Meet Emeka Iwenofu, Author of The Miracle Trilogy
BBB: What inspired you to become an author?
EI: Great question. If I were to think back to when I first fell in love with the pen, it would have to be when I was 12 years old and given a writing assignment by my seventh grade teacher, Mrs. Benson, who later said that she enjoyed my story. But if I were to look back to what rooted my talent, I would have to go back to the summer between my fourth and fifth-grade school years with my dad. In order for me to make myself "useful" throughout the summer, rather than watching TV all the time, he’d drop me off with a snack bag at the library before he went to work at 8 a.m. and told me to stay there until he returned from work at 4:30 in the afternoon. So in essence, I would be at the library for nearly 8 hours as a means to make myself useful, which for me was to read.
Well, I was not into reading at first. In fact, I hated it, which was why I looked forward to the summer. But with what my father was suddenly implementing for the summer, made me hate it immensely. In fact, I felt my father was being way too harsh on me; almost like he hated me, that I became anxious in knowing if there was some help line service out there that I could report to since I thought this whole act was illegal and a form of child abuse.
Within the first couple days at the library, I grew frustrated and restless, and began annoying the librarians, since I could never stay still at one place. But since it was clear that this was going to be my summer, I eventually picked up “something” to make the best of it. I first started with comic books before actually finding books that seemed interesting. Within a short time, I began bringing books home, suddenly enjoying them, from which my imagination began to take a life of its own, which compelled me to write little short stories by myself, which I enjoyed a lot. As time went on past the seventh grade, I began to get very serious about writing, to where I attended free writers’ workshops and wrote two novels on my own by the age of 15 which didn't go anywhere, but convinced me enough that writing was my calling and that I could become a great writer if I was really serious.
EI: Great question. If I were to think back to when I first fell in love with the pen, it would have to be when I was 12 years old and given a writing assignment by my seventh grade teacher, Mrs. Benson, who later said that she enjoyed my story. But if I were to look back to what rooted my talent, I would have to go back to the summer between my fourth and fifth-grade school years with my dad. In order for me to make myself "useful" throughout the summer, rather than watching TV all the time, he’d drop me off with a snack bag at the library before he went to work at 8 a.m. and told me to stay there until he returned from work at 4:30 in the afternoon. So in essence, I would be at the library for nearly 8 hours as a means to make myself useful, which for me was to read.
Well, I was not into reading at first. In fact, I hated it, which was why I looked forward to the summer. But with what my father was suddenly implementing for the summer, made me hate it immensely. In fact, I felt my father was being way too harsh on me; almost like he hated me, that I became anxious in knowing if there was some help line service out there that I could report to since I thought this whole act was illegal and a form of child abuse.
Within the first couple days at the library, I grew frustrated and restless, and began annoying the librarians, since I could never stay still at one place. But since it was clear that this was going to be my summer, I eventually picked up “something” to make the best of it. I first started with comic books before actually finding books that seemed interesting. Within a short time, I began bringing books home, suddenly enjoying them, from which my imagination began to take a life of its own, which compelled me to write little short stories by myself, which I enjoyed a lot. As time went on past the seventh grade, I began to get very serious about writing, to where I attended free writers’ workshops and wrote two novels on my own by the age of 15 which didn't go anywhere, but convinced me enough that writing was my calling and that I could become a great writer if I was really serious.
BBB: What books have you written?
EI: I’ve already written and published three novels I call: The Miracle Trilogy® series, which goes in order starting with Francine’s Miracle, Mandi’s Miracle, and Jackie’s Miracle.
BBB: Where do the ideas for your stories come from?
EI: My ideas mostly stem from events and acts that I observed and studied while “lost” in trying to find my purpose in life after having finished college and always jobless. Basically, I grew up in a “normal” and stable household to my parents who raised me where I was a total “square” to the real world after graduating college. I was ignorant to the streets, drugs, alcohol, crime, violence, abuse, broken homes, prison life and other challenges of society until after I had been fired from multiple jobs and looking for a way to make a living that that I finally knew of a world that I didn’t know of before.
It was though after I had listened to some positive audios and read numerous self-help books that this thought, energy, idea (whatever you want to call it), came out of nowhere to inspire me to write a story documenting the challenges of a society that I observed and engaged in within the lives of three women in three separate time periods and how they come together in helping each other overcome their own challenges and adversities before paying it forward to the next generation.
EI: I’ve already written and published three novels I call: The Miracle Trilogy® series, which goes in order starting with Francine’s Miracle, Mandi’s Miracle, and Jackie’s Miracle.
BBB: Where do the ideas for your stories come from?
EI: My ideas mostly stem from events and acts that I observed and studied while “lost” in trying to find my purpose in life after having finished college and always jobless. Basically, I grew up in a “normal” and stable household to my parents who raised me where I was a total “square” to the real world after graduating college. I was ignorant to the streets, drugs, alcohol, crime, violence, abuse, broken homes, prison life and other challenges of society until after I had been fired from multiple jobs and looking for a way to make a living that that I finally knew of a world that I didn’t know of before.
