration Forms You no longer need these forms.  You simply need to Register an Account on this Kenya Copyrights Board Portal.
    2. Fill out your information.  To be noted, don’t copyright someone else’s work if you do not have the permissions from the original author (owner of the work).  This is very uncool.  Just don’t do it.  Respect the original author/creator, alright.  Of course, if you are copyrighting your own work, write your name with no mistakes. ^_^  You wanna have bragging rights when you get that certification.  If you don’t understand the site, email or visit the Kenya Copyright board offices and they are very happy to explain them to you.
    3. Take your completed forms to a lawyer.  The wording is “Get the forms commissioned by a commissioner of oaths.’ A lawyer will help you with that.

    The processes below have been updated, please refer to this post for more information. or visit nrr.copyright.go.ke

    1. Attach two original copies of the work to be copyrighted – they prefer it in CD or DVD form. (Yep, that’s right. That means you will have 2 CDs/DVDs. Save it on a CD/DVD and label it.)  
    2. Deposit a non-refundable fee of Kshs. 1,000 in the Kenya Copyright Board bank account.  The form you get gives you their banking details.  They insist on the fee being paid in the bank direct, don’t use bank agents. (Confirm this fee when you get your forms)
    3. Take the bank deposit slip with you to the Kenya Copyright Board offices, and they will issue a receipt.
    4. Certification is issued within five (5) working days from the day of registration. In case there is an exception, they will let you know right away.

    And that’s that.

    Simple, right?

    No more excuses saying you can’t copyright your amazing creativity.

    Do you have an ISBN? Here is the procedure in case you want one.

    The Kenya Copyright Board offices are here: 5th Floor, NHIF Building, Ragati Road.

    Visit their website to learn more.

  • Sunset Views this evening

  • Moss Green Tree, or the Light Coming through

    Moss Green Tree, or the Light Coming through

    How can you change perspectives?

    This is always the hardest to do when moments in a day pile up, one after another, bogging down your original thoughts, until you can’t remember how the day started and what you wanted to do.  I envy the list-making people, or the schedule-following crowd.  The planner-manics who keep their phones full of alarms, and notes on what should happen each day.

    This writer seeks the deity of works-in-progress.  I guess the first step, is simply posting this…and knowing what comes next.  Looks like things are looking up.

    Perspective.

  • How to get an ISBN in Kenya.

    How to get an ISBN in Kenya.

    Assigning an ISBN number to your book in Kenya

    1. Get an account with the Kenya National Library Service(KNLS)  ISBN service here: ISBN website
    2. Create a Profile, adding important personal details. You may also do this as a publishing company, you just need your business registration number.
    3. Once you are set up, click on the ISBN Products.  They offer options of buying 1 ISBN, 10 ISBNs,  100 ISBNs to 1,000 ISBNs.  Choose the number that fits your needs, and make the purchase.  This process is easy and flexible, you may do it in cash, mobile payment, through the bank, or whatever works for you.isbn
    4. Once payment is approved, wait to hear back from KNLS.  They are very fast about this, and you will get a message from them giving you your ISBN numbers, as well as the barcode that goes along with it.
    5. Here is a short guideline of how and when to use your ISBN when you get it and what to do with it once you get it. The ISBN site sends these guidelines to you once your ISBN is approved.

    You may allocate ISBN to the following publications:
    – Printed books material
    – Microfilms
    – Educational video or movies
    – Atlases and maps
    – Publications in braille
    – Electronic publications

    ISBN should NOT be allocated to the following publications:
    – Off print from periodicals
    – Advertising materials (sales catalogs, price lists, prospectus, instructions publishing flyers, etc.)
    – Wall posters, newspapers, leaflets
    – Programs of theatrical, music and other performances
    – List of exhibits without additional text
    – Curricula of schools and colleges of all kinds
    – Lecture and teaching materials of manuscripts character
    – Calendars and diaries
    – Form and coloring books

    PLEASE ALSO NOTE that ISBN should always appear on the verso of the title page, or if this is not possible at the foot of the title page. It must also appear at the foot of the outside back cover at a prominent outside position.

    FINALLY, remember that the BOOKS AND NEWSPAPERS ACT CAP. 111, Laws of Kenya, stipulate that every publisher MUST deposit 2 clean copies of their (new, future and back issues) with the Director, Kenya National Library Service, (National Reference and Bibliographic Dept.). This process begins by filling in details under the “My Publications” section when you log into the ISBN service, and later depositing the copies physically at the National Library for approval. You shall not be allowed to purchase further ISBNs until you complete this process for all issued ISBNs.

    Now that you have your ISBN, consider Copyrighting your book with the Kenya Copyright Board

    This procedure is for a first-time buy, for a second-time buy, make sure you have met all their requirements on submitting books to the National Library.