10 Facts about the Blogger You Are Voting For

Hello world!

Marietta DeGrant and her blog were nominated for Most Influential Student Blogger/Writer/Author, and I thought, it would be nice to tell you 10 facts about her or let’s says things you didn’t know about her. At least, you should know something about her and the blog.

1. Marietta DeGrant’s full name is Marietta Grant DeGrant and yes, she is Ghanaian, ermm, but no, not from Cape Coast. She wrote a post about it. Read it here.

2. She started forming stories and writing them at a very young age.

3. She started her blog on the Saturday of September 28^th, 2013 in her school’s study room.

4. She started blogging as a means of exhibiting her poems and prose write ups.

5. She added the lifestyle niche to help her learn to write articles, as it is her dream to work for a lifestyle magazine company or to establish one.

6. She has a lifetime goal of writing and publishing books.

7. She was nominated for NUGS-UEW Best Writer Awards for Best Student Writer for 2015/2016 Academic Year and she won.

8. She had her debut play (written by her) staged in September 2016 with the title; An African Walks into a Voting Booth.

9. She was nominated for Best Blogger in the Ghana Blogging and Social Media Awards 2016 but lost it to Ameyaw Debrah.

This is her second time nominated for Most Influential Student Blogger for the Ghana Tertiary Awards.

Please, do not forget to vote for her as Most Influential Student Blogger by texting MBA MARIETTA to 1736. Many thanks in advance! 💋💋💋

Have a productive week!

The Blog is Four Years Old!!!

Hello world!

My internet baby is four years old today and I am grateful for her existence. Being a blogger has taught me a lot of things and has made me stay focused in every aspect in life.

To celebrate her blogiversary and I decided to own a logo. I mean, I should have owned one a long time ago. So I contacted a creative friendof mine and he worked creativity.

Behold! The Marietta DeGrant Blog Logo.

One thing I love about it is the vintage looking typewriter on it. When I build my future home, I will buy a vintage typewriter and just put it in my studio/working room/library as room décor. I love the idea of typewriters and I just want to own one just because I am a writer, a soul of words yet to put it on old smelling papers. The sound alone makes me happy.

I think a pink one will be better.

Contact him with an idea and he will deliver it. He is very active on Twitter.

Cheers to a new blogging age! More things coming for this blog!

p.s. The Marietta DeGrant Blog will be doing Blogtober; blogging every day in October. So stay tuned!!!

Blogging from the suburbs

Hello from a suburb in the city. I am currently blogging from here, and it feels good to see the sun up, the birds chirping (Remember, it is a suburb, not the city itself, so you can definitely hear birds chirping, lol) and a breeze that is teasing us. It blows for a few seconds, then stands still for the longest time. I can also hear the airplanes and helicopters roaring in the sky.

So all this is happening live above my head, and in my surroundings. Maybe, very soon, the boiled corn sellers would be passing by, or I will get out to buy some grilled ones. The watermelon sellers too are also around.

Currently, boring music is been played from my laptop. Yes, boring ones that do not fit the current situation I am in. The table is in a mess with notebooks and pens of all kinds. My makeup bag is here too, and wondering what it is actually doing here. Three whiteboard markers lay here too, and a dictionary with no cover.

Hmmm.

What’s happening at your end?

All Grown Up

Who would have thought that Marietta Grant DeGrant would be a nominee for an award, be on a red carpet and would attend a corporate event watching classy performances? That day was Friday, 20^th May for the Ghana Blogging and Social Media Awards.

The event was held at the Chartered Institute of Bankers’ Hall, at East Legon. I attended with my brother/personal photographer.

The event started with two poetic presenters; Poetra Asantewaa and 100%. There were beautiful and classy musical by Faith Bekoe and Cina Soul.

I was nominated for Best New Blog and Best Blogger but did not win any of them. At least, I got to take a picture with Efo Dela, one of my favourite person on social media.

The best part of the event was when I was served with kelewele. Yes! This year, kelewele has gone missing in action in Winneba and so, it’s been long since I ate some. This was a real kelewele date, and it was served in those leaves, it looked like waakye from afar.

