About Ubong Ekpo:
Relationships are at the heart of who I am and what I do. I’m married to a wonderful wife and have the best daughter in the world. Some of my greatest ideas and inspiration has been birthed by time with my family.
I set out on a quest to discover my own life goals and calling years ago and today, I’m a Speaker and author with a burning desire to grow people and teams. Helping people discover and reach life goals or helping teams translate business goals into result-driven execution are things I enjoy.
Over time I developed my own blog and website , I do regular training/coaching sessions, run a training team and recently launched my own motivational video series on youtube titled “Growing Your Greatness with Ubong Ekpo”
What inspires you to write?
My interactions with people and the dynamics of personal and work life cause me to keep asking questions and the challenges faced in our world by people who seem to be caught in a seeming whirlwind and seeking direction drive me.
I have to speak, I have to write, I have to teach and train and consult.
I cannot be at rest until I know I have helped people enjoy meaning, fulfillment and results in their daily and professional interactions within the complex fast lane our world has become.
This is what inspires me to write. And my writing in turn is to inspire and provoke positive change.
To echo a message that resounds with people of all ages: Life can be a heaven on earth. The complex can be made simple and answers can be illustrated,dramatized and experienced through writing.
When I speak or train, they feed my mind and soul with themes,images and a wealth of interaction that converges into the ideas I put down in black and white.
Tell us about your writing process.
I normally have several themes revolving around my mind at various seasons and some of them crystallize into thoughts I can elaborate on paper in greater depth. I somehow sense which theme or topic, challenge or solution, question or call needs to be written down and addressed. When that happens, as I focus and think on this, I normally have the exact phrase or title form in my mind from a theme and usually at that moment, I know it’s a book.
I can instantly see a few chapters form and I get to work setting an outline but not stopping the flow of ideas, thoughts,examples, experiences and answers as they come many times like a gusher. I always have a writing pad and mobile device on me to record moments like these and my thoughts. You can actually talk faster than you can write and release a lot more quicker so i tend to record voice memos with ideas as they come, freely vocalizing my ideas. At other times, reading on a related or sometimes unrelated topic suddenly zaps my mind back to the theme and the flow continues.
I allow these to soak in me and go over what I have and then I settle down to review information I have gleaned or filed over the years on the same topic and allow the wisdom to all mingle. Listening to my mentors and reading widely enrich my viewpoint and help me get a balanced view and judgement as best I can.
I love to sketch mindmaps and do whiteboard or sketches as I am also a very visual person. I carve out an environment with some discipline to actually let ideas simmer and mingle into a manuscript.
I also come back over and again to the outline and the material begins to fill out.
And then, when I arrive at the end, I must rewrite the beginning, as it is then I really see the full picture of my book 🙂
What advice would you give other writers?
My first piece of advice would be to find and learn as much as possible from writers and possibly speakers who embody what inspires you and you wish to be. Immerse yourself in their materials and create on purpose a growth environment that will keep you energized and moving forward daily. Inspiration will keep coming as long as you stay energized and focused daily on the people, events, experiences and things that excite you the most. Then the age old art of discipline to actually write is what will grow your skills. Write,write and keep writing. Then learn from mentors and a community and keep on writing.
You will look back in a few years and be amazed at what happens when you are growth conscious. the books will keep coming. I know because I have some more cooking on the fire as we speak 😉
How did you decide how to publish your books?
Being an entrepreneurial person and one who loves to play out a strategy from start to finish, the allure of adventure drew me into self-publishing. Having the say over your message,royalties and how to say it is a great thing. Also I have had years of experience on the web which made things easier for me as far as online marketing and the web was concerned. Things are changing in the book industry and one has to be flexible yet clearly fixed on certain core aspects. In the long run, one must discover their own winning combination when it comes to publishing.
Nevertheless, when it comes to the content of my writing, I always seek balance so that I write to the audience and not just to myself (making books marketable), I sought out good mentors, writing communities and editors to help perfect my work. My speaking and training have exposed me to wide audiences,viewpoints,cultures and feedback that so enrich my life and writing. It should be remembered that nothing can replace good advice and mentoring early on so find the best you can early enough and keep growing.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
The book ( digital or paperback) will still remain the crucible and harbinger of ideas and philosophies that shape each next generation and culture around the world. I heard someone say the world is ruled by dead men’s ideas. Whether individually, raising a family, in politics,faith,business, words are the carriers of ideas that shape our future and human experience. Book publishing will forever remain. As to traditional books versus digital, I think paperbacks and their sales will still remain for some time to come even though digital publishing has made the writer’s pen more potent and far-reaching than ever before. People still like to settle down with good paperbacks and a rich home library has no comparison 🙂 I am a web person as well as a traditionalist and I strive to stay flexible and relevant with my message, marketing and distribution methods. I welcome the future with open arms,not forgetting the rich history behind it all and remaining a man who tries to remain through my writing, a man who carries alll of history in my message. I think eevry good writer must be a time traveller.
What do you use?: Professional Editor, Professional Cover Designer, Beta Readers
What genres do you write?: non-fiction mainly but my imagination from childhood has me thinking fiction so much that I believe I could delve into that
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
Ubong Ekpo Home Page Link
Link To Ubong Ekpo Page On Amazon
Your Social Media Links
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