Thursday, March 29, 2012

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!

29 comments:

  1. Olufisayo,
    What an inspiring post! We're so glad to have you join us today.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Olufisayo,

    Great to meet you. All the best with your potential Love Inspired book.

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  3. Hi Olufisayo its good to get to know you more. there are a couple of older LI books free at amazon. I know some overseas countries like Australia and I believe some of Africa also are not able to get the ebooks from LI straight away.
    I hope to see your name on a LI book in the future it would be so cool.

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  4. Olufisayo,

    I always enjoy seeing your beautiful, smiling face when you post a blog comment. Today was extra special because I got to learn about your family and your life.

    Isn't it wonderful that God can bring us together through the Internet and the Craftie Ladies of Romance blog!

    Keep writing! God has wonderful plans for your future.

    Sending prayers and love across the miles to you and your husband and sons.

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  5. Olufisay,

    Be sure to let us know your blog site so we can stop by and say hello to your readers! :)

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  6. Olufisayo, dear sister, wonderful to hear how you're perceiving in your writing!

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  7. I'm actually blushing! (True, but you can't see it because I am dark-skinned) Thank you all so so so much.

    Pamela, thanks for ur comment.

    Jean, thanks for that wish. I say a big Amen to that.

    Ausjenny, you know you are my sister! We have spoken some more. I will look up amazon. And thanks for that BIG hope, I'm sure it would come to pass soon.

    Debby, you made my blush go deeper, thanks. Thanks for your prayers and words of encouragement. It's a great blessing. My website is: http://delightpublishinghouse.gnbo.com.ng/ Do stop by anytime.

    My sister Sandra! Thanks for your care.

    Sweet Mummy, Thanks and thanks again. When I needed someone, you were there. God bless and answer your prayers. I love you.

    Thanks again, beautiful women, I love you all!

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  10. Olufisayo,
    I enjoyed reading your interview! I love The Sound of Music, too. Good luck with your writing. Just keep at it!

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  11. Thank you for sharing your story, Olufisayo! It blessed me greatly today. I look forward to one day seeing your name on a Love Inspired story.

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  12. Hi Olufisayo! It was so nice to read your interview this morning - I really enjoyed getting to learn more about you. Wishing you well and much fullfillment in your writing journey.

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  13. Winnie, thanks so much, I appreciate you.

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  14. Hello, DAUGHTER! I know these ladies will love you as much as I do. Now you have lots of MUMS!!!!

    This is why I love writing. Not only do I get to sit in my little room and write but I get to meet friends all over the world. That is such a blessing! Olufisayo, you are such a special person and I will cherish our friendship and love in Christ always. I believe you have a lot of stories to tell. And I believe God knew that so he let you find us and now we are the ones who are blessed :)))

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  15. Olufisayo,

    How lovely to "meet" you. I enjoyed reading about your passion for Christian novels and writing so much!

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  16. Olufisayo, I loved your post and learning about you. It is amazing to know our books are an encouragement for people all over the world. Isn't God gracious?
    Keep writing.

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  17. Olufisayo, it's so nice to read more about you! I'm glad you hang out with us here on the blog!

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  18. Olufisayo,
    I'm sorry you weren't able to connect with me after reading my online stories. Not sure what happened there. I'm so glad you were able to connect to Lenora. She's a great lady and wonderful mentor. She mentored me while I was unpublished. I credit her a lot with my success and still look to her as a role model.
    We have some favorite books in common. A Tale of Two Cities was one of the first classics I ever read as a teen and loved it. I too read and still have all the Nancy Drew mysteries.
    I wish you all the best with your writing. Keep at it. I pray God will bless you and your family richly.

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  19. Olufisayo -- I just boxed up several Love Inspired books and plan to ship them to you this week. I have one in there by Jillian Hart, one by Lois Richer, and a couple of my Dry Creek series books. I hope you will enjoy reading them.

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  20. Hi Olufisaya here is a link to some free fiction ebooks.
    http://www.familyfiction.com/news/free-christian-fiction-for-your-computer-kindle-nook-and-more/
    including a few LI books.

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  21. Olufisayo, thank you so much for sharing your story. I'm glad you found us.

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  22. Terri, you are so sweet!! I think I could learn a thing or two from you!! What a great discussion today. Perfect during this season of Lent!! God's love transcends time and space.

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  23. Hi Oluifisaya, So glad to hear about you. I have heard from Nigerian ladies too. Isn't the Internet wonderful--letting us know each other on our screens?

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  24. Olufisayo...so nice to learn more about you and your love of reading and writing.

    I love the title "Her Worst Enemy"...and I pray that you will one day soon see the fruit of your labor.

    Blessings to you and yours, our sister in the Lord. =)

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  25. Thanks so much Wonderful ladies, I had to log off and go home yesterday after 4pm. (You know there is a 9-hour time difference between Nigeria and America. When you woke up, it was evening here)

    I appreciate all your comments and I am honored. I thank God Almighty for connecting with you all.

    Really, I am blessed. And, I love you all.

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  26. Hi Olufisayo, I enjoyed reading your interview and learning more about you. My husband is also a pastor, and I enjoy writing, so we have that in common. I hope you continue to work toward your dream of publishing your stories.
    Blessings,
    Carrie

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  27. Oludisayo it is so good to meet you! I will be praying for you and your writing career and that your dreams come true as mine did when I was finally published by LI.

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