Kabria's Diary

Like a woman whose longtime boyfriend has just proposed to after several years of expectations; Kabria took a breath of relief. She has just written the last word of the last sentence of her first life achievement. 

  She dropped her pen on the table, took a deeper breath and placed her two hands on her face. "It has been a long and rigorous adventure" she thought in her mind. Yes, it was indeed an energy and intellect sapping months for Kabria, she has just finished writing her first fiction. 

  It was a dream come through. Kabria had started writing fiction when she was 16 years old. She had written so many inconclusive stories. Her major problem was lack of concentration on her inspiration and the fact that she was the only child of the family and there were so much house shores for her to do. Her mother on the other hand was not a lover of fiction and so was her father, although her father was never against her decision to be a writer. Her parents Chris and Vero were both medical doctors, so her mother was bent on making her a medical doctor as well. To her mother, only a handful of authors can boast of good living, while many wallow in hunger and penury. Why would someone desire to be a writer?

  Kabria never said no to her mother's wish for her to be a medical doctor but all she needed was her mother to understand how much she loves fiction and how much she cherished the writing hobby. But her mother would continue to discourage her and sometimes would find a way to distract her and disconnect her from her inspiration. Did she have anything against her mother? No! She believed that her mother was just trying to give her the best a mother could give to her only child. Her first writing attempt was when she was 16. She was inspired by the story her father told her about one of his patients who died as a result of a long neglected ailment. The patient was reported to have been so busy with work that he couldn't make out time to check the state of his health, so by the time the man could come to the hospital, he had suffered a lot of health complications and all the efforts made by her father and his team of doctors to save the man was futile. With this story, Kabria decided to write a fiction on "Health and Wealth". Had she been able to finish the book, she would have become the youngest writer in her home town Okija and possibly won the award of the best young writer in the country, but it was so unfortunate that her mother's trouble ensured that she didn't finish the book. 

she made attempts to write other stories such as " The Kingdom of Snakes ", "The Old man and His Snuff Box", " The Wicket" and few others, but none of them was concluded. Finding herself in a family and cultural setting where her feelings and passion were not considered. No one wanted for her what she wanted for herself, so she decided to let the writing passion go so that she could concentrate on the career her parents had chosen for her.

Not too long after Kabria finished her university education, she was employed at Federal Government Hospital Ikeja.

Her job required that she would move out from her parents house in Okija to Ikeja. In Ikeja, she was faced with another distraction: her dedication to her work and her determination to live up to the certificate she was carrying. One dream that was still living in her was the dream of becoming a renowned writer, even though her work was demanding but she knew that she would one day publish a fiction, even if it means doing that when she retires. Yes, that would be a better time, she thought.

Few months after Kabria had moved to Ikeja, she fell in love with a young banker whose name was Chike. Chike was a simple and passionate guy, whom despite being a banker was a poet. His love for poetry was the first thing anyone could notice about him and that was the quality that Kabria appreciated most in him.

despite the demands of his bank job, he was able to publish a collection of poems. To Chike, one's work doesn't stop one from doing what gives one joy. He shared a common career choice story with Kabria but unlike Kabria who had given up on her dreams, Chike was very committed to his writing passion. In one of Kabria's visits to Chike, she met him writing a poet. The sight of one of the busiest men having time for what he considered to be his passion, reignited her will for writing, so she told Chike about her love for fiction. Her discussion with Chike inspired her into writing "Back to My Dream"

"Back to My Dream" was Kabria's seventh attempt and the first to be completed. She had drawn encouragement and inspiration from Chike who had advised her to pick her pen and paper and do what gives her joy. Chike encouraged her that being a doctor doesn't stop you from being a writer.

The story took her not fewer than one year to finish.

 As Kabria opened her eyes and was looking at her first book, she was filled with joy and unequal excitement. She picked her phone and dialled Chike's line. "Thank you Chike, I can now proceed with the publication, I owe you this success" was her words to Chike. She dropped the call and screamed 'Yes! Yes! Yes!' She thought about calling her mother but was not sure of what her mother's reaction might be. She took, the script and began to go through it. Writing is indeed a stressful job, she thought, but nothing gives more joy than getting your first book ready for publication, that was the feeling Kabria was expressing as she was flipping the pages of the manuscript.