formerlybostonchile

Wunmi looked in on her mother and her two sister in laws, Bukky, the wife of her older brother and Kike. They smiled at her briefly and concentrated on their task at hand. She greeted her mother. “Pele Wunmi. How was church?” “It was good mommy.” “I thank God for Sunday because that's the only time we see you in this house.” “Yes ma.”  She said. Wunmi could see from the look on her mother's face, and the subdued way her sisters in law had greeted her, that her mother was on the war path again. She wondered briefly what they had done to her mother this time. She thought that her mom was just too hard on her brothers' wives, after all they were someone's daughters as well. Ironically, she didn't like it when her youngest sister Feyisayo was mistreated by her mother in law. African women. A bundle of contradictions. Wunmi stayed in the kitchen briefly, hoping that her presence would lessen the tension somewhat. But, after a while, she couldn't ...

So, as you my faithful reader (s?) may know, I have been struggling with  editing my second novel tentatively titled Cheat Reflex. I have stared at my screen for the past ten minutes, in between visits to facebook, SDK, and LIB. Still no idea what to write next so without further ado, here is an excerpt. Wunmi 2005 The first service at Salt of the Earth ministries was on fire that Sunday. God was present and Wunmi could feel His Holy Spirit moving. The pastor's message was on point as usual and she felt as if he had stolen her journal and was using her secret musings to preach. “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the Lord upholds him with His hand.” The pastor’s voice was clear and sure. She did a quick scan of her section. Pastor Ejiro hated distractions, and Wunmi took her job as an usher seriously. She did not tolerate talking, crying babies, aimless walking abou...

But who is counting? Sorry I vanished. I have no excuse. I am going to be changing the name of the blog soon, because I am moving back to Boston in July. I am very excited. I hope this excitement translates to a stronger commitment to writing. We shall see... Meanwhile, I am still editing! Pretending to edit. Ok, no longer editing or even writing. Just keeping it real.

I adored me some Miguel. I fell in love with him on Feb 14. I was in Starbucks, they were offering a free download of his song " Adorn " , I took it. All of my non-secular music listening friends, you can skip this post. I don't want to offend. But have patience for a minute, and see if you like where I am going with this first. Anyway, I played that song out, over and over and over again. I played it in my car, I had to hear it before I went for my workout. I played it while I was writing. I was that obsessed with it. I thought it was all so romantic, I wanted someone to adorn me with love too. On Feb 16, I woke up with fragment of a song running through my head: “Your love for me is forever, your love for me is forever.” It was the bridge from Fred Hammond's song "No Greater Love." I started thinking about God's love. Unconditional. Irrevocable. Merciful. Forgiving. Eternal. He said so Himself through Paul in Romans 8:35-39: Can an...

This time the movie, not the song or the outfits. I have loved this movie since I first watched it more than a decade ago. I watched it again this past Thursday when Tunde Kelani released Ó Le Kú part 2 on YouTube as a Valentine's day gift to his fans. I think I have watched this movie at least three times, and each time i have been captivated by Ajani's and Asake's love story.  I love the detail and authenticity of the movie set. Lastly, the Yoruba language  and culture is showcased in all its glory. It's an awesome movie from an awesome director. If you haven't had the opportunity to watch it, please do. This last viewing though, I found myself paying closer attention to the supporting characters,  in particular, Asake's father. For example, Asake's father was vehemently against her marriage to Ajani until she completed her university education, and he did everything that he could to prevent their union from happening. At first viewings, I thought ...

Last time I discussed my writing, I was moaning about how overwhelmed I felt about editing. Well, this past week I stopped whining and consulted my expert researcher Ms/Mr Google - s/he is an hermaphrodite- and discovered a nifty book called Self Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King. This book is so on fire that it impacted my writing before I even received it. How do I mean? Well, I read an excerpt of the first chapter online and realized what was wrong with my own first chapter right away. In a word -well several words- I was explaining too much and not letting the characters live. I was giving all kinds of background and history and what not. A whole lot of info that had me saying in my nephew's voice: "who cares?" I guess the avid reader in me knew the problem all along, but the writer in me resisted deleting a single word. I mean those words were agonized over and carefully chosen by committee. I was loathe to let even one of them go. But I ...

