A Book is Born

If you know the WHY of a goal, it becomes easier to push through the obstacles of the HOW to achieve the goal.

Book writing, publishing, and marketing to get to the readers is by no means an easy task. While the bulk of the work during writing is research, narrowing down concepts to make it palatable, writing, re-writing, self-editing, and then re-writing again, the publishing world has an entire life of its own.

 Submitting a manuscript that must be scrutinized and critiqued by multiple publishers before acceptance, is a lonely and painful road that is less travelled. Having an agent is a plus but acquiring one is another story altogether. The responses from potential publishers , ninety percent being: no thanks, or quite good but we are not taking any work at this time, or this doesn’t fit our scope, or have your work edited first, then pay an exorbitant amount of money and wait for eighteen to 22 months for publishing…I couldn’t wait  at the gates of publishing any longer. I had to reflect, and I used a single word that helped me to keep moving forward. That word is versus.

After consideration of a series of a couple of versus, I realized that I had to choose one or the other, but not both. The couple of versus are as follows:

·         Give up versus give it another try.

·         Being true to myself versus going with the majority.

·         Following my intuition versus following the market trend.

·         American English versus British English.

·         Passive voice versus active voice.

·         Progression versus perfection.

·         Quitting versus changing.

·         Being realistic versus being accommodative.

On 28 Oct 2025, my prayers and those who know me closely were answered, a dream realized. My first book was officially published—Awakened Faith: How a Grandmother’s Wisdom Made all the Difference.

This day vividly reminds me of a native Kikuyu song sang at many momentous occasions like weddings, graduations, and dowry. It is befitting on this day too. The song translates to “the many prayers I held for this day has come to pass. Look and see the day is finally here. I can hear the chimes of the chorus and ululations as I type this sentence away.

There are never unanswered prayers, one day the prayers will come to fruition. Prayer teaches the value of perseverance and patience to always keep trusting to always keep the faith in the Maker of the universe.

Today as the book is introduced into the world, I am immensely grateful that I did not give up. Despite the trials and obstacles, I kept the faith to keep writing, to keep pushing even when there wasn’t light at the end of the tunnel. To be on the other end of the tunnel is surely a testament of faith. Only you can decide not to lose. Keep the faith and you will be glad you did!