'The Story Lane' by Fayo Sanwo
If you want to become dangerously good at storytelling, you're at the right place. Every week, I send out two emails, sharing practical nuggets to help you become a compelling storyteller that your audience can't get enough of. My subscribers constantly tell me that my emails are highly addictive and keep them hooked till the last line. Browse a few of said emails here. And if you like what you see, subscribe for the full experience.
don't read this if you hate plantain
So Reader, Today, I’m grateful for plantains. There are very few foods (if any) that I love more than it. The most irresistible thing you can put in front of me is a plate of piping hot fried plantain. You know the kind that’s overripe and so mushy that it gums together while you're taking it out of the oil? Yeah, that’s the exact type I like. My very biased opinion is that plantain is proof that God exists, because how else could such level of deliciousness have been created? (btw, if you...
you've got a call
Hey Reader, I don’t like calls. My phone is on Do Not Disturb roughly 97% of the time. (The remaining 3% being the days I’m expecting an online delivery or the 30 minute to 1 hour window from when I order something on Chowdeck to when it gets to me.) You know that meme where they say “Call someone from your contact list, and if they don’t pick, you win $2M”… Well, that’s one way I can make you a millionaire. I’d choose texts (or these days, voice notes) over calls anyday. Which is why you...
storytelling jollof
So Reader, For someone with a Bachelor’s degree in Nutrition and Dietetics, I have a number of less-than-ideal eating habits. Yesterday, for instance: the only “food” I ate was a bowl of cornflakes. I wish I could say yesterday was out of the norm, but that’s just a regular day for me. (In fact, my stomach has gotten so used to it that I can go a full day without eating and feel nothing.) And it wasn’t even a case of “I’m hungry but too lazy to cook” (though I’m also EXTREMELY guilty of that...
i stole this at 13
Hey Reader, When I was 13, I got my first diary. It was a 40 leaves notebook with a flying elephant on the cover, bought at breaktime from the school tuckshop. High with inspiration from Dork diaries (and other books I voraciously consumed during that period), I thought, “I want to start documenting my life too.” So I did. I wrote about the random stuff that happened each day, ranted about whatever (or whoever) annoyed me, and fantasized about my crushes. I wrote in it everywhere: during...
my angry uber driver
Reader, The other day, I found myself trapped in a car with an Uber driver who either hadn't eaten that day or was just a natural hothead. In a 20-something minute trip, he managed to find at least 5 things to get angry about. (Do the math, that's once every 4 minutes. Impressive, if you ask me.) Exhibit A: The driver in front of us was too slow. Cue expletives with a generous sprinkle of Yoruba curses. Exhibit B: Police officers stopped us at a “checkpoint”. Another anger outburst. (Can’t...
It’s in my blood
Reader, you've got 3 days left to sign up for The Genius Storyteller workshop at the launch price! Save 40% if you get in today. After Friday, the price goes up forever. So there are two things I’m completely obsessed with: Telling engaging stories that keep people hooked Teaching About that second one: My brothers were my first scape goats. At 9, I used to force them to listen to me teach them from my school notes. (I was bored one day in August during our ‘long vacation’, so I took the mini...
my unpopular opinion
Reader, Don’t you just hate it when someone on Zuck’s internet claims to have an unpopular opinion… Only to go ahead and share an opinion so popular, it could run for president? If you do, that makes two of us. Why do they do that though? Is it some form of engagement bait? If you want to share your opinion, just share it. Don’t tell us it’s unpopular when we all know it’s not. Anyways, I hope I won’t have to eat my words after I share my (hopefully) unpopular opinion. And… you might be...
the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to me
“I don’t want to cut it!” I screamed. My uncle lifted me by my arms and placed me on the chair. “Will you sit down and let the man do his job?” “Daddy didn’t say I should cut my own.” I wiped the snot off my nose with the back of my hand, still crying. “He said only the boys. I’m sure.” It was a Friday afternoon in April. I was six, sitting in the barber’s shop, and being forced to cut my already short hair. Growing up as an only girl with 3 brothers, my mum thought it was best that I started...
The call that changed my life
April 15, 2021. 3:53pm. My phone rang. I checked the caller ID. A call from Florida, United States? I pressed decline (Like you would have done. Because obviously, it was a scammer. Who did I know in Florida?) My phone beeped again. This time, it was an email notification. I checked the email… and a shrill scream escaped from my lips. My phone rang again. I picked up. But before I tell you what happened next, let me backtrack a bit. I have a bad habit: I procrastinate. A lot. I always wait...
that was rude
Hey Reader, You know that thing that happens when you greet someone “Good morning”, and they reply with just… “Morning”? Does it rub off on you the wrong way? Because for me, it does. I didn’t always have this opinion though. One sunny afternoon in 2018, I was walking to class with a friend who was livid that someone had responded to her greeting with “Morning”. I didn’t see it as a big deal. “Some people just prefer to respond that way. It doesn’t mean they’re being rude.” It’s funny though,...
If you want to become dangerously good at storytelling, you're at the right place. Every week, I send out two emails, sharing practical nuggets to help you become a compelling storyteller that your audience can't get enough of. My subscribers constantly tell me that my emails are highly addictive and keep them hooked till the last line. Browse a few of said emails here. And if you like what you see, subscribe for the full experience.