Looking back at my journey now, I know that there has always been this rooted feeling of wanting to write, to put my thoughts out there even before I believe they matter.

But, that's not how it all started. It won't be fair for me to tell my writing story without telling my reading story because as far as I am concerned, I was first a reader before a writer.

When I was 8 my family moved to kano permanently. There was so much excitement surrounding going to school here as my siblings and I anticipated having classmates that have names similar to ours, who we could pronounce each others names. But that aside I in particular dislike moving schools frequently as being accustomed to a new school was hard for me (most times I hardly get to settle before we moved again).

It wasn't any different with the new school in kano. I thought if the majority of my classmates are finally all Hausas then I would make friends faster, turns out I was seen as even more peculiar here than before, and it was even harder to fit in here because at least my former classmates were interested in me and my difference, wanting to learn my ways and language and me their own.

But then, something happened and all of a sudden everyone was so interested in me, the new girl, they all wanted to hear me tell stories. It was fantastic!

Until I realise they weren't interested in my stories but in my katsina accent, which was different from their hausan kano.

It wasn't a nice feeling knowing that they were laughing at the way I talked and not because my stories were funny.

That instance made me not just as shy but also embarrassed, I begin to seclude myself even more.

Reading through the English comprehension textbook was usually my activity in-between lessons. I began doing more of that after what happened.

My other activity used to be drawing funny comics before my mom seized the book claiming it was the reason I was having bad grades. (But that was before we moved to kano, and turns out I was probably getting bad grades because of my then-unknown short-sightedness).

From English textbooks, I soon moved to lantern books, which were popular at that time.

Lantern books were indeed the beginning of my reading addiction. I remembered how my seatmate used to hide them from me so I can talk to her.

It's funny, and I can still remember all the lantern books I read, and I read nearly all of them.

God sends mefon a bird and Ebire and the snake pillow was the first story my sister gifted me, then there was, Chima laugh last, the wicked king, Folake and her four brothers among others.

It was superb having to read all these magnificent stories that oftentimes when my head is not buried on my desk reading them, then my eyes will be closed fantasizing about my own made-up stories in my head.

I remembered writing a story over the holidays about a girl called Binta and her wicked stepmother, very cliche. My sister read it, encouraged me, and even perhaps promise to publish it for me.

My reading addiction escalated more during my first year in secondary school. I attended an all-girls boarding school and it wasn't hard at all to blend in or make friends by the way, since everyone was new in my class and looking for friends.

I read my best first year of secondary school. Oliver twist, treasure Island drum of joy, born still, the virtuous woman, a woman in her prime, out of his mind, the white wizard, Moremi the courageous queen, purple hibiscus... among others.

I could go on and on about so many books I read, I still have a clear deje vu of each moment I read these books.

By Js 2 I went wild and was exposed to English books, reading genres bigger than my age like crime, and romance. naughty times, I know.

By Js 3 I was Zainab Alkali and Chimamanda in my head. I began writing anything that came to my mind and spent at least hours bucking me. I had this big hardcover book for my articles and Maryam, my fellow writer friend who will spend hours with me finding new words in the dictionary and analyzing random articles in old newspapers from the library.

I had another friend Khaleedah who I considered a very skilled writer at the time, she already could write poetry and I learned a lot about writing from her.

Khaleedah left after junior school, and I made a new book pal in ss2, Xee who was also suffering from severe reading addiction, our bond and connection was strengthened by our common love for mystery thrillers, and together we got obsessed with Sydney Sheldon, and James Hadley Chase and Daniel Steel.

We could give our last kobo to the librarian (who became our good friend) to buy Novels outside of school for us.

In ss3 Xee became the library prefect and we lived the rest of our school lives in there. Studying for our finals, reading tons of books including non-fiction, and most importantly, writing my very first story.

That book is still with Xee, the only person who read it.

I graduated from school in 2017, and I finally got my first phone.

The first thing I did was open a Wattpad account and carried on with my addiction.

I eventually went from just reading books on Wattpad to interacting with other readers and writers on the platform, even reviewing books. At some point even anonymously wrote Hausa novels.

Then someone mentioned canva and recommended it for book cover designs.

Meanwhile, I wanted to share my writeups on ig. A friend of mine was doing some diploma in computer and agreed to make me a graphic template where I can put my write-ups and post.

The friend delayed me and so out of impulse I downloaded canva, remembering that recommendation from Wattpad.

I had canva for months but never tried anything. It was confusing, I didn't get it at all, didn't even know what templates are then.

Until the day I created my first ig account (the ambitious lavender) where I was going to share the writeups.

That was when I begin using canva. I became obsessed and realized canva was very user-friendly and not complicated at all.

I fell in love with designing even more than writing at that time, (but still not more than reading). Because even when I don't have anything to write I will still design. I started designing book covers for my Wattpad friends and business flyers for my friends.

In 2019 I got admission into the university and the ambitious lavender was changed to the reality gurl, which was the name of my then blog.

I created therealitygurl first out of curiosity as to what blogging was all about, I noticed it has something to do with writing and wanted to try it. So, I did, even taking the process extra by learning web design and making everything from scratch myself.

I quit writing therealitygurl in 2020. I could no longer afford its hosting, wasn't completely alright after I lost my Dad, and a few people were leaving some hate comments my self-esteem couldn't handle at the time, and it also became pointless because the audience I attracted was majority foreign people I couldn't entirely relate with.

Meanwhile, people saw the flyers and book covers I was making and I began getting a lot of referrals.

Ending of 2020 I was so good with flyers. Luck down happened, a lot of people were starting new businesses online and I was catching cruise making flyers for them.

Until my friend Mamie said 'No Deezah you're going to be doing it for free' and so I monetized it and began charging.

I thought because I can design flyers I have what it takes in graphic designing, turns out I needed more to learn and so I did. I took my time to learn logo design, cards, and so on.

Nevertheless, that was how dexagraphs_ng began, which use to be just me doing freelance graphic design work for small business owners, until this year when I began making content about branding and graphic design for the same small entrepreneurs, I decided to then change it from dexagraphs_ng to creativedexa_ng.

Read why I did so in my book - we are all creative.

Graphic design became not just a passion for me but also a profession, but never stopped me from writing.

After the blog died, I regained my momentum again, this time with purpose, goals, plans, and not just hopes and dreams.

I started a new writing page on Instagram @dee.xarh right when 2021 started.

Fun fact: the first poem I shared was from the ambitious lavender era.

I started focusing and sharing more on poetry and less on articles and short stories (even though I would share short stories mostly from the ambitious lavender once in a while) but I did explore poetry more, even going on stage to perform at TEDx Bayero University Kano.

Everything was bizarre from there, I went on to do things I could only imagine in my head, things like doing spoken word poetry, publishing a book, and starting another blog all over again.

But, as I said, this time with purpose, goals, and plan and not just hopes and dreams.

I have learned so much over the years, about life, death, dreams, responsibility, passion, pursuing what you want, about challenging yourself, getting out of your comfort zone, and doing what matters to you.

This is why my first book shockingly wasn't fiction, the style I was used to reading and writing. It was rather about helping others like myself figure it out, especially when it comes to building a creative career or turning a passion into a profession (which are questions I got asked a lot).

I also shared tons of ideas and skills anyone can start and make money from, but most importantly how we can all showcase our creativity to the world, gain opportunities and make a living out of it, because I believe 'we are all creative'

2022 was meant to be my year of consistency, and I tried to keep up. I hope I did at least.

This is certainly not the end of my journey as there will be more to come, hopefully only good things.

Thank you very much for reading, I hope my story was interesting, and I would love to hear your story.