Yomi Akinode | Updates

Random Thoughts

Yomi Akinode — Mon, 8 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

We wake up with plans to execute for the day, whether well-thought-out or jumbled.

But for authors, not after the mighty dollar... thoughts are endless, even when asleep. I dare anyone to contradict this. Okay, I joke!

Authors are dedicated thinkers who wonder about those 'fabricated' prose. And I mean fabricate in the best sense of the word. Although 'compose' would be a better word choice. I digress.

Authors see the possibility of stories everywhere and subconsciously align them systematically in truth-tested sequences. You know, exposition, inciting incident, first problem solved, but then generate many others, etc.

My point is that random thoughts are healthy, especially for authors. Please don't stop or attempt to stymie your creativity.

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Words

Yomi Akinode — Tue, 2 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Words are an author's most valuable currency, traded for passion, enthusiasm, love, money, and fame. Alas, I usually eat words for breakfast only to choke on them at dinner.

Certain words have ways of humbling us, especially those whose first language is not English.

Idiom

Allegory

Metaphor

Simile

Analogy

Figurative

Literal

Blah blah blah

What's challenging is not their meaning but their appropriate application in storytelling.

I don't intend to explain these words, but to encourage your curiosity. The word allegory, for instance, almost intuitively seeps its meaning into your mind.

So, for you 2nd-language English writers, it's just a matter of time before words like this don't faze you.

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Stuff? Yeah!

Yomi Akinode — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

We are all categorized, to various degrees, as hoarders by minimalists and scanty by those on the opposite extreme.

Stay with me for a moment.

Imagine you're downtown LA in the late '60s and find yourself in an old bookstore surrounded by shelves and shelves of books with multicolored spines announcing the delights forthcoming in the titles.

You find a spot on the floor, surrounded by literary treasures, and pull out a book that catches your eye. As you start to lose yourself in its pages, you're momentarily distracted by an old man climbing onto a shelf to retrieve a book for Jane Doe. You look up, a little worried he might fall. Pweuh... he doesn't, so you returned to your book.

Now, let's fast forward to the 2000s. Those charming bookstores are becoming a rare sight. But here's a question for you: were those books just 'stuff' from a minimalist's point of view, or did they hold a deeper, more significant value?

What do you think?

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Charity

Yomi Akinode — Mon, 18 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

They say charity begins at home. But why does it have to start in a specific location?

The art of benevolence to others is age-old and timeless, a tradition that connects us to our ancestors. However, its lustre now has less burnish in the age of social media, where everything has to be about me, me, me. And when you challenge, petulance rears its head in the form of "...I'm building my brand..."

So, how much time is left to help others, and momentarily forget your woes and petty peaves? Remember, in helping others, we often find solace in our troubles.

And then some are convinced they're doing it right, telling everyone, "...I give back, every chance I get..."

Then, let me ask, what did you take that you're giving back? Me cae mal este la frase...

Instead, why not just do your 'good' deed quietly and silently?

- Take your old books to the library.

- Give Kindle books without motive

- Read to the kindergarten near you.

It's the good deeds you do when no one is watching that count!

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