First-time author from Powell River reflects on writing process

Another Powell River author has released a first book.

Evelyn Nwaeze always had the idea for a book in mind and attempted to write it 10 years ago, however, it was put on the shelf for a few years before she revisited the idea.

Reflections: Pain in the Tunnel is a true story about overcoming past grief and trauma with an undertone of resilience. The book covers the stages of healing and is written in retrospect. 

“It’s my first book and it’s quite personal to me. It’s about the struggle of two orphans; it captures their journey as they walk through life trying to navigate life on their own in the hope of a better day,” said Nwaeze. “We’ve been fortunate enough that recently we were number six on Amazon based on new releases in our genre of grief and pain. That was really nice.”

Nwaeze has received positive feedback from people who can relate to the narrator in the book and isn’t opposed to the idea of doing some motivational speaking. 

“I’m really delighted and excited. There is a community out there and I didn’t quite know,” she said. “The story can actually motivate people, not just in grief but in general. You do not have to give up in any situation, you don’t have to let yourself down if things aren’t going well. You have the power to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start moving.”

Nwaeze was born in Gaborone, Botswana, then moved to Zimbabwe when her parents were returning home. She moved to Dublin about the time she was ready to attend university. It was there she met and married her husband, Dr. Felix Nwaeze. Work opportunities brought the couple and their children to Canada in 2014 and eventually to Powell River in 2015.

“There are a lot of things I’m thankful for in this beautiful city and the way it has embraced us,” said Nwaeze. “The slowness actually reminded me that this is how life is supposed to be instead of fast-paced all the time. You can actually take a slower pace and enjoy it still."

Nwaeze said they still call Dublin home, but are starting to use that reference for Powell River.

“This is where we are at and we love it here, we really do,” she added. “Everybody is super nice and super warm. We just embraced it and we liked that kind of safety. We’ve been very privileged that we are here and that we are safe.”

As soon as the first book was finished there were already new ideas and plans for the next project.

“I will definitely be writing more books because it’s something I did and I’ve always loved challenges,” said Nwaeze. “It wasn’t easy, there was a lot of mind block of, ‘Oh my goodness what am I doing?’ I’m also trying to use two time dimensions; one is in retrospect looking back and the other one is ongoing life and the lack of seeing the joy and going back to those reflections.”

Nwaeze joked that it was difficult, and she was overwhelmed, but after learning how to do it, she won’t be using two different time dimensions again.

“The nicest part of writing is when your thoughts are nicely flowing and you literally can hear them in your head as you are typing, you can see the person in your head,” she said. “That was a fun part; that was the nicest part of it.”