Haven't really been writing much, despite my resolution and despite my desires. I did finally read all the way through my first draft of The Cheat Reflex (tentative title). It wasn't as cringe inducing as I thought it was. It is ironic to me that the first few sections which I had already edited and had worked on for several months before the challenge were actually worse than the unedited words that I wrote during the NaNoWriMo challenge. Those latter words felt more ... livelier. I guess because those words were coming straight out, and had eluded the great internal editor! I don't know. Anyway, the hard work is now ahead of me. Of course I am trying to avoid it by reading about the process instead of being about the process. Sigh. Meanwhile, I have to get my act together. My thought life is neglected, I really have to work hard this year on destroying my addiction to the gossip blogs. I have too little time and I must be very stingy with it. But, it's hard th...

I have been trying to keep to my goals for the new year. As far as exercising and looking better and loving my hair by taking better care of it, i am good. As far as writing and blogging and non emotional eating, am not. I keep making excuses and finding reasons not to get on the ball. I need deliverance. This week I started a couch to 5K training program. I did my second little jog yesterday despite the bitter cold. I bundled up like I was going to be in subzero weather. I had on three sweatshirts, two tshirts, my hat, my hoodie, two pair of sweatpants, two socks, gloves. lol. i hate cold! and it is cold up in these mountains. But it's beautiful to exercise up here, and it's challenging to go up and down the little hills so I am not complaining. I love going uphill, and I love coming downhill as the sun is rising over the city. So pretty. Keep trying to capture it but it is hard to snap a pix when you are trying to walk/jog as fast as you possibly can. ...

I can't believe my last post was in November. Despite my good intentions, December was a wasteland in terms of my writing and life goals. I moved to my new apartment, came down with the flu or rather an influenza like illness, and have just been so blah. The cold weather is not helping either. I really cannot stand the cold, it tends to sap my energy. As always, I have a few goals for the new year. I already feel all kinds of stressed because it is already Janaury 4th and I haven't made any moves. I did do one half hearted workout the other day but it was bitter cold. I could actually feel the cold going through my hoodie, my t-shirt, my skin, my bones and grabbing my heart and lungs and squeezing them to death.  I scurried back home and vowed to buy some winter gear. Total mileage 1.6 miles. Yeah pitiful. My goals this year are simple: 1. Get with God and just delight myself in Him. Ps 37:5. I want to be serious about my walk with God this year. I promised myself last ...

And just like that the last day of November is upon us. And I am happy to report that I did it, I completed the first rough draft of my second novel. Finally: after seven years of putting this story down and picking it up; after several months of trying to put words to paper and always finding a reason to procrastinate; I did it. I can now cross that off my list of goals for 2012.  Of course I have a lot of work to do still, lots and lots of editing, lots more research. The novel is set in Lagos, Miami and Ibadan, with the exception of Miami, I know next to nothing about those cities so I need to go visit, maybe I will be fortunate enough to spend a month in Nigeria and two weeks in Miami. But be that as it may, I am very glad that I took part in the NaNoWriMo writing challenge. It worked for me because I was ready to finally write this thing, and 2) i love a challenge, and I felt that I was letting down someone if I didn't sit down and write my words for the day....

So I did something that my usually financially prudent self wouldn't do. I hopped on a plane and went far away for one day to attend the wedding of one of my friends from medical school. My travel day did not start off auspiciously. First I overslept. Next the zipper broke on the dress I had been planning to wear for days so I had to change into something that has been on facebook a thousand times. Hopefully no one will notice. Then I realized that I had left my powder and concealer in my desk at work, so I had to go barefaced! My skin is great ok, but I still have these spots and three big pimples that I didn't want to display to the whole world! It was a long flight (3 hours to ATL, and 1.5 hours to HPN) and I was determined to get as much writing as possible done on the flight. And I did, alternating between my laptop and my notebook. When I got tired of writing, I read through the tutorial for Scrivener , an organizing program for writers I am trying out. I had mad...

Monday: Buy a carrot, see a play for free! The Spanish Carrot Rebellion . Tuesday:   Still don't understand how this is stealing, and thank God, the judge didn't feel the same way! I mean hello, the outlet was in a public place  and did not have a fee for charging! I'm telling you, common sense ain't common, and some people lack mercy! Wednesday: If you are married, make sure you vote otherwise your spouse will run you over with a car. Thursday: All I have is one word repeated three times: Romney, Romney, Romney.  He is not a winner, but his comments sure are winners for bloggers everywhere!

