Flitting like a fly….

May 8, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha15 Comments

I always enjoy taking a brisk stroll
it always gives me a rejuvenating thrill.
An uplifting exercise that may go uphill
depending on the land it may go downhill.
It beats the huff and puffing on the treadmill
and popping all those odious pain kills.

It’s an opportunity to appreciate nature
the awesome work of the Great Creator.
To say hello to the neighbour
or take a peek at a new feature.
My stroll is never as the crow flies
with lots of curious detours, I flit like a fly.

My Writing and me…Personal

May 8, 2016May 8, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha14 Comments

Like most humans, I’m multi-layered like an onion and beneath each layer is a different facet of me, but the thing is that every part of me is held by one thing and that’s my writing.

My restless spirit finds peace and rest through my fingers. My thoughts are better articulated, processed and understood and my pain is dealt with through the words that pour into my soul.

Writing fuels my creativity. Writing is a stabilizer for me and is a compulsion that I am drawn to on a daily basis. As melodramatic as this might sound, writing surpasses a desire but becomes a self-expressing way of being.

You can very well say that writing is my raison d’être and that’s the truth.

I am a better human, a kinder person due to writing. It takes stress off me. Nothing else under the surface of Earth brings me the cathartic satisfaction that writing gives to me. Nothing!

I am a better wife, mother, friend, sister, daughter, lover, thinker, neighbour, teacher…. all due to writing. It took a while to correlate my periodical crankiness and my writing. When my spoken expression is at sudden loss, my fingers don’t fail me and I always feel out of sorts as if something is seriously wrong when I don’t write. It gives me pause to appreciate the beauty of life and all that surrounds me.

I have oscillated from different things over time, but my scribbles remain a constant which goes way back to as long as my conscious mind can remember. I fell in love with words at a very early age and that love keeps going strong and I daresay that if you are a writer, you need no one to tell you.

Encapsulating it, writing is a love of my life that no one can take away from me. A sacred place that gives me enough reason to hope, a sense of purpose and the audacity to dream vividly.

Raison d’être, The Daily Post Prompt

Below is my first just published Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

Out of the silent breath

Dance to your heart’s delight my African child, until echoes of your stamping feet, beating heart; bright eyes, smiling lips; and waving hands, resonates over and over like thunder claps, reverberating throughout the Universe.

Just dance.

Personal · The Great Book Of Lists · This Is My Life

I am currently….personal TGBOL

May 6, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha19 Comments

For this week’s great book list, Duchess gave us something a little different. It’s a snap portraiture of who I am, what I do and what my current plans are.

She found the list idea on MAMBI website as a freebie for their Create 365 brand.

How does it work ? We should list items starting with I currently…. love, eat, drink, etc, so here goes…

a. Loving… Life and the state of my mind that keeps expanding with possibilities each day

b. Eating… Less even though I had one greasy Hardee’s burger after gamboling around the beach.

c. Drinking… Lots of water and blended fruits otherwise called smoothie these days.

d. Watching… Jumanji with the children and last night was Casino, with dear Himself.

e. Going…To start different things, a new blogging platform focusing on blogging, writing and speaking, searching more ardently for income opportunities and marketing my book.

f. Reading… A Prisoner of Birth, my bible, a host of blog posts and O’s Little Guide to Finding Your True Purpose (O’s Little Books/Guides)

g. Texting… Family and friends. Just finished having a chit-chat with one of my sisters and my roomie back in University.

h. Playing…. In the sand at the beach and watching the children ride their segway. I passed on their offer to teach their mother. I don’t want to break any bones or lose my dentition.

i. Working… On my second book. I decided to focus on one at a time instead of the different manuscripts I am working on.

j. Stressing… Over marketing methods, over an ill relative and the current state of my country, Nigeria.

k. Celebrating… My blog’s one year today and one of my boys will be celebrating his birthday in four days, so he’s making a long plan for me 😉

l. Listening… To Happy by Pharell Williams and my playlist, that uplifts my spirit.

m. Thanking… God every day for his grace and mercy and friends for their presence in my life.

n. Buying… Not much. Asides from our regular grocery and books to read each month, I have been on a spending hiatus.

o. Pinning… I honestly haven’t pinned much of anything, except darning my son’s shorts, I guess that passes for pinning something 😉

p. Planning… Summer slowly in my head and hoping to be done with my second book by then. Planning not to crowd my mind with so much and focus on the important things.

q. Visiting… Ajman. We went last weekend to the nearby Emirates and it was a lovely quiet time.

r. Wondering… Where to find the energy to do all my weekend cooking, writing and tidying. I am feeling lazy.

s. Feeling… A mix of emotions. More like melancholic.

