Lociversary - Year 5

5 years ago today, I started my loc journey. When I walked out of the salon that day, I felt the cold winter air on my scalp after wearing it in an afro for about a year or so. I could've put my hood up but I was happy with my new style and I wanted to show it off. 

I wore earrings a lot when my hair was in an afro

Okay, sure it was shorter than what I pictured BUT I loved it and I couldn't wait until it got longer. The loctician predicted that my hair would lock up in less than 12 months because my hair pattern was so tight and curly. When I had my hair in an afro, I would have to pick it out numerous times during the day because it would kink up and well... start locking up on it's own. It didn't matter what I put in it or what kind of pick I used. By the end of the day, my 'fro looked like I woke up that morning and didn't bother to touch it at all.

Day 1 of my loc journey - started with a two-strand twist

The loctician was right. It did lock up before I reached the one year mark. But at that point, it was still poofy and locs stuck up and out at weird angles. Not to mention that it was still shorter than what I had hoped. Given my (still) short hair and my build I felt like I looked too masculine. So I continued to wear earrings and tried to have a little bit more fun with my outfits. For the next 1 1/2-2 years-ish I was on a journey of building self-confidence and loving my hair exactly as it was.

Today at year 5, I'm still amazed at how long it's become. How long do I want it to grow? *shrugs* Dunno. I may decide to let it stop at my lower back and I may decide to let it grow out longer than that. Either way, for the first time in my life, I'm enjoying my long hair. So many styles to try, so little time. ;)

That's not a broken loc. I palm rolled some hair that just wouldn't merge into other nearby locs.

No make up club! *woot woot*

Book Review: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

Hey all! I'm back with another spoiler-free book review. One of the books that I finished in November (wait...) October (seriously??) was Yaa Gyasi's debut novel, Homegoing. Before the book came out, I read the synopsis and I knew right off the bat that this was a book that I had to own for myself. Not a library copy and not as an ebook. I needed a physical copy and when I finally got the chance, I got it. (Thank you Books-A-Million!)

First Impressions

This cover is absolutely gorgeous. Before I started reading it I wondered where the idea for the cover art came from. Once I read the book, I understood. Also, the fact that the book has been blurbed by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Phil Klay is awesome. I was surprised that the book was only 300 pages long and that it's a standalone so I figured that it was something that would probably get to the heart of the story without a lot of fillers.

Short Summary

Effia and Esi are half-sisters living in two different villages in 18th century Ghana. One sister marries a white British colonist and the other is sold into slavery and shipped off to America. This narrative tells about their family tree and how each person's choices affect their children.

Review

I enjoyed this book very much. This story is a stewpot with the main ingredients being love, heartbreak, pride, struggle and determination. Don't be fooled by the number of pages this book has because I certainly was. These 300 pages are packed with descriptions, emotion and events in each person's life without being too verbose. 

Rather than numbered chapters, a character from each generation and side of the family gets their own section. In each section we get a glimpse of each character's personality, what they are going through, how they view the past, what drives them and how they respond to adversity. I loved the characters seemed real, as if they're based on real individuals. With that being said, not one character makes decisions that are always good or always bad. In fact, some of the characters said things and made decisions that really irked me and sometimes I didn't quite understand why they did the things they did or how they may have been feeling until generations later when someone else is recalling that moment. 

Gyasi's writing is very lyrical and some sections are almost poetic. Her descriptions of places, happenings and people are very clear and vivid. To be honest, there were times where I had to stop so that I could digest what I read. If an author can envoke that response in me, that's a plus. Gyasi doesn't hold back in telling each person's story but she doesn't spend more time than what's necessary in getting the point across. 

The one thing that I had a teeny bit of a hard time adjusting to was trying to understand what year or what period of history each story was supposed to be set in. Maybe there were mentions that I missed or perhaps I need to brush up on my history. Then again... I realized afterwards that telling a story without major indications of what year it is a great way to ensure that the reader stay focused on the character and what they have to say.

Overall, this is a book that I wouldn't mind reading again and I don't regret buying it instead of borrowing it. When I picked this book up, I decided that I was going to take my time with it. Because I that I was able to stay immersed in the story and enjoy it for a longer period of time.

Rating

My overall personal and Goodreads rating of this book out of 5 stars is:

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

My personal rating of the cover art of the book out of 5 stars is:

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Recommendation and Age Suitability

I would recommend this book to anyone. If you enjoyed Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Americanah or Lalita Tademy's Cane River, then this is a book that you should deeply consider picking up. I would also recommend this book to anyone who wants to know a little more about the effects of slavery, racism and colonialism on a smaller scale. This book is an adult book but I would extend this recommendation to teens as well. Homegoing can be a good book to read on your own, for a class or for a book club. If you're reading this for a book club, I would suggest using these discussion questions from Penguin Random House Audio.

