In my salad days at high school, the teacher for English grammar was a lady called Jane. Ms. Were Jane doubled as Director of Studies (DOS). Over here, DOS is basically the person in charge of what the students learn. I suppose this is a widely used reference in other parts of the world as well. I’m not sure what the curriculum is like these days, but back then, you had the option of dropping a number of non-compulsory subjects after your second year at high school. While it might not appear so, one of the subjects I was thrilled to dump on a whim was English literature. Not once did I ever read any of those Shakespearean books!
I don’t particularly recall if composition was a subsidiary of Literature or English Grammar, but that didn’t tickle my fancy either—if for any reason, for the simple fact that it mostly required telling stories that didn’t exactly exist. Or if they did in fact exist, juicing them up thoroughly was quite essential if you desired to score highly. You had to be a pretty good juicer! The term is creativity. I considered myself anything but creative! Also, the absurdity of judging my life experiences as not worth sharing is a notion that often lingered.
Ms. Were had nice big eyes and always spoke softly like she had a cold. That was good enough to fool you into thinking she was soft. Nope, she wasn’t! That lady was hard as hail if you got on her wrong side, but, generally, she was a wonderful teacher. I was a student of hers for two years and, even though she never said it, I suspect I was one of her most-liked. Well, that was that. I didn’t study English Grammar again until my year-one I.T class at University in a short course unit called Communication Skills. To this day, I scratch my head wondering how relevant that was to my tech career. As you may have noticed by now, I’m not a professional writer. As a matter of fact, writing has largely been an object of a pastime.
Previously in my latter days in secondary school, one of my favorite friends was a girl called Mariah. I shall not say her second name cos she might be your woman now and I wouldn’t know if you’re secure enough to handle this next brief segment of the story! Mariah and I were quite close for no apparent reason other than just liking each other’s vibe. Absolutely nothing beyond that!
At the risk of sounding narcissistic, in my heyday I made a lot of female friends without even trying. I was just being myself! I must admit, though, that my disposition towards the ladies effectively landed me in hot soup with some fellas for reasons best known to them. Possibly for jeopardizing their prospects! In those days, most students seemed far more familiar with the nuances of romantic relationships than my naive mind was. However, I now totally understand why I became the subject of numerous episodes of bullying in school. The experiences weren’t pleasant at all and did actually affect my self-esteem for a while.
Whereas Mariah and I were streamed differently–cos she studied the arts and I the sciences–we did occasionally sit in the same class for the Economics and FineArt lessons. It’s in these periods that we regularly exchanged tons of chit-chats. Imagine my old folks forked out wads of cash in school fees for me to go churn chit-chats in class! That’s part of life as a teenager, I suppose. Truth be told, I didn’t know of anyone that had more expertise in crafting those chits than myself. I was extremely good at that stuff! In them I wrote short stories, some shabby poetry, and just about anything I thought would be interesting. And, boy, did she enjoy those chits!
With the expiration of my time in high school and the advent of social media, my writing transitioned from analog to digital, quite literally. At this point, though, it hadn’t yet occurred to me that I was on a journey somewhere. Social media availed a no-holds-barred avenue for me to publish my thoughts and experiences. For me, there was nothing like filtering whatever was going up there. Soon, I realized I had an avid audience–small but consistent. It was then that I began to have a slight appreciation for this craft. Even so, this, to me, was still just something I did to relax after a hectic day doing more important things!
In November of 2019, the trajectory took a whole new turn. I was invited to a sit-down talk by a lady called Dr. Lorna, who not only happens to be a friend of mine, but is also my senior and superior in many aspects. I remember that day like the back of my hand. We met at a coffee shop somewhere in the heart of Kampala on the Wednesday morning of 20th November. At this meeting, she revealed to me that she thought I could elevate my writing to capture audiences beyond the scope of social media. Unbeknown to her, I had a litany of excuses, mostly lame, as to why my writing wasn’t styled for the mainstream media, and I was more than ready to defend their lameness! On my end, all was going according to plan until she shut me up before I could even finish my statement!
“What did you say?!” She asked, with that what’s-the-matter-with-you look on her face. Not that she hadn’t heard me the first time, but, rather, wanted to check if I had the nuts to dare say it again. From her facial expression, I knew not to repeat what I had just said or she would’ve surely cremated me alive. So, I just sat there quiet and listened. To make matters worse, as it were, I was tasked to prepare an article and have it ready for publication in the next two days!
Honestly, I didn’t feel an ounce of excitement. The amateur in me shook in my boots thinking how on earth I was supposed to go about this. Thankfully, Thursday, the following day, I got the awesome opportunity to meet up with one of, if not, the finest writer(s) in the land, who furnished me with one or two handy tips. Evidently, he didn’t say much. That’s what I found odd–that these people believed in me more than I did in myself. Tell you what: Friday, about 1pm, was the deadline for submission. I didn’t sleep a wink on Thursday! I literally spent the entire night awake, cooking my brain. I desired to give my first write up the best effort. When I sent through my article for review and perhaps have it edited, I was shocked to discover that he barely touched it, if at all he did!
On 28th November 2019, my first-ever article featured in The New Vision, a national newspaper. Yep, it’s that recent! I felt a great sense of pride especially because I had finally stepped out of my comfort zone, albeit after some pushing! Also, a Christian who’s fascinated by the subject of the mystical and supernatural, I can’t say I had any trouble finding content—and that’s what I wrote about. I guess the biggest challenge was to recognize the dynamics of this new direction and deliver my message to the broader audience in the most coherent way possible, without sounding brainy. I think I passed that test.
Previously, I had the persuasion that my craft was merely a hobby, and it is, but newer levels never stopped beckoning. And now, here we are! Isn’t this the adventure that life is?–discovering things you previously didn’t think you would venture into. The journey of a thousand miles starts somewhere, but especially with the appreciation of those initial steps!