Below is my first Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

Out of the silent breath

Dance to your heart’s delight my African child, until echoes of your stamping feet, beating heart; bright eyes, smiling lips; and waving hands, resonates over and over like thunder claps, reverberating throughout the Universe.

Just dance.

Musings · The Daily Post

Thin thread of hope

May 5, 2016January 27, 2017 jacquelineobyikocha7 Comments

To that fragile
thin thread
of hope
do
h
o
l
d
on.

I am a die-hard hopeful-realist – if such a word exists. I believe in putting in my best in anything that I do and holding on tight to the hope that it will turn out well, even when it all looks dim.

Somehow, that little mustard seed has never failed me.

Hope, The Daily Post Prompt

Below is my first Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

Out of the silent breath

Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha’s poems portray images that stare us right in the face. Images of love, joy, death, pain, challenges, violation, and freedom. She writes in a language that’s rich in imagery, earthy, honest, vulnerable, yet full of the promise of hope, of loving and of Grace. A collection of light and dark soulful prose.

Midnight motivation and musings · Self Help

Midnight Motivations and Musings 77

May 4, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha9 Comments

Sometimes bad experiences hold us captive more than we even know.

They subtly dictate and become the benchmark for our future exploits and endeavours, that we inadvertently shortchange our lives with experiences which are in the past.

As life is a culmination of experiences, we shouldn’t allow the mishaps of years gone by steal into our hope for the future, that’s simply the way the known and unknown enemy operates by reminding you of all the areas in your life where you failed so that you shouldn’t expect to succeed.

Even if you failed in so many things, there’s a chance that you’ll succeed in this one, if only you stay the course and stop looking at that old syllabus that didn’t quite work.

Below is my first Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

Out of the silent breath

Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha’s poems portray images that stare us right in the face. Images of love, joy, death, pain, challenges, violation, and freedom. She writes in a language that’s rich in imagery, earthy, honest, vulnerable, yet full of the promise of hope, of loving and of Grace. A collection of light and dark soulful prose.

Creative Writing · Writer's Quote Wednesday · Writing

I like nonsense…Writers Quote Wednesday Challenge

May 4, 2016May 4, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha9 Comments

“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living.” Dr. Seuss

If I could build a fantasy world

It would unfurl

out of the pages of my dream world

of fairies and Peter Pan

of gold dust and timeless plan

where Dragons can become house pets

with beautiful things all without debts

human existence not riddled with regrets

as we make merry and dance to melodious duets

a life of living without threats

would be a fantasy, I bet.

Fantasy, Writer’s quote Wednesday challenge prompt

Below is my first Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

Out of the silent breath

Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha’s poems portray images that stare us right in the face. Images of love, joy, death, pain, challenges, violation, and freedom. She writes in a language that’s rich in imagery, earthy, honest, vulnerable, yet full of the promise of hope, of loving and of Grace. A collection of light and dark soulful prose.

Everyday People · Love · Parenting

Painted Up…Every day beautiful people 34

May 4, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha4 Comments

“Parents need to fill a child’s bucket of self-esteem so high that the rest of the world can’t poke enough holes to drain it dry.” Alvin Price

He does look cutely ferocious 😉 I bet I will scare people to death if I tried this.

Below is my first Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

Out of the silent breath

Midnight motivation and musings · Self Help

Midnight Motivations and Musings 76…

May 3, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha16 Comments

When you’ve got somewhere to go, distractions will crop up and pop out from every available woodwork and if you are not mindful and focused, you’ll probably spend far too much invaluable time facing shadows that are not worthwhile.

The truth that you tell yourself in times like this is the truth that you come to believe. If you say ‘oh, I can’t go through this,’ that’s true; if you say, ‘I am going to crack this,’ that’s also your truth.

Whichever way you chose to go, into the light or in the shadows, will determine your reality.

Below is my first Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

Out of the silent breath