Romance Meets
Life is mulled by an inner reality
 |
| Myne |
When I started following Myne Whitman’s
blog ‘Romance Meets Life’, I was
definitely struck by a truth of originality in her work. For me, she could pass for the thorough-breed
home girl because issues of strong
societal concerns back in Nigeria feature prominently in her blog even though
she lives in the United States of
America with her husband. I read passion and a warm nature as her personality
and she was quick to prove my perception of her right when we met each other
during one of her visits to Nigeria. At the bookstore where our meeting was
scheduled to hold, there were a number of other persons who had also come to
see her and it was fun all the way.
I had read some reviews on one of Myne’s
books ‘A heart to mend’ and I was eager to know what inspired her to writing in
that category of novel—love! She shared
with me how much she read books as a teenage girl, and that romance novels were
some of her favourites. Her words: “I had read a lot of romance novels as a
young girl and coupled with the real-life relationship experience that someone
shared with me, it just clicked and I thought it would be fantastic to share
this in a book.”
Myne believes that ‘A heart to mend’ beyond serving the pleasure of reading a
captivating story, would also be addressing problems that a lot of people
experience in their relationships. She has undoubtedly raised so many issues
that people experience in relationships and has acted quite objectively to ensure
that her community of followers share their thoughts about these issues.
Spiced by a spectrum of interesting issues,
Myne’s blog has won several awards. Her interest in books has sustained her
passion as she uses the social media to promote the book industry and reading
culture in Nigeria. Being
self-published, she has become very experienced in book promotion, and continues to give advice on this when needed. Her experience in book promotion using the
social media, earned her the opportunity to facilitate a session titled,
“Social Media and the Book Publishing Industry”, for the Publishers’ Forum at
the 2010 Garden City Literary Festival in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Myne holds a Master’s degree in Public
Health Research, but her love for writing keeps her in the industry where she
gladly expresses her passion. The
coal-city of Enugu, South-East Nigeria, was her place of birth where she was
also raised. Her childhood memories remain a treasure to her because she
enjoyed the best of outdoor activities with her siblings. That family bond is still an unbroken chord
today as she ensures that her family members read her books first and give
their opinions before she heads for the press. She works full-time at her personal blog.