For as long as I can remember I have loved words, reading and writing them. I was first introduced to books when I was 7 by my dad, who was a reading addict (if that is a thing ). I was rammaging through my grandmothers things and found a book about habitats, the cover blew my tiny brain away and it was the first thing I showed my dad when I went to see him that weekend. He read the whole book with me and then helped me define the words I couldn’t even pronounce (eg. wilderness).

My dad has always been a reader, and I think that rubbed off on me as the years passed. The first Stephen King book I ever saw and read was from his collection, an absolute delight.

Once my dad saw my fascination with books, he made it a habit to drop me at the Good Shepherd library every Saturday at 8, bring me a hotdog at 12 and pick me up at 3. My job was to tell him the books I had read and all the new words I had learned that day. Memories! My vocabulary is not so bad because of the times I spent pouring over words and being shocked by big words. What do you mean impromptu or conglomerate? I laugh now but I used to throw words around never knowing what they meant but knowing how to use them in a sentence.

Writing followed, inspired by the teen romances I started reading and the eloquently written books I loved to spend my days drowning in. Crying at endings, heartbroken for days when terrible things happen in worlds that only ever existed inside the writer’s head. (I was inconsolable at the ending of Mirror image by Danielle Steele — then I read 4 more times just to be sure).

A decade and years later, writing has become the backbone of my existence. It has saved me from myself, the world and most things that threatened my sanity. Sad? Happy? Grieving? Anxious? I write and my crooked world is suddenly upright and all is well with the universe. What are the habits that allowed me to transition from teen romance writer straight out of wattpad to following my head and writing every thought and building stories from scratch:

1. I realised that success is a broad term in any and every aspect. Success means different things to different people. Success for me means achieving my writing goals and living a life of contentment knowing that I shared, though my writing, what I know and what I feel. Knowing that I educated, entertained and inspired. Ultimately, success is whatever you make of it; it is defined by what you strive for and what you consider to be important. Success is an individual journey, and each person has the opportunity to define their own path to success and mine looks like being a bestseller, book tours and sharing feelings, thoughts and stories.
2. Live a life that is more meaningful and fulfilling to you. I can not stress this enough. It is important to define things for yourself including yourself. Do not let people define who you are for you. What matters to you? What works for you? Finding my writing space, mentally and physically, requires finding a certain level of balance in all aspects of my everyday life – physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.
3. Practicing self care and mindfulness. With the hustle and bustle of everyday life, I know it can be hard to find time to for yourself, but do it anyway. Listen to your mind and to your body and know when to stop, when to give yourself breathing room, when to rest.

I’m not a seasoned writer yet and i hope to be, to have my multiple award winning books listed on the first page, headed “Also by Myra Trudea Okumu”. Yes, I dream big and I dream in fabulous colours. (Update: I spent the better part of the cyclone editing my manuscript) and I made a new friend!