Last Thoughts

Here's a quote that I loved (and was tempted to highlight):

"What I know now, my son: Evil begets evil. It grows. It transmutes, so that sometimes you cannot see that the evil in the world began as the evil in your own home. I'm sorry you have suffered. I'm sorry for the way your suffering casts a shadow over your life, over the woman you have yet to marry, the children you have yet to have." Yaw looked at her surprised, but she simply smiled. "When someone does wrong, whether it is you or me, whether it is mother or father, whether it is the Gold Coast man or the white man, it is like a fisherman casting a net into the water. He keeps only the one or two fish that he needs to feed himself and puts the rest in the water, thinking that their lives will go back to normal. No one forgets that they were once captive, even if they are now free. But still, Yaw, you have to let yourself be free." – Homegoing, pg. 242.

Links

Homegoing Discussion Guide by Penguin Random House Audio Publishing

http://www.penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/discussion-guide/533857/homegoing/

Goodreads page

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27071490-homegoing

Amazon page

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015VACH4U/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

NaNoWriMo - What I Learned

National Novel Writing Month, aka NaNoWriMo, is over. Unfortunately I didn't hit the traditional 50K goal but I wrote something almost everyday. With the exception of the election, holidays and traveling for almost 12 hours. As of right now I have ~30K words and counting for my novel. Throughout the month, I've learned some things:

Reading a book, watching television or a movie while or before writing can help spark some ideas but it can be easy to develop a voice that sounds like what ever you were previously engaged in. For example: while watching "60 Days In" with my sister, I found myself wanting to rile up my characters or write them into fight scenes at the most inappropriate times.

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When Election Day came, I hit a wall. I didn't want to write and if I did, there was a chance that I'd only write scenes that would destroy my character's world and everything they held dear. While some people may say, "write away, you'll never know what could happen", I knew that if I did so, I'd end up having more work to do later. Other times that affected my writing: being sick, holidays, and traveling. I learned that as important as it was to get something down, there will be times you have to put your energy elsewhere for a time then dedicate yourself to catching up later. And when I say later, I mean as soon as you possibly can.

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"It's only a first draft." Say it with me: "It's only a first draft." And again: "It's only a first draft. It does not have to be perfect."

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Even if you don't reach the 50K mark, you still did something pretty amazing. Laying out a story. Learning about your characters. Building a world. Introducing conflict and playing with conversations. It's a new and exciting experience.

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If and when you come across something that may need to be researched later, highlight, highlight, highlight. The program that I use to write lets me add comments to anything that I highlight. This allows my thought process to continue flowing without interruptions.

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To all of my ¹plotters out there. There will be times that you end up ²pantsing it. It's gonna be okay. In fact it's interesting and kind of fun.

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It's easy to become a little jealous of that person that was super ambitious and has 40K words done in only 10 or 12 days. Instead of letting the little green imp out to ruin your day, do one of two things: congratulate them then get back to YOUR writing or ignore them and get back to YOUR writing. If it helps, remember that you're further along in your story than a whole lot of people.

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Don't worry about how many times you've used the word "said". Just get the story out.

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It's okay to jump around in the story. For many of us it makes sense to write the scenes in order from beginning to end. There were times when I really didn't know how I wanted certain scenes to connect. So I stopped and worked on a different scene in a different place then went back to my stopping point the next day. For example, I wrote my characters into a corner and I had no clue as to how I was going to get them out. I worked on it on and off for a week and a half. In the meantime, I was able to elaborate on some details, work on other scenes and learn more about my characters.

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Twitter, also known as "The Great Distraction", can either be a help or a hindrance. For me, it was a little of both. I enjoyed reading words of encouragement from some of my fav authors and other WriMos. At the same time, it was all too easy catching up on news stories, tv show spoilers and cute animal gifs. My advice: find out where you fall as far what might be your biggest distraction then cut it back (or out) and/or find an accountability buddy.

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NaNoWriMo.org also has forums to help connect you with other writers from your region and around the world. This is the one thing I regret not taking more advantage of the beginning.

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Reward yourself from time to time. Make a short-term goal and a long-term goal. Anytime you hit those goals: reward yourself with something small, fun and enjoyable. The buttons that you can earn from the website are great motivators too. When you fail, don't punish yourself. Just pick yourself up and work hard at it next time.

At this point in time, my story isn't finished and I look forward to doing more with it. I enjoyed NaNoWriMo and I plan on participating in it for 2017. In the meantime, have you participated in NaNoWriMo before? How was your experience?

1. Plotter: someone who plans out their story prior to writing it down
2. Pantser: someone who "flies by the seat of their pants" or doesn't plan out or plans very little of their story prior to writing it down.