Hey! I'm Jamita Brown or ByJamitaBrown like I've been calling myself lately. I wrote a whole children's book...so now I'm an author lol. Weird.
Before I got here as an AUTHOR...I had to get through a lot of mental baggage chile. I literally had to and am still conquering the doubt I had in myself.
Okay, tell us Jamita...how did you get started?!
I'm a believer; I believe that Jesus is LORD. I believe allll dat. God created the world, the universe, every piece of everything on this earth (being VERY CLEAR).
How did I even get the idea of books?
After an event at a church in my old stomping grounds of Charleston, SC the speaker said "God is going to give you an idea that's going to produce wealth."...and to my surprise, writing children's books instantly popped into my head. I'd been working with youth at the time and getting my master's degree too...so doing something for kids wasn't really a surprise to me. The whole author part was though. I've always written since I was little..you'll be able to find so many old notebooks that I used to write in and design frilly dresses when I was a child. And now....I AM AN AUTHOR.
During this journey, I"ve learned a lot about the process and about myself...and that's all I wanted to share today. A few things... I'll share more later...but first things first, I had to tackle my mindset.
Number 1
"Be ready to confront the parts of you that don't believe in you."-Me (Don't steal it without giving me credit either, cuz I'll know lol)
What do I mean? I've had to encourage the low places within myself that do not believe that I have what it takes to self-publish a children's book, write, or even make a profit writing and selling books. Self-confidence takes being uncomfortable with being victorious. We deserve to think positively about ourselves. Like literally, when are we going to stop beating ourselves up about the gifts that we have?! Make it stop and dig deep to deal with those things.
Number 2
"Being overwhelmed or feeling overwhelmed points to fear"
I've felt so secure in my decision to write children's books, but fearful of the outcome...
What if it's not good enough? (YALL THIS BOOK IS SO GOOD THO)
What if it doesn't sell? (It's going to, and yall are going to make sure lol)
All these what ifs besides the ones that point to success.
What if it makes 6 figures or more?
What if this opens up so many other opportunities?
To me, I am a successful person. As she walked through the valley she was almost too scared to finish. I have the degrees (3 to be exact), the career, the experiences, the skill, the talent, the personality.. I've really got it yall. You don't have to think so, this is my definition of my life's success. I'm just saying this because people will really be like.."you're not successful because you have a college degree...etc"...and I'm telling you that's exactly what it means. So if that's how you feel, please scram.
Anyways...This experience scares me because what does success look like for me during this? I've literally never done this before and there've been so many different things I've had to learn. A different type of success scares me because, what if I'm not successful at this? This is all a mind thing, and I have confidence that if God gave me this idea, it's going to thrive baby.
Number 3
"It's really not as hard as I thought it would be."
Lastly, I learned that writing a book isn't as hard as I thought it would be. I had an idea and wrote it out...then wrote it again X 19091384902, until it felt like home. If you're trying to write a book about your life, for kids, for your family ...whatever...JUST WRITE IT. Literally, just write it. You're going to write it again anyways and I promise as long as you keep writing the story, it'll be written exactly how you want it to be. Literally the editor will help any grammar and give you feedback on it anyways...
Self-doubt...it's a no for me.
Self-critique...it's a no for me.
Self-sabotage...it's a no for me too.
The world is waiting on you to say yes.
Yes to yourself.
Yes to that book.
& NO to the constant struggle in our brains saying it'll never happen..because it will but only if you say yes.
So cheers to getting started and finishing.
My favorite quote of mine lately has been "Cheers to words on paper becoming moments in reality."
In the meantime, don't forget to buy my yes.
Great job!!!