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Wednesday, August 27, 2014

“I don’t want to die” she cried

By Chinwe J. Obinwanne

It is scary. It is absolutely scary. The simple thought of having your loved one so sick, yet you are powerless in caring for them. The thought of running away from the very person you are supposed to be caring for in their very hour of need is nothing short of devastating.

Let’s turn the tables now, shall we? What of the thought that we could be dying and not be able to hold the hands of those we love or even see their faces to tell them how much we love them. To tell them we will miss them. Or even to tell them not to cry. It is the kind of death no one wishes for. Yet it is the death that many across West Africa are presently subjected to.

Ebola stole into this region like a thief in the night and started stealing people from their loved ones. This dreaded disease is such a killer that an absolutely normal person could turn to a corpse just within weeks of contracting it. It kills that fast.

Mothers have watched their children die and the heartache of watching as the child writhed in pain crying “I don’t want to die” had pushed many mothers to the arms of their babies. What did Ebola do? It sniggered at the apparent love and pain of the mother and simply sank its deadly fang inside of the mother.

Monday, August 25, 2014

SHORT STORY: Paid in full

By Chinwe J. Obinwanne

Sandra sighed as she took one last look at him. He looked peaceful, almost perfect.

She got up from the bed dragging the bed-sheet to cover her nakedness, and leaving Kazeem to the harsh cold air emanating from the Air conditioner. He wouldn’t mind that anyway, she thought as she headed for the bathroom.

As the water poured over her full breasts, sliding down to her wash-board flat belly and then moving on down to her womanness and then to her legs, she wondered silently where her life was headed. Her wonderings were interrupted by yet another thought. Kazeem. How innocent he looked in sleep. How crazy and wild he was in bed the previous night. How sore and spent he made her.

Thoughts that slowly faded away as she contemplated her next move. As she turned off the shower, she toweled her soft body dry and then moved to the wardrobe to get her clothes. She pulled on a jeans and tee shirt. She ought to be in a hurry but instead she took her time. She moved about lazily and then settled on a chair just opposite Kazeem’s face to apply her makeup. She chose red for her lips. Yes. That colour was perfect for her mood.

As the stick of lipstick found every corner of her lips filling them with its red hotness, the events of the precious day came to Sandra’s mind as if on replay. Events that sent a shudder down her spine - but in a fulfilling way.

Monday, August 18, 2014

Why a bad boss may be good for your career

There are a lot of things I have read and disputed. Some I felt were just the writer's opinion and others I actually agreed with. One of the most recent ones that got me sitting on the fence for a while before I chose a place to fall under after due consideration is this. How bad bosses can actually be good for your career.

I read that piece on Forbes website and decided not to take the writer's word for it. I went on to do my own serious thinking, dissecting every boss I had ever worked with over the past few years. You know what I discovered? I found that in one way or the other, they had played a major part in putting me where I am career wise and in the way I behave to my subordinates plus in where I aim to be at. The good ones, I emulated and the bad ones, they unconsiously taught me what NOT to do.

I once worked with a direct boss who literally frustrated me. I cringed at the thought of coming to work because of him. I did my work well and often times wondered why he always picked on me. He would laugh and tell me how it was his job to frustrate me and mine to do all the task and make him look good. I remember telling him once that because of him, I would work my a** off to get to the top and never have a boss like him again. Somewhere along the line, his cunning and bad ways were noticed and he got fired but, I am living up to that promise I made to him years ago. I am doing all I can to ensure his jaws drop when next he gets to meet me and see how well I have done for myself.

You see, when you work with a bad boss two things are involved. They can break you or spur you. Am I confusing you now? Well, let me explain.

Friday, August 15, 2014

Secrets to growing your business (1)

If our ancestors had foreseen this day when things would be super easy and super efficient with the advent of civilization and of course the internet, they probably would have fought the angels when they were being released into the world eons ago. Aren't you just glad to have been born in this era?

It is amazing what a lot of people have been able to accomplish with the internet. The people that once seemed unreachable can now be reached with just a click and those things we never thought possible are all becoming reality before our very eyes. Businesses have been able to spring forth from the internet and surviving by the many clicks from readers all over the world, many have made millions. Take popular blogger, Linda Ikeji for instance.



