Untitled
It’s been a long time since I wrote anything—of course, not anything but any creative piece. It’s been a really long year! A very long one, actually!
I have had more ups and downs than a roller coaster. Albeit it’s been amazing, I have fallen in love, fallen out, got my heart broken, been a hoe in the streets, left a job, got another, got promoted, lost a good friend to death’s cold hands, had hope, became hopeless but not homeless! Permit me to take a minute to catch my breath again!
Although it’s arguably true that, as a writer, this is pure content, honestly? I agree. But I have had this huge writer's block for the longest time, which has left me feeling unworthy of this gift.
Gone are the days when, as a prolific writer, I could command metaphors and they would obey. But ever since Odin banished me from the writing realm, I must once again prove myself.
One of the many blockers has been the scuffle between my brain and heart. One wants to write about a love story over and over again, but the other refuses to write about any of that at all. It’s been a hassle. It was such a beautiful love story. One whose memories begin to feel like a fairytale, but regardless, fuck love! Got a man like all soft, sweetened red cheeks, muffling and whispering love words over the phone, but here I am: I hope you aren’t taking a laugh at me; I would have placed a mother’s curse on you, that ye may never find love, but you’re not lovable—so there’s that.
Another major blocker has been discovering I’m such a prolific writer. About 3 years ago, I read somewhere, “Never tell yourself a story.” The writer’s argument is that when you tell yourself a story too often, you believe, and a lot of time that hinders creativity.
When I began to write, it was my only means to express myself, and at some point, I began to truly enjoy it. To the point where I fell in love with someone just to get my heart broken, it was a learning curve I needed.
A broken heart, a pen, and me against the world, I wrote of every drop of emotion I bled; it carved me into such an amazing writer, a story I began to tell myself so often that I became a mirage of what I was. Me. A counterfeit of myself. So I could never live up to the legend. Such an irony.
As a Phoenix must burn itself at the pyre to be reborn, perhaps this is mine, but a better me I cannot assure, but this who lives must die. At best, he’s just another with a pen and one of the wonders of the universe. How could I choose to be ordinary? Ordinary and predictable. So aye! Light up the stakes!
Subscribe to my newsletter
Read articles from Olasunkanmi Igbasan directly inside your inbox. Subscribe to the newsletter, and don't miss out.
Written by
Olasunkanmi Igbasan
Olasunkanmi Igbasan
Creative Writer and Software Developer.