I PUBLISHED A BOOK!!!!(bringing in the New Year with achieving one of my childhood dreams)
- The Ebony Quill
- Feb 26, 2022
- 4 min read
Verse of the Day: "The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe." Proverbs 29:25
My absence from blogging has finally come to an end and I must say, the wait was well worth it! :) While I have been away, I've accomplished so much and have been blessed with such a wonderful support team to help guide me along the way. It gives me great and unyielding joy to announce that I have published my very first book!
I present to you: "The Butterfly that Dreamed of Phoenix Wings." A book of poetry by yours truly!
Grab some snacks, it's backstory time!:
I've been writing poetry since I was eight years old. It was to be said (and has been said many times in the past.) that it's the very first style of literature I've ever truly loved.
When I began this project, this wasn't the original title nor picture I had in mind. There were also WAY more poems involved (over 300 to be exact!) I started typing all of my work from its originals back in 2018, the works themselves being pieces dating between the time I was eleven to present day. After scouring and tearing apart childhood journals and cringing through daily teenage entry's, I believed I'd excavated all I wished to put together for the final product, however, something felt...missing. The poems were too all over the place and didn't particularly showcase the power of my stature as a poet. I just sounded like a whiny, sad little girl and that's not how I wanted to be portrayed. I dropped the project to go back to the drawing board and work more on reviving my art business in the meantime. (Which I am happy to say was a success!, more on that later!)
Fast forward to 2020, I picked up my pen and paper again and began writing some new poems, These poems had something more to them, more meaningful, more in-depth to the core of who it was as a person, a creator and a being designed by my wonderful and precious God. I typed and wrote vigorously , praying all throughout the tears, all-nighters
and cups of coffee, through all the nay says and looks of skepticism whenever I mentioned my "project" to others. Safe to say it was the year I learned to work in silence and pray in earnest. I named the first draft "To Whom This May Concern." and finished my work by late December.
At the beginning of 2021, I stepped out on a limb and turned my manuscript in to the first publisher that came to mind, "Turtle Cove Publishing".They were apart of The Tallahassee Writers Association that I myself participated in briefly before realizing that I just got off from work too late in the day to attend a proper meeting! (If any of you are reading, I enjoyed the first meeting greatly and enjoyed getting to know other local writers!) They are definitely a great collection of authors to be apart of if anyone is looking!I want to thank Turtle Cove for taking out their time to read my manuscript! I hope you all are doing well!
My work was rejected BUT with some healthy critiques that I took to heart. The two that stood out the most to me were that my book wasn't long enough and the title didn't seem to fit the dynamic of the work that I had written, only one of which I agreed with. (much love to you Turtle Cove!) I thought very long about the title, which was meant to give the feel of a letter being written to someone and reread my work. She was right, it did not fit. She suggested that I name it after a poem I'd written in the book, the title didn't fit my taste but I loved the idea, so back to the drawing board I went, not defeated but more determined than ever!
I fixed the minor corrections that she brought to my attention and reviewed my work with more care, the result? More than half of the poems were deleted. They did not belong to the vision I was trying to convey. I prayed and ask for guidance in how this project would be executed and then one day, while sitting at my computer, my eyes were struck by a brilliant light, I envisioned a creature of fire in the form of a butterfly, small, delicate, beautiful but strong and powerful. YES, this was it!, the name of my book, and it's purpose, to display the hidden strength of something predetermined as weak and delicate while I share my personal, spiritual growth through poetic expression.
In that time I also made a crucial decision in terms of HOW I would publish. It would be through the daunting task of self-publication. I just determined that I would much rather be my manager than be managed. In January 2022, I found Lulu.com an online self publishing company that also produced it's own bookstore online! I was intrigued and invited by how simple the process was! By the end of January, I had my first book in my hands and available online through their site!
I give credit to my Lord and Savior who stood by me throughout this process and special thanks to all my business supporters, friends, colleagues and family members who were present and encouraging throughout my writing journey. The link to my book will be at the end of this blog, feel free to take a look!
One of my goals for this year is to really revive my blog site and clean it up a bit in terms of it's objective and targeting audience, to all my readers, if your're still out there, thank you for your wonderful support! New and better things are coming and I can't wait to share it! and as always,
"For the love of life and literature, stay prayerful, stay positive and write on!"
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