Flashback on June
The days seem to fly by and so soon July is here. For the first time since I started blogging, I put some order in my otherwise chaotic blog on 13th June 2012 to give it a semblance of seriousness by coming out with a plan of work that I’ve followed religiously until today.
Hitch: However, there is a slight hitch today. As they say, man proposes, God disposes. According to my schedule, Tuesdays are for posting of review of short stories read. Unfortunately, my secretary at the office, Rejoice, was involved in a lorry accident over the weekend. Fortunately, she survived but was critically hurt and is on admission at the 37 Military Hospital. She was on her way to visit her parents who live outside Accra, in the Volta region, when the accident occurred. Her condition was so serious that she had to be transferred to Accra. I had to rush to her side when I heard the news. As you can imagine, the up and down did not allow me to post the review of the short story I had read for today. This will be rectified later. More importantly, Rejoice is responding to treatment and by God’s grace she is out of danger.
Friday Fictioneers: Still busy with the Friday Fictioneers, the 100 words short story every Friday based on a photo prompt from Madison Woods and loving every minute of it.
Playing at Poetry: I played with words and came out with five poems in June, Chaotic Anarchy, A New Dawn, Beyond the Horizon and KISS for my Reflections from the Heart series; Seduction was written for Friday Fictioneers.
Book Reviews: Thanks to the new plan I was able to review two short stories from Tales of Tenderness and Power, (the collection by the late Bessie Head) for my Short Story Tuesday slot. The short stories are Oranges and Lemon and The Lovers. This was in fulfilment of my resolution to read and review more African writers, especially African female writers. I also reviewed Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, for The Classics Club.
Statistics: There was a marginal difference in my statistics for the Challenges for the month of June.
- Africa Reading Challenge: 2/5
- Back to the Classics Challenge: 2/9
- The Classics Club: 1/51
- 2012 Reading Challenge (TBR): 2/50
Blogging: This continues unabated. I made some new online friends through the blog, twitter and Facebook.
Awards: June was a month of showers as it poured forth both awards and well, rains. I’m so grateful to my dear fellow bloggers who nominated me for the awards.
- One Lovely Blog Award (8/5/12) from Boomie Bol and sharingmyselfandi
- Beautiful Blogger Award from SASSY IS HELL ON HEELS and Online Funland.
- Commentator Award (my third) from Online Funland and Aquaturtleme
- Reader Appreciation Award from Online Funland
- Creative Chaos Award from Jennifer M. Eaton
Hello July
Below are the books I’ve lined up to read for July. A few are carry-overs from June.
- Chaka the Zulu by Thomas Mofolo
- The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta (TBR pile)
- Faceless by Amma Darko (TBR pile)
- Not Without Flowers by Amma Darko (TBR pile)
- Nicholas II, last of the Tsars by Marc Ferro; (started but put it down)
- Kevin’s Last Walk, A Father’s Final Journey With His Son by Barry Adkins.
- The Secret To Detoxifying Your Life And Love by Mariska Taylor-Darko (A special request from a friend to be read for review)
Upcoming Reviews:
- The New Tribe by Buchi Emecheta
- The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta
- Chaka The Zulu, Thomas Mofolo;
- Contemporary African Short Stories, edited by Chinua Achebe and C. L. Innes
Shalom!