Jane Nannono
I have been a voracious reader since the age of six and reading books had made me a global citizen long before Vint Cerf and Robert E. Kahn invented the Internet.
By 1994, I felt I had read enough books to write my own mainly to contribute to the literary world which had given me so much joy, fun and knowledge all those years.
Then in January 1998 while working as a medical doctor in Botswana, southern Africa, I was involved in a near–fatal road traffic accident with two of my children and a friend.
I was the driver and suffered the brunt of the injury. I broke two of the lower bones of the neck. It is a miracle that I survived. I survived because God willed it, Botswana has an efficient and effective health Care system and a quick referral system, and I had the loving support of my husband, my mother, family and great friends.
Eight weeks of neck traction followed by two major operations on the neck, I was on my feet once again in seven months.
Surviving this serious accident awakened my keen interest in writing.
Why I Decided to Write a Novel Rather than a Memoir About My Experience
Writing the story as it happened would have been an easy and predictable read so I decided to write The Last Lifeline, my fiction novel, by stripping the main character of all of the support of family and friends and creating the challenge of her wanting to reclaim her independence in such a denuded landscape.
By writing this novel, I was answering the question of where I would have turned after sustaining that major accident if family and friends were not near to offer the help I needed to pull through. How could I have gone about building a surrogate family at that great moment of need?
I chose to write other than go into advocacy or withdraw into myself because I had long been thinking about writing a novel.
I also did not want to forget the experience and I wanted to remember it with gratitude.
Once I started writing the ideas flew smoothly because I was writing about what I knew. All that was required of me was to be open and vulnerable.
I Recognized Myself in My Main Character
I enjoyed the actual writing process because as the story unfolded, the main character’s needs, wants and desires led me into the events that followed.
Grateful that she had been given a second chance at life, she badly needed to reinvent herself while reclaiming her independence. Confrontation with her own mortality had forced her to reflect on her life and to decide to allow herself to be herself. She does this by letting go of what was no longer serving her to create room for new growth.
I recognized myself in her as she struggled to claim her power and express that power in the world. I was sure that many other women would relate to her story and try to liberate themselves from anything that was holding them back.
I felt I needed to tell the story to the world to encourage anyone else who could be going through a similar experience. The more I wrote the more the ideas came flooding in so I had to discipline myself to stick to what the main character wanted for herself. I wrote a page almost daily after dinner until I completed it in one and half years.
Writing My Book Helped Me Get to Know Myself at a Deeper Level
The writing itself was cathartic—freeing and therapeutic. It helped me get to know myself at a deeper level. I became more sensitive to my feelings and emotions and opened myself up to being more human.
I was self-motivated but my husband encouraged me to write and complete the book. At around the same time, my childhood best friend, a lawyer, decided to study for a Master of Business Administration degree, at that time considered the mother of all masters degrees. She completed it successfully.
Her success motivated me to do something I loved that was not in the field of medicine. I needed to create something new in my life after being given a second chance at life.
Getting a Publisher Turned Out to be the Most Challenging Aspect of Writing
I felt that by writing The Last Lifeline, I had taken the responsibility of starting and completing something big in my life. I had reinvented myself as an emerging writer. Naïve as I was as writer, I knew that writing the story was getting half the job done.
Completing The Last Lifeline gave me the confidence to pursue my dream of becoming a prolific writer. Since then I have written several short stories, among them Move Back to Move Forward and Buried Alive in the Hot Kalahari Sands. These two short stories were published in the First Volume of The Anthology of The Africa Book club (2014) entitled: The Bundle Of Joy and Other Stories from Africa.
Getting a publisher for my novel turned out to be the most challenging aspect of writing. Unfortunately, I ended up with a scam publisher in New York—Raider Publishing International owned by Adam Salviani.
It was a large setback but thankfully, it led me into self-publishing and eBook publishing with Amazon and Smashwords. The experience gave me the responsibility to help other emerging writers from Africa whenever I can, mainly so they won’t be scammed as Raider Publishing International did to me and many other writers from Africa.
The other big challenge was how to market and promote my book. That forced me to start a personal blog to make myself visible to the readers and to serve as a platform for my other creative works. Digital technology has made it a lot easier for me to connect with other writers and readers worldwide.
I’m Thrilled I Can Hold a Book in My Hands Written by Me
The Last Lifeline is available in the hard copy and eBook. I have not yet sold many copies but a number of readers have read it and a few have given me a feedback.
I am thrilled that I can hold a book in my hands written by me. It was reviewed favourably on the Africa Book Club website. I am happy that the reviews picked what I had in mind while writing the book.
Life can change in the blink of an eye and when it does, there are two solid pillars: family and friends to help you come through to the other side.
Being given a second chance at life demands that you reflect on your life and let go of what no longer serves your growth and focus on what brings out your huge potential to become the best you.
A number of readers have related to the theme of the novel.
The one major thing that I hoped that readers would take away from my project is that life is essentially about relationships: a relationship with your God, yourself, your family, your friends and with other people you meet along your life’s journey.
It is what gives meaning to our lives and sees us through the storms of this world. As we dance with death every day, we have to celebrate the gift of life, family and friendship every day.
Each of Us Has a Unique Story to Tell the World
I would encourage any other person who undergoes a life-changing experience like mine to write about it.
It will be cathartic for you while at the same time enriching the lives of readers.
Each one of us has a unique story to tell to the world and if each one played perfectly her small part that fits in the big picture, the world would be a better place.
In this digital technology-driven era, writing stories is much easier, but at the same time it is a crowded space so you have to write exceptionally well to be noticed. You also need to acquaint yourself with the promotion and marketing strategy of your works.
Trust yourself and write now, tell your story and stretch your imagination as well. It is worth the effort.
You have to celebrate each small achievement that comes your way for eventually it all adds up to create the big success. As the old adage says: “Rome wasn’t built in a day, but they were laying bricks every hour.”
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Jane Nannono is a Ugandan medical doctor who has worked both in Uganda and Botswana. She is a mother of two adorable sons and one daughter and a guardian for her two nieces.
She has been a voracious reader since early childhood but since 2013, she has been busy trying to turn herself into a remarkable writer. The Last Lifeline (2015) is her first novel. She writes short stories too.
Since late 2016, she has been running a personal blog for personal development and sharing her wealth of experiences, skills and talents to impact other people’s lives positively.
She is now back in Uganda juggling medicine, motherhood and creative writing.
For more information on Jane and her work, please see her website.
The Last Lifeline: A middle-aged, independent, has-it-all woman survives a nearly fatal road traffic accident in March 2004. She begins a tortuous journey of physical, mental and emotional healing. It happens at a time when she has been stripped of almost all close connections to family and friends.
She finds healing in the most unlikely of places: the Physiotherapy department of a local hospital through unlikely, simple people doing simple acts of kindness. As the physical landscape changes from winter to spring, she slowly renews herself from deep within. She fiercely fights to retain her most prized possession- her independence. She finally shakes off her demons and moves into an uncertain future, full of determination and excitement.
Available at Amazon and Smashwords.