Here's all I remember about how I write

Since I resumed writing to you, I challenged myself to at least 500 words per letter. I consider it a good feat. Excellent!

Today, let's talk about how I write.

There's one formula that changed everything — one formula to rule them all. I can't remember when, but I think it was Opeyemi Olugbemiro that sent me that quote.

Here it is (give it some time):

C'est fini.

That's the technique. Let's see if you can find the pattern in the next few paragraphs.

Here's something interesting. Knowing the technique wasn't enough; I had to understand the fundamentals. I read articles, books and more articles studying how they wrote so well. I found one of my favourite places to read from to be the New York Times website — especially a certain article about how people in a train station, I think, didn't stop to gawk at a really talented and popular classical artiste because they just didn't care.

Astounding article!

Another one that caught my eye was Chimamanda's article response to the social media mob at the time. That was terrific writing. Gosh! You should see her use of semi-colons. I learnt, from reading her articles — I went on to read more of her op-eds — and books, that as much as English has its own rules, you can make it say what you want.

Trevor Noah was another influence. I never read his book. I should take out some time to do so. But you should hear him speak. There's a certain level of eloquence that he exudes when he comments on social issues — and I am not talking about his stand-up comedy or his 9-5 at the Daily Show.

Look up a YouTube video and listen to him speak. Gosh!

Here's the killer! There's a video online—of a conference—that had Chimamanda and Trevor on the same stage. I consider that literary excellence.

Here's my truth.

I find that people who tell stories are better at writing than others. I postulate that if John C Maxwell wrote some of his leadership books with the grace of, say, Trevor — we'd all be leaders. However, it is understandable that certain messages need to be passed in certain tones.

But I find my influences to be storytellers. Call them great conversationalists if you will — Chimamanda, Trevor, Rick Riordan, Dan Brown, Victor Fatanmi, Opeyemi Olugbemiro, the New York Times, Quartz Africa, and many more I unfortunately can't remember at 12:00 AM in the morning.

Excuse me! I need to go play some Wordle.

I got it on the 5th try.

When I write my letters to you, I enjoy little breaks in between. Usually, it means I have run out of words or someone needs me to listen to what she's saying.

Writing my letters is not a form of deep work. So, I occasionally distract myself with my Twitter feed or check Slack messages (yes! I check messages at night; there, usually, isn't any).

The breaks allow my mind reshuffle the words and provides the next word to continue. Every time I decide to log on to ConvertKit and write — I meet the blank template page with a theme. It could be a sentence, word or phrase. Sometimes, it's just a rant channel — some of you have read me rant here before.

I try not to think too hard of all the words. I only worry about the next word. I always decide the titles at the end of the letter; and most of the time, I spend less than 15 seconds deciding what it will be.

I just remembered someone else whose writing I enjoy to read a lot — Mogwai Vunderkind.

Back to me, now.

I'm taking a pause to ask you if you noticed the patterns. I made small pauses. Sometimes, I don't. I write a long ass sentence with all the prepositions and symbols mashed up together — so long that it feels like I was actually speaking. Yeah?!

You didn't notice it? Did you? Sure?

You enjoy good writing as much as you enjoy listening to good music. There's a lot more I do subconsciously that I possibly can't remember. Some of the other things I play with when I write include syllables; synonyms; removal of words like "just"; an interesting play of semi-colons, em-dashes and brackets; and so many more.

To me, when I read what I write and it doesn't read like music, it deserves another look.

And there's my formula!

Pretty obvious, innit?

Ciao.

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