On Me….
Archie Okeyo(@herhar)
Writer. I’m alive and that means there’s so much I can do now.
· http://www.dora-jodie.blogspot.com
I’m Dora, but most people call me Arch- which is short for ‘Achieng’
I am named after my paternal grandmother -Isadora, who happens to be named after Isadora Duncan the dancer. I am the last born in a family of two.I love writing, reading, listening to music and blogging. I also prefer being on the road and seeing places.
I am currently working on a novel, ‘The Truth About Me and Anna’ which I hope to publish by the end of the year.
I love music, coffee and books (MCB).
If there was anything I’d love to have stocked in my room it has to be books! I love reading so much that I hope one day I will have a library as vast as the one presented to Belle by the Beast in ‘Beauty and the Beast.’
On Reading…
I am currently reading The Great Gatsby by F. Scoot FitzGerald.
Fave Author: I love so many authors, that choosing seems a task, because every author has their own voice and style, but I have loved books by Chinua Achebe, Cyprian Ekwensi, Ayn Rand and Jane Austen.
Of all the books I have read the only character that I have loved is Hassan in Khaled Hosseini‘s ‘The Kite Runner‘ because he was a loyal friend even upon death-and who can forget his promise ‘for you, a thousand times over,’ ?
I’d love to read more books by Kenyan Authors before I die, because I know of so many beautiful writers whose works are being shunned in the search for an ‘African Voice.’
On Writing…
I am more of a Fiction Writer, and I am comfortable writing in the subjective point of view. I have written around thirteen books and all are published online, ten are free on smashwords: Dear Yellow , Dear May , Say You Love Me , Ethan and Richard , Made For You , Last Heart Standing , The Absolutely Boring Life Of Mya , The Book of Abel , Dear Brian
There’s one book, ‘Restaurant’ that goes for $11.95 on Wordclay .
I started writing at the age of twelve, three years after I lost my Dad and the only thing that seemed to get me to calm down was writing. I also loved writing down poems and sharing them with my friends in school. My writing was mostly fueled by my Mom who bought us books to read and encouraged us to get our Grammar right.
My favorite writers have to be: Chinua Achebe, Grace Ogot, Jane Austen, Abidemi Sanusi, Stanley Gazemba, Ayn Rand, and Cyprian Ekwensi.
Of all the characters I have written about, I bet I’d be Beryl in ‘Say You Love Me’ because there are times when I embody such calm in tough times.
The one question I’d love to be asked as a Writer is how I do it: and I would say I don’t know, I just write and write and write, and always keep a notebook with me to jot down things that are interesting to me.
Literary Chronicles 