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I write because I write
TELL you what folks, the other time, a mate was asking me how I am able to write and I thought it was about time I told you a little something about myself. You know everyone has their temperament and I happen to be the melancholic or the introvert child.
Some, from day one, are extroverts. They are the ones who are contagious and fan to be around. They are so bubbly and lively and they usually are the personalities who miss your party and it becomes a flop. I, on the other hand, as a growing child in Africa was an extreme introvert and I mean a very sad kid who battled inferiority complex. I just couldn't accept myself. Period.
I was the kind of kid who shied away from public places. The church,parties and the like. I grew up avoiding the camera as much as I could. You can ask my mother to give you our family album and you will notice a member missing from all the group photos and that was me. The only photos I had were two passport photos and a black and white photo of me as a baby.
Folks, it wasn't as if I didn't want to snap a photo but I was too shy and nervous to pose in front of a camera. So, shying away from everybody and locking myself up most of the time in my mum's study, I wrote down my thoughts in an old exercise book I had.
Nobody in my family could communicate with me. I would have loved to get to know them but I was too nervous around any human being including my mother. She found my attitude very irritating but she at least could comprehend what type of human species i was and so in trying to penetrate into the wall I had built around myself, we clashed. We never got on because at twelve, I had become too much of a private person that I wouldn't let anyone near my room or books.
For an African child, my mum thought that was very bizaare. Because I couldn't communicate, I guess I developed the skill of writing to enable me clear my head. I wrote short stories and scripts and they were all about me and how I wished my life was or could become. A lot of drama went on inside my head. I could complete an entire movie script in my head and that included direction and acting as well. I thought I was weird myself.
Then one day I sent one of my short story articles to the Mirror, a newspaper in Ghana. A month later, my mum called me to show me an article which bore my name. She was so proud and happy but I only stood and grinned. I am not being funny but in my little world, nothing shocked or overwhelmed me. The next day it was my headmistress of this all-girl secondary school I attended. She saw an article again in the Mirror which bore my name and she showed it to me. I was a little amused that day because she sent her butler to bring me a special meal in my dormitory. That was a swell, folks.
So folks, I developed the skill of writing because I found it hard to communicate as a growing child. I write to clear my head, and I write to get even with people who disturb me. The pen is mightier than the sword. Some people are good at arguing their way through problems, others like my former boss, do it the brute's way and that is by throwing their fists even though it is all an empty threat. But moi, when someone offends me, I write. Words are like the double edged sword. They can slash and slit your throat and send you six feet below the ground. If it is not true, why do celebrities and politicians find the press and paparazzi so intimidating? Right folks, it is 9 minutes to five a.m. I am going to catch some sleep and I will write to you later. I went to the Ghana High Commission the other time and I can't wait to give you all the rundown of the drama which unfolded.
Later folks.
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