Though, I did not win any award, I was enjoying the moment I was living at that hour. Corporate table, corporate food, music, and the kelewele. Now, that’s the real deal.

A mountain of gratitude to those who voted for me and were supporting me. I am very much grateful for everything you did for me. Cheers with a cup of sobolo made by Wanjo. I love you. We will make it next time.

Congratulations to all the nominees and winners. Only a few female bloggers and social media personalities won the awards. I hope next year, more female bloggers win the awards.

Let’s talk about what I wore

Afro Chic Outfit: Sponsored by Sadia

Makeup and hairstyle by Rosemary Asune, Priscilla Antwi and Persis Adu Buandoh.

Jewelry: From my Jewelry Box

Shoes: H&M Genuine Leather (from my shoe collection at home)

Purse: A bag turned into purse (VIDAL)

Thank you all for your support. Love you.

Low Battery

Hello everyone.

I just realized my blog has gone on low battery.

Say what?

Marietta, what does that even mean?

Well, I’m saying my blog has gone on low battery and….

Low battery? Low battery?? Do blogs go on low battery?

I don’t even know! Just listen to me  read!

Blogging and I are going on a break.

You should have just said so. You have a lousy way of showing it.

*rolls eyes*. Yeah, right. Whatever.

So, people, we are on break and might come back in April. Note: We are NOT quitting. I am just on a break on blogging. There will be no kelewele date. This is a see you later, not a goodbye.

Let’s connect on Instagram and Twitter.

A bientot.

I Am A Ghanaian Blogger

Hey there!
Let me introduce myself. My name is Marietta and I am a Ghanaian blogger. Yes! I blog at Marietta DeGrant as MarieNoël, where we talk about life, literary arts and lifestyle. Come over to the blog and enjoy yourself.

I remember, the then naïve Marietta entered into the tertiary institution and as part of her personal hobbies of writing, she decided to start a blog. I mean, school is not all about books and quizzes. It's a place to find your passion, your niche, when you are not staring at your PDFs or pamphlets.

If you had told me two years ago that I'll be blogging during this period, I would have laughed at you. Seriously, because I started a blog when I was in secondary school, but was not able to maintain it. When I started this one too, my laptop disappointed me and decided not to work again.

But lovely people, today the blog is 2 years old.

I know, right?

It's been an exciting journey in the blogging world. I've come to love it. This blog that I started on the last Saturday of September 2013, in my school's study room, is two years old.

I can't believe it!!!

But wow, two years? A lot has happened. Moving to a small town, making new friends, spontaneous visits to the beach, witnessing a festival for the first time and starting my tertiary education. I started this blog as my way to practise my passion for writing, express how I am feeling and sharing inspiration and tips on lifestyle(according to moi ;) ) and sharing my poetry.

When the blog turned 1, I started a new series called Kelewele Date with Marietta, which is hosted every last Friday of the month. Here we would talk about everything that happened in that month, that's happening in the world and happening with Marietta. So next month, Kelewele Date with Marietta would be a year old. Yay!

As I mentioned earlier, blogging has been an exciting journey. I love coming on here to write about fashion, beauty, poetry, lifestyle, writing, school, social life etc.

I love blogging. I really do. Just that, it's not easy. Juggling school (and its stress accomplice), social life and more, it's very easy to quit, very easy to give up on blogging, but with determination, hard work and perseverance, you can MAKE IT in blogging. I wonder how Ameyaw Debrah does it. His blog is WAY bigger and famous than mine, but he's still the KING blogger in Ghana.

Before I go, I want to thank each and every one of you who makes time to come here to read and comment. Thank you for making this blog stay alive. Thanks for your kind comments and encouragement.
I love connecting with you all so feel free to contact me via email, comments, or any of my social media sites and say hi! I'll be sure to respond!

So Happy blogiversary Marietta DeGrant As MarieNoël, cheers to the new blogging year!

Let's continue to talk about life!

I wish I had this cake to celebrate it. ~sighs~

Serial Review: Pep Talk

It's amazing how you get to meet people with incredible talents.

