Beautiful screen diva, lbinabo Fiberesima has just published a book that is making waves all over town. Its a compilation of her articles. Many don't know she writes. She does.And she writes so well. She has kept a regular column on her Face book page and she treats diverse issues.
City people Online asked her recently how she discovered her writing talents and how she has been able to keep her writing flowing. She revealed a lot.
HOW DID WRITING START FOR YOU?
I believe we all write, if I can take this question literally. At a point in our lives, if it’s not writing down a list of needs or requests for Grandma and mummy, it is writing an exam or probably a love letter with plenty grammar. I’ve always kept diaries of things that have happened to me, crucibles I have passed through, joyful moments. I’ve always made a memoire of circumstances that led to anger, deprivation, success, sorrow, peace, laughter, pride, fear and near death. I’ve always jotted down things. It’s not enough to have a good memory, it’s always better to write things down. Writing out my life’s ups and downs was a sort of healing for me. I always felt a release anytime I wrote, from the bottom of my heart. Yes, I found out that it is easier to lie to others but it is most difficult if not impossible to write down a lie to yourself.
HOW DID YOU DISCOVER YOU CAN WRITE?
Like I said earlier, we all have the ability to write and I’ve always written. I never went through tutelage in professional writing, of course if you disregard my Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and Literature at the prestigious University of Ibadan. I mean I don’t see myself as the Chimamanda Adichies or the Buchi Emechetas, those ones are ethereal beings, no I see myself as a soul-inker. I write it as my heart tells me to. I wanted to do an auto-biography last year. I discussed it with my work partner and we even had a structure set down, but the timing just didn’t feel right.
Maybe I didn’t see myself as an author.
But then, the Hope Series came out of nowhere, a litany of my thoughts, past experiences and life altering principles and realities first in a series and then into the compilation we have today. This life is such a mystery. Writing a book, never occurred to me, but take a look at where I am today. It seemed I just took a page out of the very words of encouragement I shared with people and it’s a privilege to add author to my list of blessings. Indeed, the best preacher is he that practices what he preaches. So don't sit down on your dreams, go for it!
THIS COMPILATION HAS TAKEN HOW LONG?
My first post was early April, 2020 and I’ve been at it for some three months now. During the lockdown period. I wanted to get to a hundred posts before compilation, but I decided to prune it down to fifty, to enable all read it comfortably and digest it's intent. The words are simple enough, but deeper still. There will be a second volume in due course. That will dwell more in depth on a lot of untold stories and how I overcame issues that threatened to drown me.
WHAT DO YOU ACTUALLY WRITE ABOUT?
I write about everything that borders on life, humanity, love, intertwined with my personal experiences.
I had to travel to London for a procedure in February (a story for another day) and the COVID pandemic struck with the ensuing lockdown. I felt deflated, frustrated, scared and on the prompting of my work partner again I decided to put my fears down in words as a way of confronting them, with the optimism that through those words would spring hope. That was how the Hope Series was born. It wasn’t a big deal for me then, posting on my Facebook wall, I mean I was just trying to reach out to those I felt were suffering like I was. I wanted to reach out to those who I felt needed to hear words of comfort, who needed to understand that they weren’t alone in their travails, in their struggles. Along the way I shared my personal experiences which were tied to principles that made me see the sunrise after every dark night.
My little attempt of spreading healing through my own experiences took a life of its own that confounded me and before long, my friends were asking for a compilation citing how my words touched them, brought them out of depression and showed them a path. I am the first beneficiary of the Hope Series, but I gladly lay down that exhilarating feeling to know that ONE LIFE has been touched for the better with my words.
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