Do you acknowledge?

“No one who achieves success does so without acknowledging the help of others. .”- Alfred North Whitehead.

I’ve heard (quite a lot throughout my life) that books are easy to write and that they are easy money and that anyone could write one.
As this was something I heard ever since I was but a small child, I grew up believing it.
Acting, dancing, singing, books – all easy.
As I’ve tried the first three– and failed miserably, I knew from my teen years that no, acting, singing and dancing weren’t easy (I look like I’m having a seizure when I dance, and the birds all fall quiet when I sing), but I know some people are born with this talent. I was a good painter – but that’s a talent I lost when I became blind.
My first attempt at writing a book was during my high school years, an impulse that ended as abrupt as it had started.
My second attempt was a disaster, something I am ashamed to admit was written by yours truly, and now is hidden somewhere deep in the dungeons of my laptop, away from prying eyes.
Since then I have tried writing a few times, fantasy, romance, mystery. I have a few work in progress that I intend to pick up again, a couple that needs only some polishing, others that are nothing but an outline of a story.
But, one of my books, Heir of Ashes, is now on its final stages of publication – and the road here was not always smooth, full of sunshine. No, there were a lot of disappointment, sleepless nights and countless headaches.
Converting the words in your head is not easy, because you’ll need to think like a third person, tell the story as if you are someone else, the listener to that story. It doesn’t matter if the story is right there inside your head, beginning to end, writing a book and seeing it through fruition is not easy.
I’m a good story teller, but telling a story to a live audience is not the same as telling a story on paper. It took me that first attempt in high school and the second attempt (the one in the bowels of my laptop), for me to realize that. It’s challenging, daunting and the editing still gives me nightmares.
I came very close, more than once, to just give up and forget about it.
The edits, the querying of agents, the search for betas, the revisions and feeds, the formats, the endless forms to fill to get the book ready for the public, and all the small – but important details – that fit between these steps.
I am now proud of myself for not giving up when things became too difficult, for persisting even when things seemed impossible.
And I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who helped me get this far, my parents, my kids, and the beta readers – Shalini Gopel, Aman Aronee, Paula James and Steven Davidson – my editor – Elle W. Silver.
And I have special thanks to Heather Tasker and Charlotte Lauren:
Because I know I drove you guys insane with the final formats and small details that gave my book that professional-look and all I heard from you were patient, encouraging words.
So, thank you.
– Jina S. Bazzar