This young lady said once that the only job she has is her blog which pays her in a month what many would consider generous as an annual salary. and interesting enough, she does this from the comfort of wherever she is. the weapons she uses are so simple you'd scoff at its simplicity. With just a laptop and internet or even an internet enabled smartphone, she could post things that would generate clicks from even her toilet if she chooses. Her tricks: get content (whether written or multimedia) that will arouse curiosity or inform, post if on her blog, utilize the power of the social media platforms in sharing each post and let people do the re-tweeting and sharing. Before you know it, tens, hundreds and even thousand have viewed it and are talking about it.

This was and still is her strategy and over time, her blog visitors grew tremendously and with it revenue started pouring in. She made excellent use of the web analytic tools available to track visits to her blog, the gender of such visitors and from which country they came. You know why she sweated to do that? Let me explain.

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

My relationship with Joseph Sugarman

Yeah, it surprised me too. If  you know who this man is, you'll know it is a big deal to have a relationship with him.

You see, this all started from an encounter I had with the owner of www.startcopywriting.com, Jesse Forrest. I met this fellow virtually online when I listened to his YouTube video on how to go about the copy writing career.

Like I had said many times, I love stringing words together to sound musical to the ears; a craft I am yet to master. So imagine my surprise when I realized that I knew how to do something that could help grow businesses while loving what I do and making some bucks. I learned that from Jesse, who I choose to call by his first name despite having never met him.

After listening to Jesse talk about his journey into the intriguing world of copy writing some decade ago and how easy it could be for a dedicated writer to toe same path, I believed in my heart that all my years in writing and being in the Journalism world were all to prepare me for this. A time when I would think deep and hard and then allow my craziness and weird thoughts to pour out on paper in a bid to convince someone to part with their hard earned cash to purchase a product or service.

Monday, August 11, 2014

Ebola chases, we run

We are at risk. Every single one of us.

This risk even if it couldn't have been avoided, could have been prevented. This risk is the deadly Ebola virus that was imported by Late Liberian, Patrick Sawyer. A man that something in me strongly says came to this country with the sole intent of spreading the deadly virus. Why do I believe so? Well, let me explain.


Just last week, the Liberian government sent their apologies to Nigeria for their citizen who imported the virus to us. They also made known to us that Mr. Sawyer knew that he had the virus and so, avoided contact with people at the Liberian airport. Okay, let me analyse this in my own way before I proceed.

Sunday, August 10, 2014

The return of the prodigal

I have been away for so long that you wouldn't be wrong to wonder if I had forgotten I owned a blog. Over one year and a few months? That's too long if you ask me.

Let me take a minute to fill you in on my life in these past months. This is by no means an excuse for going MIA though, I truly have no logical excuse and for that I plead for your forgiveness.

So, in July of 2013 I went on to welcome my daughter into the world. You see, I had prayed fervently for a girl to come and calm my always bubbly and excited son down; so you'd be guessing right now how much of a relief it was to see I had birthed a girl right? Well, I got my wish and with it something I wasn't prepared for.

I got a beautiful baby girl that had the strength of a boy and the worrisome tendencies of two boys rolled into one. As she grew, she started to exhibit her intelligence plus her eagerness to outshine her brother in noisy excitement. Then came three months after, I resumed work and everyday for the past eight months, I went to work with this little burst of energy. It wasn't easy, I kid you not. I had to do all of these, manage the magazine that I started as its founding Editor and take care of her brother and the homefront.

Right now, my little girl is a little over a year old and still bubbly; now more than ever and then I took one look at my blog and said to myself, " Shush Chinwe, get back on the horse and stop letting other things pull you away". Believe me,this is not the first time I have said that to myself. But this time, I meant it. It was like issuing a silent threat to myself. One that pulled me up from my seat and got me opening my laptop and typing apologetically away.

In these long months, I have also come to understand the power of words and the impact it can make in growing anything especially businesses and of course add additional earnings to my pocket. So with this in mind and after having more than one month to think about it, I enrolled for a certification course in copywriting.

You see, I love words a little too much; especially the ability to play with them while infusing all the creativity one can muster. I love to write and believe strongly that I can make an interesting thing out of writing copies for business growth.

Now that I have brought my 'lazy-blogging-behind' back to the art I love, I am hoping that you'll stick with me as I bare my thoughts and musings. I know you'd probably be wondering if I will not up and disappear again, but I promise not to. Not now. Not again.

And yeah, did you notice I have changed the URL of my blog? I thought this one conveyed better what I typically do here. Use words to say any and everything.

Let me get into the kitchen and make dinner.

Thanks for joining me once more and please join me everyday now as I'll be posting daily unfailingly.