Meet Awo Dede, a lady whom I was in the same secondary school with, and in the same boarding house. I knew she was doing General Arts, but never knew she had a creative imagination. Anyway, I don't blame her. It's not her fault. She's just like me, we write, then hide it, lol. Awo Dede, I totally understand.

Awo Dede has started writing a blog. Yay! Yoo-hoo! This blog has a serial in it. The title is Pep Talk. The write up is beautiful, amazing, weird and fantastic. I love it. Read episode 1 here and episode 2 here.

The story is about a girl who has reincarnated. I love the imagination of the spirit world. I have never imagined the spirit paradise that way. She used a bit of local dialect too and underneath the story, she wrote the translation of the sentence for those of us who don't understand. Really, Awo Dede is Talent. (I do not mean, talented. She is talent itself)

One thing I didn't like about everything is, there are no images. Apart from that, everything is amusing and arrrhh-mazing. I even bet she can write vampire stories. Tell me, Awo-dede, if you are reading this. Do you like vampire /werewolves stories?

I can't wait to read the continuation, if there would be one. How would it continue, how would it end? I don't want to spoil the fun, so bookmark her blog and follow her on Twitter for more information.

Stay sweet.

Personal Blogging Vrs. Professional Blogging

I don't know how to call the other one. Whether it is professional blogging or paid blogging or whatever, that one needs more work than the other one.

Some weeks ago, I got hired as a contributing writer of E!Online Ghana. Hint: I am one step closer to living my dream of working in a magazine company. Oh boy! That one needs much more work.

I do personal blogging. It is so much fun, it's my favourite hobby. I can wink, scream, laugh, cry on my personal blog, but I can't do that on the other one.

I am not talking about getting paid to write on our own blog. I am not talking about being an ambassador on your own blog or sponsored posts. Those ones are different.

I compared my life on my own personal blog and my life on the Entertainment blog and this is what I realized.

Photo Editing
Personal Blog: I can edit my photos anyhow I want. Whether it should be super bright or blurry or in a collage or whatever, it is my blog and my photos. It can be done anyhow, but in a good way.

Professional Blog: The photos should be on point, super clear, so that everyone can study it. It should be relevant and be professionally photographed.

Requires More Time and Commitment
Personal Blog: I can blog anytime I want, whether it is everyday, or once a week. I can go on breaks, maybe a month break. When writers block hits me, I can decide not to cry (Even though I do cry)

Professional Blog: When writers block comes, I'm in hot soup. At this point, I can decide to cry and ask for help. The blog has to be updated every second, every minute, every hour, every day. If the blog does not get updated, people lose interest and leave.

Careful Spelling with dictionary by my side
Personal Blog: Of course, there should be careful spelling in both of them. But personal blogs do not actually have to worry about this. (Read: You should!). A nice reader sees a typographical error, sends you a tactful email, you thank him /her, then  you make changes.

Professional Blog: Your boss sees a typographical error, he gives you a warning. Second time, a harsh warning. Third time, you are fired and the whole world crowns you an illiterate. Sadly.

Proofreading
Personal Blog: You proofread once, twice, three times, you hit publish, because your category of readers understand what you are trying to say.

Professional Blog: You proofread more than 10 times, give it to your friends and family to read again before you publish.

Sound Professional
Personal Blog: I can sound informal here. People get comfortable reading your posts and can relate to it. I can rant and rant and rant. No one gets annoyed.

Professional Blog: Have you ever read the Time Magazines? That's how you must sound. Very professional. If I rant and cry here, people would not understand you. They'll get bored and leave.

More Research
Personal Blog: What happens around me is enough research, unless I want to relate to something.

Professional Blog: Make sure that the information in putting out there is accurate and correct, or else, you are doomed.

So, personal blogging and professional blogging, which one do I prefer?

I like both. Personal blogging helps me to write my heart out and play with words and share life's happy things. Professional blogging helps me to meet more people, interact with people and sound like a business woman! I am one step closer to working in a magazine company.

The End!