Meet Olufisayo

Lenora says: Last year we had a new visitor to the Craftie Ladies Blog and thankfully, she is now a regular. Her name is Olufisayo Alabi and she lives in Nigeria. She loves reading and writing Christian fiction. She and I have become so close she calls me MUM and I call her Daughter. She e-mails me almost every day with a prayer and little tidbits of her life in Nigeria. Her husband is a minister and she has two growing boys. She recently received a promotion of sorts at her job and she shared that joy with me. She has created a website to help writers. I'll let her tell you how to get to the site. It sounds so interesting and promising. Olufisayo loves our books but they aren't available where she lives. She reads a lot of the short stories on the Harlequin site. I've sent her a few books and writing materials because she wants to write her own stories. I hope we can send her more. Olufisayo is kind and hardworking and she is a blessing in my life. So enjoy this interview with her and if you'd like to send her some books, let me know. I have her mailing address! I'm blessed to have Olufisayo in my life. I've been reading and editing her short story for a while now. She has tremendous potential. She was so excited to find our blog on the very day our editors were taking questions from bloggers. I even mentioned her to one of them--so Olufisayo-don't give up. You might become a Love Inspired author one day! I sure hope so.


Olufisayo says: I am Olufisayo Grace Alabi. I will be 35 this month (24th). I am married to a pastor, I have two lovely sons - Testimony and Teniola (Fortune). I am a working mother. I am a graduate of Mass Communication (which I studied because of my love for writing). I havewritten about eight (yet-to-be-published) books. Summarily, I live for reading and writing (smiles)


How did you discover Love Inspired Romance and how long have you been reading them?

I started working in a cybercafe in 2010, so I had time to surf theweb. I read all online stories at Heartsong Presents, (that was thefirst christian romance I ever knew!) then I started looking for freebooks to read. Someone borrowed me one Harlequin Intrigue then Idecided to visit the website. Oh, the joy of seeing free on-linereads! I started reading the daily and weekly online reads and thatwas how I came across A COWBOY'S PROMISE. It was my first LI. I saw the word 'Lord' there and wondered if romantic Harlequin has a spacefor God. I saw related reads and read all Terri Reeds online reads(Key witness, Yuletide Peril, etc) I actually tried contacting her but could not. In the course of my research, I came across this wonderful blog and became addicted ever since! I searched my local bookstores for LI series butcouldn't find any until my 'Mum', Lenora Worth, sent me threewonderful hard copies.


What is your favorite Love Inspired Romance?

Why?Lenora Worth's book, Hometown Sweetheart, a take on Snowhite. I read it within 3 hours! I just could not put it down.I re-read it over last weekend too. I love it because it shows how persistent love can transform a grumpyman into a lovingly persistent man. It's a nice one, just like the cartoon on Snowhite that I watched with my boys (I love cartoons too). The author took time to marry the hero and heroine's works to the plot. I learned that from the book.


What are you reading today?

Online reads - Donnely's Promise by Cherill St.John and An Enduring Love by Jillian Hart (both online)


Do you write, also? If so, tell us what you’re working on?

I am working on a story for Love Inspired with the suggested title,Her Worst Enemy. It would be a dream come true if I am published byLove Inspired.


Besides the Craftie Ladies, tell us two or three other Blogs you like to visit and why.

Well, Craftie Ladies is my main blog, others I got to know through Craftie.


What are your three favorite books of all time (I know, hard to narrow it
down). Tell us, what spiraled them to the top of your list? What did the author do that won you over?

1. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. It was a story of how oneman replaced another (to be killed) because of his love for a woman(who eventually became the other man's wife). It touched me, I cried,because it shows me what Christ did for me.

2. The Sound of Music. It makes me look inward to that inner strenghtand gift (like Maria in the story) and be the best I can be, in thecourse of helping others.

3. Beyond Pardon. A lady innocently made a mistake by falling in loveand eloping with a married man. On the ship, she found out he was married and she corrected her mistake. The marriage was notc onsummated. She became a nun and later helped save the life of many children, including the man's child. It touched me and taught asacrificial and restitution lesson.


Anything else you'd like to add?

I must let you wonderful women realize that I greatly appreciate your work. Way back in high school, I read all novels in my school library(all Nancy Drews stories) and I wanted more. Then M&B etc started coming. I read them but I did not like the love scenes and so I decided that there should be a romance book without love (sex) scenes.That was why I chose writing as a career. It is a great inspiration to now see a trail to follow. I believe that one day, I will get there. Love you all!