The Mt Kenya Times 
Thokgamo Janet
1)Who are you?
- My full names are Thokgamo Janet Sebapalo but my brand name is simply Thokgamo Janet.
2)Where are you from?
- I am from a beautiful village of Tonota in a country called Botswana, located in Southern Africa.
3).What is your profession?
- I am a business administrator by profession since I possess a degree in Bachelor of Business Administration: International Business. However, my passion lies in writing so I mostly represent myself as a writer.
4).Where did you publish it?
- I haven’t officially published anything yet but I had shared a few of my works on Facebook on my two pages; ‘Blakeville: Is Your Heart Still Mine?’ and ‘Unofficial: From Dusk Till Dawn’.The first page is where I shared playbooks while the latter one is where I shared novels. The reason for publishing for free in social media was to receive criticism which helped me improve my writing. Another reason was to expand my fanbase, whom I call ‘Treasures’ because that is what they mean to me.
5).Who is your Illustrator?
- I don’t have one at the moment but I hope to have one soon.
6).Did you make an input on cover design?
- I have an idea for cover designs of my various works. Once I am financially ready to publish, I will work with a professional to execute all those ideas since I am very specific and particular on what I want as a cover design for each book.
7).You best poem from your book,tell us more about that poem!
- Talking about poems, I also have a poetry anthology that I am still yet to publish. Among my poems, my most favourite is ,’Depression Wants Back Love’ . It is a poem that I wrote while I was going through a dark phase in my life. Depression was knocking and I was tempted to let it back in , however I was strong enough to resist it at that moment. Most of my works are mostly focused on issues regarding mental health.
8).Who motivated you to write?
- When I started my junior secondary school journey, I met the world’s best teacher to ever exist, my English teacher Ms Gareutwane. She recognized the gift of writing within me and enhanced it with her excellent teaching skills. She also encouraged me to write my own works after being captivated by the English compositions I always wrote.
9).What inspired you to write?
- My journey of inspiration is quite a long one but I’ll try my best to summarise it as best as I can. From the moment I could read well, I fell in love with reading. I read almost all the story books I could. Being a good reader somehow made me a good writer because of the vocabulary and words play I came across. The compliments I got from the compositions I wrote inspired me to write more. Great books that I read inspired me to write my own. Great women of fiction like Unity Dow, Wame Molefhe, Lauri Kubuitsile, Danielle Steel and Colleen Hoover also greatly inspired my writing journey. I aspired to be on the same level with those legendary authors. Another thing that inspired my writing journey was the shortage of mental health awareness within the society. I was encouraged to write books which will try to bridge that gap.
10).Do you have fans?How do you react to fans?
- I am deeply humbled and forever grateful to my Treasures. Like I mentioned previously, Treasures are what I call my readers. They are like my own, loving, family. My comfort zone. Most especially my Facebook followers. When I started writing at the age of thirteen, I got great feedback from the people who were able to read my works. The moment I decided to share my works on social media, I was overwhelmed by the support and the rapid rate I was gaining new Treasures that for a moment I panicked and paused. I had to digest everything in as I hadn’t expected that amount of support. With time, I adapted and learnt how to deal and accommodate all the Treasures and I made sure to do my best so I gave the public the best I could. My Treasures are my world, they make me happy.
11).Bogus versus legitimate publishers ,have you encountered such?
- I haven’t encountered any since I haven’t officially published yet.
12).Merging the books with community service,are you involved in any community service?
- Yes, I do. I am a mentor for most kids that I had come across, especially from my home village. I do my best to enquip them with as much mental health information that I can offer. I also encourage them to be comfortable in facing their feelings head on and dealing with them instead of hiding them. I do my best for my presence to be an atmosphere in which one can be free in being vulnerable in dealing with their emotional baggage. I am also a Sunday school teacher who encourages mental fitness to all the children I work with.
13).How did your faith help in marketing your craft?
- I am a firm believer that everything happens at the right time. That had helped me to be patient against all odds.
14).How many copies did you sell so far? Or how many do you plan to sell in near future?
- I plan to sell atleast 1000 copies with the first book I will publish, which is a novel, ‘Love Made Me Do It’. Just like all of my works, it is an interesting story which gives awareness about mental health issues.
15).What is your future plans?
- I plan to be a best selling author who represents an entire new generation of writers. A writer who doesn’t just keep people entertained with her display of words but who also heal hearts and souls.
16).Encouragement to up upcoming writers ,what can you say?
- Write what you want to read.
17).How can people get your book?
- Follow my pages, ‘Blakeville: Is Your Heart Still Mine’ and ‘Unofficial: From Dusk Till Dawn’ for more details on when I’ll publish each work.
18).Do you plan to convert your book to an ebook too?
- Definitely YES!
19).Parting shot or last word!
- Hardwork and perseverance beats talent any day.
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