HIVE NAIJA WEEKLY PROMPT | MY CREATIVE WRITING PROCESS

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I don't really consider myself a writer, and I haven't been doing much writing growing up till this moment. The only writings I could ever recall doing gracefully was when I wrote letters to girls in school or during my teenage years when I'll put a lot of beautiful words together to get the attention of one girl I admired so much. I was really drawn to smart girls and I could remember this girl LAURA who had me falling head over hills for her. She was a very smart one and any time we chatted on the 2go app I always ended up learning a word or two. Sometimes I always kept my google browser active so I'll immediately look up any word I didn't understand and continue the conversation smoothly. It actually helped me improve on my vocabulary and they were times when I had been so curious to know where she had learnt to be so good with words. She referred me to a number of novels and with a little persuasion I started to read them too. From there I upgraded to reading other books ranging from history books, to motivational books and so on.

So that's pretty much how my journey into writing started and though I had never taken it seriously until now, it was slowly looking for a way to come out of me. Writing isn't a big deal as we're all blessed with that gift, all that just needs to be done is to be able to channel all your thoughts in the right direction, play with them a little, add a little bit of creativity and you're good to go. It is just a walk into the writer's thoughts. When I saw this week's prompt I was driven a to write on it because I haven't really been too actively involved in the #hivenaija Community and this could be a very good start.

HOW OFTEN DO I WRITE?

Not as often as I ought to actually. I tend to write based on the surrounding environment. What do I mean?, Like I said in one of my previous post, I love my peace and quiet and a serene quiet environment pushes me to write. I can't write when I'm in a place where it's so noisy and rowdy, my writing wouldn't come out well. It'll just be undefined, rough and not smooth at all. Most days I find myself in a very crowded environment because I'm always mostly in school and it takes a lot to find a quiet place to stay and write. I tried the library once but ended up falling asleep, lol, it was too quiet!.

But then I try to write whenever I get the chance to which is mostly at night when every where is calm and everyone has gone to sleep. It keeps me focused and directed in the right direction. Most of the posts I've made in the night have come out well because I actually took my time to write them but sometimes I find myself so tired that writing becomes a big work, so when moments like that present themselves, I just jéjéli go to sleep.

WHAT INSPIRES YOU TO WRITE?

A lot of things inspire me to write and I'll be as honest as I can be. I'm sure we're all different in our own ways, we could both watch a movie together and I'll be inspired enough to write something from that movie and you might not be moved in any way. So let's see what inspires me.

1. REAL LIFE SITUATIONS

Everything that happens IRL makes a very good post. I try to open myself to the realities of life, anything can happen at anytime. I always want to connect with my audience in one way or the other so I try to write about things I've been through, experiences that have changed or shapen my life, all in the hope that someone out there would be able to learn from them or be inspired. This is one one my big inspirations when writing, I ask myself questions like *if I were to stumble on my own post, would i enjoy reading it? , *Would I want to read another post from myself?, What would this person say after reading it?. Each time I try to ensure that my posts aren't too rigid and they're good enough to be read by others.

2. OTHER AUTHORS

This is another big inspiration for a lot of writers that's why it's always adviceable to always associate yourself with good Authors that you can learn from. Most times I just go about reading articles from other authors, learning and digesting as much as I can. Some days I just go about reading articles and suddenly I get inspired to write something. It's that instantaneous, and most times it's a lot easier that way. When I find it hard to pen something down for a contest, I just go about reading what other authors have shared, I try to understand their point of views, and then go about writing mine in line with my own view.

3. BOOKS AND MOVIES

I don't know how most people watch their movies but I try to watch a movie with all understanding. Most times movies help me when writing fictional stories, they sure are a great way to build characters. I love to watch movies as well as cartoons and animes, apart from taking me to places I wouldn't have ever known about, movies expose me to the outside world and that's all the knowledge needed for writing. You don't have to physically visit a place to be able to write about it, movies would already given you insights on how life in those places are.

Same goes for books!, Books especially novels are one of the best ways to travel without actually travelling. The way authors give detailed description of places and experiences make you relive those moments. I feel every writer should first of all be a good reader. If you don't enjoy reading how then do you wish to enjoy writing. That's what makes the hive strive, they're a lot of people posting on a daily and you can decide to read as many posts as you like and learn from each one of them. It's a give give situation. Just yesterday I learnt some Crypto terms from reading @readthisplease post here and I've learnt a lot more from others. So reading books is one of the ways I gather the drive to write something.

WHAT PROCESSES DOES YOUR WRITING GO THROUGH BEFORE BEING PUBLISHED

Well, it's a pretty straightforward process for me, it isn't something too complex. I don't own a notepad or carry one around to jot down my inspirations but what I actually do own is a mobile phone. It has been of great help to me in a number of ways. They're days when topics for a post would just pop up from nowhere and in order not to forget, I'll just save them in my phone, it's that easy. Then later when I get the chance to actually write, I go to my notes on my phone and just try to build up from there and flow as much as I can.
But I must say one thing I haven't been doing is writing as many posts as I can whenever I feel inspired, I guess that's why I'm not as consistent as I should be. I just learnt from @khaleesii who writes them down and posts them whenever she's unable to write, I think that's a very nice way to go. Also I'll key into @deraaa who writes a day before and proof reads the next day before posting.
I haven't been doing any of such, but what I do is, when I get inspired to write, I go to a place that'll help me flow well and write as much as I can, then I proof read when I'm done and look for pictures that'll portray my story well and insert them. That's pretty much straightforward.

CLOSING

Inasmuch as I don't see myself as a writer I think there's room for a lot of improvements and that's where hive has been so helpful to me. I learn on a daily and try to implement what I learn as much as I can and hopefully in the near future when I'm a lot more advanced, I'll be able to inspire other writers with what I write.

Thanks for opening this box of pass......wait, that's not my line! 😂😂😏

Thank you for taking time to read this post ❤️
(Now this sounds a lot like me,😂😂😂)