So, it is day 16 of this NaNoWriMo thing, and I am happy to report that I am still here. Writing away. Last night was a good night. I came to the page with great reluctance, confused and sleepy and distracted but once I got into the groove, I got into the groove. I even surprised myself. At the end of the night was at 26058, and I added 3000+ words. Are those words any good? I don't know. I will deal with that at the edit stage. I found this cool writing tool called Scrivener . Actually, I read about it on one of these NaNo pep talk letters. At first, I was like why would I need a tool for writing a novel, like I couldn't get it. But then I actually read about the features and I got it. What got me was the fact all my scattered word files  could be stored in one place. So I have been writing this novel separated into years instead of chapters, with the major characters telling each year from their view. I would put each year in their own file and then after I edited, woul...

I heard her songs when they were running a profile on her on NPR Morning Edition. Her voice is so amazing! Age Don't wake me up, Live Lost & Found

Source: fitnessmagazine.com via oluyemisi on Pinterest This turned out to to be very easy to make, and quite delicious too. Of course I modified the recipe. I added onions to the cabbage, carrots and garlic mix and sauteed that with black pepper and curry. I was generous with the black pepper because it is freezing out here and I need to warm up. Also, I'm battling a bit of congestion.  I used a mix of beans, garbanzo and cannellini, and also added tomatillo and celery. I think I was too generous with the tomato paste, I had a can that I had opened for the black bean chili so I wanted to be done with it so it wouldn't be a waste. It took no time at all to cook, I made this after work on Monday, and it was good and filling and comforting especially after the hectic day that I had. 

My bed has fallen apart. It unfortunately did not make through my 4 million moves. It's time for a new bed, and I have been craving an upholstered bed since I saw Rachel Zoe's dramatic white upholstered bed on her TV show. Yeah, i know that show was all about fashions but i can't get excited about fashions i can't afford, however, I can and did get excited about that bed! I tried to look for it on the innanets but I can't find the original. Anyway, here are some beds that are similar. 68" Adler Tufted Platform Bed | Upholstered Beds | Restoration Hardware   Z Gallerie-Jameson Bed http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Montecito-White-Queen-size-Bed/6313250/product.html J.C. Penney Chico Upholstered Bed. 

My lease ended at the end of September and of course I waited until the absolute last minute to search for my next place. Truth was I was not feeling anything that I saw close to my job, either the price wasn't right or the amenities were not too great. Anyway, I finally found a place that was closer to my job (6 miles vs 20 miles); had a great view (the mountains are in my backyard) and the rent was cheaper too. Truth be told, I had originally planned to move into this place when my lease was up, but I read some reviews on the innanets and I talked myself out of it. I liked it not because of the amenities (not a luxury apartment, whatever that is) but because it was very close to my writing office during the summer time. In fact, I learned of the apartment because I passed in front of it on the way to the canyon. Anyway, I went to the leasing office and applied for the apartment, got approved, paid my deposit and put the move date on my calendar. I started packing, and ev...

All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s  within  us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy. Romans 8:22-25 MSG. I am currently in the waiting room, waiting on God to answer some of my heart felt desires. Sometimes I feel like I have been waiting for eternity for Him to show up and show out. Sometimes I wonder if God hears me and ever plans to hear my prayer. Sometimes I get frustrated and act out of my own strength which of course sends me back to square one, at which point I get mad at God a...

So, it's about eight days into NaNoWriMo and I have been pretty committed to it. I have stopped going back to sleep after waking up early in the morning, and started writing instead. I don't know if what I am writing is any good and sometimes that little editor in my head is in my ear whispering sometimes shouting that what i am writing is pure garbage.  But, I tell it i will edit after I am done and to leave me alone. I have stopped making excuses not to write. I tell myself that even ten minutes is something. So now, I write during my lunch hour, there is a park I drive to sometimes. I eat my lunch and then type as much as I can in the time that I have.  I even went to Starbucks after work on Friday last week, and this tuesday, in the hour between work and bible study. (Can I just tell you that it feels like there is a  Starbucks on every corner out here?) I don't know why I put off all those things that make me me. I love praying, and at one point, I thought I w...

Source: eatingwell.com via oluyemisi on Pinterest I had to divide by three because I have a tiny little crockpot. I didn't have cardomom so I just used my jerk spice instead. I was generous with my spices because I wanted to feel the heat, and it was spicy. The only thing was that I couldn't taste the tomatillo, it got lost in everything. The beans and mushroom on the other hand were reporting very nicely. It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be to make, after all, the whole point of a crock pot is to throw everything in there and let it cook right, what's all this sauteing and what not? But, I did enjoy the results so there's that.