“You’d see how my tongue folds when you kiss me. No part of my mouth wants you in it. You don’t notice that you kiss a dry mouth. My saliva runs for dear life; wants no mingling with your cheating, contaminated saliva. My lips want no part of your marauding lips…” reads an excerpt from Renne Murrey’s latest blog post. She embodies strength and resilience. Her passion for the woman is intense, seeping through her words which are honest and thought-provoking.
With a personality so fierce and unapologetic, you can literally feel the pain and emotion through her words, Renee proves to be an extraordinary writer. She has clearly mastered the art of storytelling, with her stimulating and captivating words.
She is courageous, discussing taboo topics and highlighting the pain women go through in life and relationships. A champion for their rights, she proves that she is a voice for the marginalized, downtrodden and voiceless woman. She stands firm and protects her opinion on how women should be treated specially in love and relationships.
Basing most of her experiences to tell a story, she carefully weaves an amazing article that not only intrigues but is also informative and educative. She is all about the woman. And she is all woman. Get absorbed by her writing and understand why she writes in the first person.
When and how did you get into writing/blogging?
Facebook was the genesis of my writing, believe it or not! I used to update my FB status religiously back in the day (2009). I had just joined Facebook and I had a job that left me with too much time in my hands. What can I say? I was young. Those days we had something called Facebook Notes. And I would just write my thoughts on everything and anything that came to mind and post it as a note. These notes would fuel so much feedback from my Facebook friends.
Then one day, this lady who owned an online magazine read one of my notes and asked if I’d ever thought about writing as a career. She asked if I was interested in writing for her magazine and my first reaction was, “Me? A writer? Get out of town!!” But then I also thought about my high scores in English in school and the fact that my composition was once so good that my English teacher came and read it for the whole class and complimented me for days about it. When I allowed myself to think about it, it dawned on me that this lady was onto something. And if she thought I was good enough to write for her magazine, who did I think I was to say no? I took up her offer and I’ve never put down the pen ever since.
Blogging came two years after. When the online magazine folded, I was left with words to write and nowhere to write them. I started my blog just to have somewhere to put my words.
What is the inspiration behind your writing?
My inspiration(s) you mean? Women, love, sex… Can I say sex or does Ezekiel Mutua roam these streets? Let’s call it intimacy instead? Anyway, these are all inspirations for my writing. My blog is called The Reneeissance because it combined my nickname Renee with the word Renaissance. Coincidentally, both the name and the word mean rebirth. The blog was a rebirth of me. When I started this writing journey, I rediscovered who I was. I shed my old self, unlearned so many things that society had drilled into me and had several rebirths of sorts. It has been a continuous journey of losing and finding myself.
So why women, love and relationships?
Sit down with any woman and let them talk to you. Their relationships will float to the surface of your conversation, their love, their shame, their emotions. And if they’re bold, their sex lives will seep through. But so many times, women are made to feel ashamed of these things that are part of their core. They’ll be judged for the relationships they have, the people they love, the children they choose to have and not have. They’re either too emotional or too cold. Too loose or too stuck-up. On my blog, I talk about a woman’s life and her relationships unashamedly. I don’t censor any curse words or ‘rosify’ (if that could be a word) my stories. In doing so, my one hope is that women will finally stop apologizing and stop being ashamed of who they are. And I write all my stories (both fiction and nonfiction) in the first person. If it’s happening to one woman out there, it’s happening to me, it’s happening to every woman out there.
What is your blogging experience thus far?
As a woman who feels feelings on a level higher than most and refuses to apologize or be ashamed of it, my blogging experience has been cathartic if nothing else. I have poured so many emotions on these pages yaani! If a blog could speak, my blog would wail for days and not utter a word. In my defense, I can’t afford therapy, so I might as well, right? Case in point, in 2014 I went through a mega breakup and used the blog as tissue for my tears as I wrote ‘The breakup’. Let’s just say that I owe my sanity and my insanity to my blog.
Have you experienced any challenges?
Challenges? What are those? By challenges do you mean inconsistency in posting because sometimes you have nothing to write and however much you stare at a page, inspiration refuses to budge? Or do you mean having something to write but becoming too engrossed in criticizing yourself that you end up not posting what you intended to post because you second guess yourself so much to the point of throwing the whole post away? Or maybe you mean going a whole year without updating your blog (ahem!) and questioning why you even blog in the first place and asking yourself who these people are who have nothing else to do than to come online and read your nonsense? Or not knowing where you stand with your readers and so you spend hours to write something that you think is so spectacular and then you post it but don’t get the reaction you expected or hoped for? Or maybe you write a post like ‘The drunk passenger’ that you consider a big joke but you meet one of your readers and they mention it as one of the best articles they’ve read on your blog? Do you mean, putting up a blog post and having your readers ask for background information? Questions like, “Did that really happen to you or is it fiction? Why did so and so not shower after having sex?” Those challenges you mean? Hehe. I don’t know what you’re talking about.
(I burst out into laughter)
What’s the best thing that has come out from your blogging journey so far?
First and foremost, blogging actually had me confidently calling myself a writer. You don’t write 280+ articles on a blog and call yourself anything else but a writer. I’ve earned this sh*t. This blog made me beat my chest so much that it gave me the audacity to write a book called Silent Wailing – ask for it the next time you’re at a bookshop, will you? Silent Wailing is a novella about a girl who fights all odds, so many odds, to escape FGM. I know. It’s 2020 and FGM is still a thing. Sad. Buy the book. Please.
Where do you see your blog in 5 years?
A blogger’s award would be nice.
Which Kenyan blogger/s do you admire or look up to?
I don’t think this is a Kenyan blogger, but I love excusemyart.com This website just has a hint of darkness that I find hard to resist. I mean, I read ‘An unusual aphrodisiac’ on their blog and it made me think of ‘I love you, I should gouge your eyes out’ I had written in mine. I mean.
If you weren’t a blogger (writer) what would you be?
Hmm. Maybe I’d be an interior designer. I’m still a ‘Pinterester’ for a reason. Or maybe I’d be a musician. I was in my school choir if that counts for something.
See, ever since I discovered I could write, writing has been my true north. If I wasn’t a writer, I’d be flailing.
What do you do for fun?
So I used to only read and watch movies/ series in my free time. I still do that. I’m currently reading a Jack Reacher thriller by Lee Child called Gone Tomorrow. I’m slow, but I’ve promised myself to read even if it’s a page a day. In between reading, I’m watching the medical drama series, Code Black. I’m a sucker for medical drama. Grey’s Anatomy is still a fav 16 seasons later. So when reading and movies/series started to seem too mainstream, I decided to expand my horizons and so I took up knitting.
I knitted diligently for like four months and then got bored a few woolen scarves later. Then mid last year, I took up “gardening” I put it in quotes because I simply tend to potted indoor and outdoor houseplants. And they’re not dying!!! Ever since I discovered that I have a green thumb, my daughters are fighting for room with the houseplants. Whoever wins gets to say. And lucky for me, this hobby hasn’t bored me yet. I think this one is for the long haul.
Random fun question
What is the funniest thing that has happened to you recently?
One reader of my blog shared with me their experience of reading my blog. So dude was reading an article I had posted on my blog. The article was titled ‘The whore on the third floor’. He was so engrossed in reading that he didn’t realize that this webpage had caught the attention of some of his colleagues who had gathered around his desk to find out what the hell kind of “filth” he was reading. His expression actually had me seriously considering whether I should start labeling some of my posts as NSFW. The jury is still out.
Indulge yourself in Renee’s blog ‘Reneeissance: Perfectly Woman’ and get the enthralled in her beautiful and honest world!
Picture by Renee