Yejide Kilanko

Since this is my first official post of 2014, I guess it’s okay to say Happy New Year, Happy Valentines Day and Happy Easter. How was March break? I hope life has been kind to you and yours.

On my end, things are now stable and I’m very hopeful that life will return back to normal in a short while.
A highlight during my time away was speaking at Chatham-Kent’s first TEDx talk on February 13, 2014. I decided to share the video as it also explains why I have not been as active on this blog or attended any book events since May last year.

I truly hope that watching the video will be a blessing for someone who’s going through the same experience.
Thanks for continuing to read my work and share it. It means the world to me. Have a wonderful week.

Update: I wrote this note in February 2012. At the time, I was drawing up a marketing plan for my debut novel Daughters Who Walk This Path and felt quite overwhelmed. It has become more comfortable for me to talk about my work, but I still struggle with finding the balance between being appropriate and being obnoxious.

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I’m sure most of you heard the news in 2011 that the world’s population has surpassed 7,000,000,000 people. What this means is that there are a lot of us walking around on planet earth. Not only are we competing for the necessities of life, but we’re also competing for the opportunity to display our talents to the most massive audience.

For us creative folks, it is about getting attention for our work. You and I know that no matter how much we admire our genius (really who else would have had the wit to put those two unique words next to each other?) we need the validation that comes from positive feedback and the eventual sale of our works. In a world of shrinking resources, we not only have to put our best foot (writing) forward, we have to toss aside that old-fashioned notion of not tooting your own horn and hire a marching band complete with a book wearing mascot.

I’ll be completely open with you (after all there’s nothing as intimate as an article posted on a public internet site) that this has been a challenge for me. One of the life lessons my dear mother taught came from a Yoruba proverb, “when your yam is sprouting, you cover it with your hand.”

For those wondering why this is necessary, it’s to prevent those lurking, envious so-and-sos’ from standing in the way of your progress. The other thing is that there are so many mouths and a limited number of yams.

The way things go in this present world is that you really ‘need’ to send out a growth announcement about the yam.

“Dear friends and frenemies, it is my pleasure to announce that my recently planted African yam (aka Dioscorea rotundata) pierced through nutrient-rich loamy soil at 21:00 hours yesterday. In the absence of a locust infestation, yam and planter are doing just fine.”

Then it’s essential to tweet daily about leaf formation, green pesticide use, water conservation methods and any unique characteristics of your yam vine. Moreover, when that sweet piece of earthy goodness makes its entrance, pictures of you eating the boiled or roasted yam with spicy palm oil must grace your Facebook page. Please, do remember to close your mouth as you chew. Even when you delete the pictures, you never know where they’re going to turn up.

As I ponder about different (think covert) ways of marketing my work, I’ve thought of having colourful t-shirts made for my children with the book cover and website address printed on it. That way I could get their friends to fall in love with the book during recess. These angelic cherubs, in turn, would tell their parents about it and the parents would pass on the good news to a friend and so on. Yours sincerely the mastermind behind this all, would then smile all the way to the piggy bank.

Before you start judging me, please remember that I’m doing this for the children. A trip back to the magical land of Disneyworld which is at the top of their vacation list is not cheap. And since they are all going to be nuclear physicists or neurosurgeons with perfect teeth, neither are braces or an ivy league university education.

And the way I look at it, it’s never too early to start thinking of a retirement plan, especially since their dear mama is eyeing a timeshare in the Bahamas. Okay, this is the part where I pinch myself back into reality. Ouch.

The takeaway nugget at the end of my long speech is that we wielders of the pen or tappers of the keyboard not only have to keep doing what we do, but we also have to become savvy about marketing our selves. You and your work are the products and selling these products would include public speaking, use of social media, community engagement and platform development. To accept that if we genuinely believe in our message, we need to stand tall and share it, even at the risk of it all coming out as the obnoxious sound of the vuvuzela.

The event was truly extravagant. Despite the fact that it took place during the 2012 RetroFest and parking downtown was difficult to say the least, the turnout was amazing. Over a hundred people attended the event and we raised about $1600 for the Chatham-Kent Sexual Assault Crisis Centre. Wow!

A big thank you to The Honourable Dave Van Kesteren, Member of Parliament for Chatham-Kent-Essex, Chatham-Kent Mayor Mr. Randy Hope, Penguin Canada, my awesome editor Adrienne Kerr, events sponsors(United Way of Chatham-Kent Women’s Leadership Council, Scribendi, Ursuline Sisters of Chatham, Vellinga Travels) Retro Suites Hotel, Chilled Cork Restaurant, family and friends from Canada/US who joined us, donated raffle items, helped out with the food, music, pictures, video and the list goes on and on. I’m very grateful to everyone who came to be a part of our day and I’m honoured to have shared the day with the womin of the Chatham-Kent Sexual Assault Crisis Centre.

Here are some pictures from the event.

Morayo et al welcoming guests. I had to showcase my lovely flowers from the Chatham-Kent Sexual Assault Crisis Centre.

A chuckle after my ‘foot-in-the-mouth’ moment. I guess I should not refer to friends I’ve known forever as “my old friends.”

What’s a party without food? A dear friend made a very popular Nigerian snack. Here are the puffs-puffs ( fried dough pastry) People could not get enough of them.

To top off all the yummy spicy Nigerian food, we needed dessert. Chocolate, vanilla and lemon penguin cupcakes.

Over $400 worth of beads were sold by my friend Melissa during the event. The entire amount went back to Bead For Life. I’m always in awe of selfless people. Can you believe these beads were made from rolled paper? I wore a set for the event and I still can’t figure out they did it. For more information about the beads and other products, please check out http://www.beadforlife.org/

Michelle Schryer, Executive Director of the Chatham-Kent Sexual Assault Crisis Centre and I posing with copies of Daughters after the event. Those were huge smiles of happiness and relief. To the glory of God, we did it!

When I started working on my author website, I had asked a friend for advice on content. Write about how you got started she said. People always want to know. I hope she’s right because here it is.

My journey to publishing was one of those amazing but true stories. I never thought about writing a novel until June 2009 because I honestly didn’t think I could write one.

Daughters Who Walk This Path started out as a poem I wrote at a difficult time. It became a manuscript that took just about a year to write. In 2010, the manuscript landed me a top-notch New York agent and in 2011, a publishing deal from Penguin Canada.

My path to publishing was miraculous to say the least and as I now dream of writing other stories, I remind myself to see this journey as a marathon not a sprint. There’s still so much to learn.

While you’re waiting for the call that will catapult you into writing success, please continue to work on your craft. These hard times demand near perfection of writers, Still, write your truth. It’s what will make you stand out.

Also, live your life to the fullest. Life’s experiences provide lots of materials for writers so don’t cheat yourself. Most nights, it’s just you and a blank page. Don’t let it win. For hard days, surround yourself with people who’ll cheer you on. Positive energy fosters creativity.

When you do receive the call from that literary agent you’ve been dreaming of, stand still and enjoy the moment. After all the hard work, you deserve it. All the best!