02 Jun 2019

Some writers are slowly moving away from the traditional pen and paper towards the digital age to explore unique ways of showcasing their creative works.

Such writers are now using social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook to get their creative works out into the world. 

One of those is Emmie Motsamai, a seasoned digital short story writer, who has taken to Facebook to connect with thousands of her followers who are now avid readers of her short stories.

The Maun-born and bred writer has so far written seven short stories in Facebook and has been able to generate interest and following from a good number of Facebook users not only in Botswana but across Southern Africa. 

She has so far generated 216 000 followers of which 30 000 are from South Africa, 2 000 from Zimbabwe while others are from Namibia, Zambia, Swaziland, Lesotho and the United Kingdom.

She said her journey with creative writing started in 2015 when she used it as a coping mechanism during the time her mother was battling with cancer.

“As the first born child, I was overwhelmed and depressed. I used writing to help me take my mind off everything that I was going through at the time and over the years, it became addictive and I could not stop,” she said.  

Some of her short stories include Confessions of the Main Chick, Confessions of an Angel, Two wrongs in Maun, The Alpha Male, Confessions of a co-wife, My Wife’s boss and Wicked me.

Motsamai writes at least two inserts of her short stories daily for her followers, which often attracts 31 Facebook reactions instantly.

Her creative writing is not based solely on entertaining her audience, but to also raise awareness on a number of issues such as rape and gender-based violence among others. Through her short stories, Motsamai teaches her readers about survival in the real world, how to handle certain circumstances and getting back up after life throws one off a cliff.

 She said even though she started posting her writings for free,  looking at the number of followers she commands, she has recently started making some income by offering advertisement services at a fee for different businesses or individuals.

The seasoned digital writer noted that just like a flower needs both the sun and rain to grow, cyberbullying has taught her to look at both compliments and criticism as something she can use to improve her writing.

“I have also learned not to respond to cyber-bullying because it just fuels the whole thing so whenever something comes up I ignore it, especially those on a platform that I do not have control over,” she said.

Although Motsamai has a large following, she said only a few people know her true identity. 

She values her privacy and prefers to write anonymously in order to write freely without being judged. 

“It is much easier to write erotic scenes and sensitive issues of sexual abuse when one is not known as some readers may find the material disturbing. I also use a pseudo because I would like to publish different genres in the future,” she said.

Motsamai further said she was not only looking into online writing but also had plans to publish two of her books of which one of them is ready for printing while the other one is still getting edited. 

She plans to publish both books before the end of the year. ENDS