How I Started My Writing Journey.

I have had friends ask me,

 "Francisca, how did you start writing? You read Philosophy so how come you write like you read Mass communication?"

 And at this I always respond with a churlish smile. So, here it is, I decided to tell, how I started my writing journey.

My writing journey did not begin with me writing. It actually began with me reading. My earliest memory of reading dates back to when I was about six, seven years old. I loved to read comprehension passages in my English language reader and by eight years old I was purring, scanning the pages of my older sibling’s lexis and structure books.
I began writing seriously in senior secondary school, I wrote plays and even after secondary school wrote more plays that were acted by my church drama group.  I recollect an essay I had presented at a state government school event was published in the dailies.

My love for writing heightened when I got into the university. By three hundred level, I had gotten a freelance reporting job which had me attending notable events and reporting the beats from the shows. It was a very proud moment for me. I worked with Feminaire magazine in 2011 covering the Miss Earth Nigeria 2012 pageant and the Nigeria Fashion Week 2012. I moved on to Shakara Babe Magazine in 2014 covering a lot of entertainment events.

(2012, Miss Earth Nigeria Pageant)

My next stop with writing had me rewrite an old play I had written in secondary school; this drama was staged during my National Youth Service Corps Drama Competition among different platoons. The play “Marriage Against All Odds” was written to eulogize Nigeria’s rich cultural diversity. In the course of my service year I wrote an article, “Valentine’s Day: The Expectations and Reality Checks.

This article was published on a reputable newspaper in Bayelsa, ‘National Reflector’.
My Editor at the newspaper loved the article. He encouraged me to take my writing to the zenith of being a published Author and enamored by this counsel, I began to document the sights and sounds of my immediate environment at the time. This environment was the Creeks of Southern Ijaw in Bayelsa State, Nigeria. There, I was able to tell the story of a scarcely developing riverine community.

In 2015, I published my first book, Tari’s Golden Fleece, an African fiction novella. In the same year, SBF blog was born even though I didn’t pay it too much attention as I chased other dreams.

 In 2016, I started a Writing Company; Moncoeur Global Concept and began to teach Teenagers the art of Creative Writing. This was the same year I commenced work at Zayzee Limited as a Columnist on the online entrepreneurial magazine, Drive.

In my writing journey, I made stops, to submit my stories in competitions and anthologies.

In 2017, my short story, “The Escape” was featured in the Afriworiliterary project celebrating femininity and the stories of African Female Authors. In 2018, My poem “Wole Soyinka” was among the selected poems to be curated for the “84 Delicious Bottles of Wine for Wole Soyinka” by Onyeka Nwelue and Odega Shawa.

In 2019, my poem was selected and featured in “Imomotimi” an Anthology for Gabriel Okara published by WRR Publishers. Still in 2019, my poem, ‘I Am A Boy” was curated for the Boys Are Not Stones Anthology.
My Second book, “A Preacher’s Secret” was published online as an E-Book in 2019 and since 2016 till date, I have ghostwritten, edited, transcribed and written sales copies for companies through my writing company.


Writing means a lot to me, it allows my imaginative abilities come to the fore. Sometimes it can be an esoteric venture, but the expressive and persuasive power writing affords is worth the while.

N.B: I hope you enjoyed reading about my writing journey. Do you have a similar writing journey. I would love to hear yours in the comments.

Thanks for reading.....