Former tech journo Mich Atagana channels feelings about pandemic into books
I WAS recently asked how I dealt with the pain of living through this pandemic. My answer was simple: food. But for others, it was a time to put their feelings on record and ride out the difficulties brought on by Covid-19 through writing.
Mich Atagana is one of those who decided to write and more than 18 months later, has three books to her name. I spoke to the tech journalistturned-tech company communicator, about her three books – Moments: Thoughts, Feelings, Poems and the Truths that Make us Human; Love Hangoversand Notes from the Pandemic; and Other Anxiety Born Things.
You’ve written three books since 2020 – has it long been a dream of yours?
I think every journalist has a book in them or thinks they do. When you’re no longer using your writing skills to report, you channel it in to something else and that’s mostly a book.writing is a compulsion. I can’t stop myself from writing. Writing comes naturally, it’s not easy, but words are always around me.
What was it about the pandemic that saw many people put pen to paper and write?
I suppose it’s the time element. We couldn’t go anywhere. In my case, I didn’t leave my house most of the time. All I did was work, and I realised because I was working all the time, I needed something to make sure I was breaking my day. Working from home means you can work from dawn until dusk and even to later on in the evening. I lived alone during the lockdown and there’s a limit to how many phone calls you can do for company, and I needed to get my thoughts out. So writing was the best way for me. It was either I came up with a PHD or a book. I chose the books.
Did you ever question whether it was the right time to write the books? Like, was it not too early to write about what the pandemic made you feel?
Probably I could have waited. Got an agent, publisher and did that whole hustle. But I’m not writing these books to make money, even though I would love for people to buy them (Please buy my books!) But I wrote them because I had a lot to say during this time and I’m hoping they will help people who need the help. All these books are about living in the isolation we are living in right now. Trying to understand the emotions. I felt it important that these books exist in the world right now, so people can read them and understand that they are not alone in everything they are feeling right now. We are all incredibly anxious, burnt out and emotional. We are in this together and we can get through this together. That your feelings are valid. I hope the books will be helpful to people living during this pandemic and in a post-pandemic world.
Why poetry anthologies and essays and not novels?
I started out writing a novel. I have about 120 pages of a novel I started writing, and then I got writer's block and couldn’t push myself to finish it. To kind of find a way to get rid of my writer’s block, I started writing shorter pieces and before I knew it, it was more than 200 short pieces that I had written.
What is it about poetry that makes us think deeply about the situation we are in?
I think it’s because, oddly enough, people think it’s complicated, but it’s actually the simplicity of it. People think it has a deeper meaning and yet sometimes it’s just surface level and it’s okay. When Love Hangovers came out
earlier this year, a friend read a piece and asked ‘Are you okay? He sent me the poem I had written and how he had felt the pain I was in. Poetry has always been about what I am feeling at that moment.
Whatever I’m feeling, when I was able to write it down, it meant I was done with it. I don’t think we should think too deeply and analyse it. Just read it, and if you feel a certain way afterwards, that’s okay. I worry that we get too caught up about if it’s the ‘right’ feeling and we forget to just simply enjoy the words.
Do you get scared of publishing a book and then no one reading or speaking about it?
I think for every writer, that’s a major fear. If you don’t work for a mainstream media publication, you are always worried that no one is going to read the things you write, that it will just be out there and maybe only your parents would read it. I don’t know if lots of people have read the books, what I do know is the people I care about who have read them have said to me the books moved them and honestly, I’m okay with that.