Interview with Georgette Monnou

1  I had the opportunity of interviewing the lovely Georgette Monnou :) 

     1)   Who is Georgette?

a

     A writer and a blogger!

2)   When did you start blogging?

            I started blogging the summer of 2012, so just over two years ago!

3  

      3)Why did you start blogging?

            In the summer of 2012, I was in Cornwall for an extended period of time with my daily routine comprising of studying, eating and sleeping. Most of my friends weren’t around, so I was left with my thoughts for company. I was reading news articles about Nigeria and grew frustrated about why the political situation in Nigeria was so abysmal. So I was Skyping and calling my friends, talking to them about Nigerian politics, and about the way I felt change could come.  A day or so after, I thought why not put my ideas out there! So my blog actually started as a political blog. I wanted to get people thinking and talking about the ways Nigeria could be helped. I also wanted to use the blog as a platform for young people who were pursuing unconventional careers to be celebrated. Nigeria’s older generation are not always so welcoming to the idea that their child could be a singer, actress, model, VJ, DJ etc. aka “a creative”. However, in my generation I have witnessed so many of my classmates involved in so many new and exciting projects, leading to many of them making a pretty penny as a result of it. So in a way, it was my way of saying to the older generation, “see…we can still make it even though we didn’t pursue the conventional career path.” I was amazed by the overwhelming support my blog had, and the people that read it.

           

      Over the years, theUnspokenWords93 has grown into much more than a political blog. I started writing Lifestyle pieces, publishing interviews of young adults involved in various creative fields and featuring guest writers, which really increased the blog’s popularity, but there is still so much growth the blog can and will have. God willing.

       4)   What inspired the name of your blog?

      

              The name of my blog came in the spur of the moment. In trying to choose a name, I thought why not TheUnspokenWords? Saying things that hadn’t been said before, or in a particular way. 93 came about because that is the year of my birth.

5    5)   What is your favourite thing about blogging

       I love the freedom blogging gives to share your ideas. Not only that, but seeing people’s response to my ideas. Good, bad interesting, it’s all an experience. I think the greatest gift I’ve been given is someone contracting me, telling me how much they love my blog, my writing and or at a social event people casually saying, “Oh yea you’re a blogger now, I saw your article on Bella Naija, or on your personal blog!” It honestly makes my heart smile. I am grateful. I think the fact I have touched someone in someway is just humbling.

66)   What inspires your blog posts or post? 

       Someone asked me this recently. Like I said earlier I do everything based on passion. So I could have listened to a song, read an article, watched a movie, heard about a persons experience or gone through something that inspires me to write about a topic. It’s always done in the moment, from the heart, and I edit afterwards, but that’s my creative process. For me, doing it the other way around, where I have a topic, then I choose what to write about just doesn’t work. Anything I write sounds contrived.

·      The short answer is that it could be anything.

77)   What are your hobbies?

     

       I play the guitar, I taught myself about two years ago now. I absolutely love it! I hear a song and I try and learn to play it on the guitar; it has definitely been what helped me get through my final year of university and my stressful days. I also write my own original songs. Apart from playing the guitar, I blog quite a bit and I write articles for various online blogs: Bella Naija, Creativity Turf, Culture Custodian, and Thought Catalog.

    8)   Do you think social media is useful in helping advertise your blog? Or can it be improved?

    

            Social media is crucial! It is the biggest tool to getting your blog out there on the World Wide Web! Apart from social media, it helps when you get interviewed or you write guest posts on various blogs. Your work reaches a wider audience.

9)   You have a YouTube if I recall. Are you going to be posting new content? What sort of content?

    

     “Oh my days!” That is literally what just came out of my mouth. Ha-ha! I do have a YouTube channel, but the videos on there are elementary. They were early videos of me playing the guitar and when I posted recipes for when I had a food blog. (I have gone through a long creative process… laughs!)

      I will actually be posting new content, sometime next year I hope. It will be in line with my new blog which is launching next year - #RealTalkwithGeorgie. I am uber excited about it! My blog is getting a facelift with some more amazing content. I don’t want to say too much because it’s still in the works, but YouTube will be hearing from me at some point!

1  10)                  How do you balance university work and blogging?

         It is hard, really hard. In fact it has been one of my major struggles. I went through a very interesting creative process, especially when I got excited about all these various things I could possibly do. So I ended up starting all of it, all at the same time! Over time, I learnt to try to focus on just a few projects and even then university work took over so I had to shut down some. When I started writing for other blogs, I also got too carried away and my personal blog suffered. It’s all about balance. I now focus on theUnspokenWords and its content, as it was the first project I started. That focus has enabled the blog to grow. I have an internal deadline to publish content, which seems to be working. Also in the periods between posts, I circulate the recent posts I’ve done.

1  11)                   Any tips for anyone trying to start a blog or trying to get better at blogging?

       Well what I just said above. It’s about balance and focus. Focus on one thing and stick to that idea. Over time naturally, following your creative process, that idea will grow and expand. But if you are trying to do too much all at the same time, all your projects will suffer because you are not giving each one the attention it deserves and I’m all about giving 100% of yourself.

I loved interviewing her and she is so gorgeous :)