Decade Blogs - Sira Sokari - Writing is the Liberator

Decade Blogs

Sira Sokari probably presents one of the more uncanny stories of my #YourBlogOnMyBlog Series commemorating my Decade of Blogging.

Blog - To Celebrate My Decade of Blogging

She must have read my request for blogs and an email landed in my inbox offering to write for me. I acceded the request but was curious as to where she might of learnt of me.

In her words:

Where I learnt of you:

Well, this is pretty easy. When I joined Twitter, you were a suggestion. No, that didn't sound well. I mean, the Twitter search engine suggested your handle.

Your Twitter avatar has the Taj Mahal in the background. I lived in India for quite a while so I guess that also made me click the 'follow' button.

Then I found out about your blog.

I must say, your views on some topics like abortion, religion and sexuality are not ideologies many Nigerians will agree with.

She had me from Taj Mahal, everything else from there on had to be a yes and that is how I got to make an acquaintance with Sira.

Blog - Incredible India: The Majesty of the Taj Mahal

In her interesting piece below, she says writing is a liberator, well, it has been my crude therapy for a decade, an outlet for pent-up emotions, angry outbursts, considered meditations and reaching out for help.

One thing you can take away from her is this, “You don't have to be overly gifted. Just write.”

Sira Sokari blogs at http://ogonisira.wordpress.com and has the Twitter handle @sirasokari

Writing: She is the Liberator.

Usually when people talk about literature and society, there is more emphasis placed on the reading aspect. You can easily find quotes that say, 'when you read, your imagination takes you to a world of singing gorillas and there you will be made the queen mother of all furry creatures' or some other kind of motivational phrases. I'm not denying that reading is fun, I just want the art of writing to also be properly represented.

You don't have to be overly gifted. Just write.

I want people to know that when you pick up a pen or your iPad (for the savvy people) and decide to write down a story, whether scientific or fiction it means you have power.

Writing gives your imagination the power to create a whole new world. A world you can escape to, a world that is tailored to your needs simply because you wrote it.

When you write, you can create a world of peace for children who long for a story before they fall asleep.

When you write, you can create a world of happy ever afters that will comfort a spinster.

When you write, you inform, you educate, you plant ideas in the minds of people, and you give people hope.

The pen is mightier than the sword.

If you are like Olusegun Obasanjo and you write, the Nigerian Twitter Empire will tell you not to call a pot black because you are a fat, old kettle who has been in the game of boiling water for a long time and is angry now because your fire has quenched. [The ex-President had written an open letter to the President.]

When you write, you cause change. What greater power is there than the power of change?

And most of all when you write, you liberate yourself of burdens that cannot be unloaded except on paper or on your iPad.

Times are changing, I have to keep up with this paper and iPad thing.