It was though after I had listened to some positive audios and read numerous self-help books that this thought, energy, idea (whatever you want to call it), came out of nowhere to inspire me to write a story documenting the challenges of a society that I observed and engaged in within the lives of three women in three separate time periods and how they come together in helping each other overcome their own challenges and adversities before paying it forward to the next generation.
BBB: Do you ever get writer's block?
EI: For this entire series, NO! All I can say is that from the moment I touched the keypad, ideas kept rushing to my head faster than I could type. I could just see all the characters performing in my head as I went along. It was like magic! Nothing was rehearsed or scripted. Everything just moved spontaneously; as if the book wrote itself. It’s a phenomenon that I can’t explain which is why I will always say to my dying day that it was God Himself who wrote this entire series and not me. I sometimes look back and when I read what I “wrote”, I say to myself, “No way, this couldn’t be me. I actually wrote this? Me?” So for this, I never encountered writer’s block, except for maybe a minute or two, and just like that, the answered appeared instantly.
All I will say though, for all those authors and aspiring writers out there, is that whenever you go through writer’s block, take a break! Go out maybe on a vacation somewhere, to a beach, or get some sun, take a nap, go to a movie, play some golf, or hang with your friends and don’t worry about anything. Eventually, that inspiration or idea will come to you when you least expect it. It’s important that a writer doesn’t put themselves before the book and just allow the book to come to them. And whenever one is struggling with writer’s block, they’re trying to force something that isn’t there and whenever you do that, the result won’t be as it strong since it’s connected to an emotion of frustration and annoyance, which will in essence attract that same energy to the reader. And remember, this is not a race. Just take your time and allow spirit or inspiration to come to your subconscious mind on guiding you on what to write.
If you read or study the lives of all the famous composers, musicians, songwriters, playwrights, athletes, and leaders of all time, you will see that they all concur to this same fact. So this is nothing new. All you have to do is just believe it, and trust me, and when the inspiration comes, you’ll know exactly and act accordingly. But don’t delay because depending on what that idea is, you may not get it back. Ideas have a funny way of disappearing if it’s not taken seriously when present. This is why I always believe that all great knowledge or ideas don’t come from man but from some outer source in the universe where man becomes a carrier to it in turning it to reality.
EI: For this entire series, NO! All I can say is that from the moment I touched the keypad, ideas kept rushing to my head faster than I could type. I could just see all the characters performing in my head as I went along. It was like magic! Nothing was rehearsed or scripted. Everything just moved spontaneously; as if the book wrote itself. It’s a phenomenon that I can’t explain which is why I will always say to my dying day that it was God Himself who wrote this entire series and not me. I sometimes look back and when I read what I “wrote”, I say to myself, “No way, this couldn’t be me. I actually wrote this? Me?” So for this, I never encountered writer’s block, except for maybe a minute or two, and just like that, the answered appeared instantly.
All I will say though, for all those authors and aspiring writers out there, is that whenever you go through writer’s block, take a break! Go out maybe on a vacation somewhere, to a beach, or get some sun, take a nap, go to a movie, play some golf, or hang with your friends and don’t worry about anything. Eventually, that inspiration or idea will come to you when you least expect it. It’s important that a writer doesn’t put themselves before the book and just allow the book to come to them. And whenever one is struggling with writer’s block, they’re trying to force something that isn’t there and whenever you do that, the result won’t be as it strong since it’s connected to an emotion of frustration and annoyance, which will in essence attract that same energy to the reader. And remember, this is not a race. Just take your time and allow spirit or inspiration to come to your subconscious mind on guiding you on what to write.
If you read or study the lives of all the famous composers, musicians, songwriters, playwrights, athletes, and leaders of all time, you will see that they all concur to this same fact. So this is nothing new. All you have to do is just believe it, and trust me, and when the inspiration comes, you’ll know exactly and act accordingly. But don’t delay because depending on what that idea is, you may not get it back. Ideas have a funny way of disappearing if it’s not taken seriously when present. This is why I always believe that all great knowledge or ideas don’t come from man but from some outer source in the universe where man becomes a carrier to it in turning it to reality.
BBB: What are you currently working on?
EI: There’s nothing at the moment until another inspiration comes to mind. And when that will be, who knows. Right now, I’m exhausted and need some time off before my energy can reload again, because no matter what anyone says, writing is tough work. It requires imagination, concentration, patience, and persistence!
BBB: How can readers discover more about you and your work?
EI: TheMiracleTrilogy.com
EI: There’s nothing at the moment until another inspiration comes to mind. And when that will be, who knows. Right now, I’m exhausted and need some time off before my energy can reload again, because no matter what anyone says, writing is tough work. It requires imagination, concentration, patience, and persistence!
BBB: How can readers discover more about you and your work?
EI: TheMiracleTrilogy.com
