Interview on Smashwords

Hello Mellows,

I like how that rhyme, so I sticking to it. Mellows. Mellow people and other fellows.

I realise I didn't share this piece of self-questioning interview I did do on Smashwords here, so, at the risk of looking as if I pushing up meself like some show-orf, I gon share it anyway. (You see, I love blogging, it feel peaceful, like a li'l oasis, and I feel that anything I put anywhere else shoulda been here first. But it ain't always possible).

Y'all please don't giggle. Okay, go ahead, if it make you giggle and you happy giggling, go ahead and giggle.

Plenty, plenty love, neena xx.

Interview with Neena Maiya

Published 2020-01-15.

What's the story behind your latest book?

Home definitely ain't a boring place to be.

What motivated you to become an indie author?

A popular literary agent once said that he longed for books like Anna Karenina to be written again. He hinted that books today were mere shadows of such a great book.

I felt diminished.

Then I was incensed.

How dare he decide, like those petty gods in Greek legends, whose voice was worthy and whose had no value?

I became even more determined that I would speak the way I wanted to. I would use my language, my dialect, my songs, to tell stories of people who, to the Great World, might seem insignificant but, in the world of humanity, are people of infinite value.

To quote Miriam Makeba:

I shall sing,
Sing my song,
Be it right,
Be it wrong.

Indie author I would be.

What is the greatest joy of writing for you?

Freedom.

Playing with words sets my spirit free.

What are you working on next?

Another in the series.

The first begins in the home.

The second takes the Reader-Traveller out in the streets.

What inspires you to get out of bed each day?

Gratitude.

Do you remember the first story you ever wrote?

I don't remember the first story. But I do remember an essay I wrote about a favourite teacher who died when I was 7 or 8 years old. I had to read it to the entire school.

Describe your desk

I like to lie in bed writing. No clutter.

Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?

I grew up surrounded by books and storytellers in the family. I grew up speaking Creolese and English.

Words.

Words were all I wanted to play with as I grew into teens and adulthood.

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