Inside the Nation
- Aminah Iman
- Jul 3, 2017
- 3 min read
Hello, Loves and Happy Monday! Today’s Inside The Nation blog will be about the end of my series ‘The Vamperial’. It was truly the end of an era for me because it was the first series I created. Lillith: My Genesis, the first book in the series, was the first book I ever published. So, to end this series was both necessary and hard. Here is why I felt it was time to let it go.
I released my last Vamperial book on 12/31/2016. This was bittersweet for me because Lillith: My Genesis, the first in the series, was the first book I’d written and published. I was so terrified and nervous. Would it be good enough, would people like it, could I actually publish it, and how was I going to promote it?
At the time, I had just learned that I would not be able to return to work, I had a surgery that left me pretty messed up and going back into the workforce was not an option. I loved my career, I was great at what I did, and darn it I had just paid off all my student loans. What was I to do for income? How could I maintain the life style in which my family and I had become accustomed to? I worried long and hard over this and then I prayed. I had a talent, a God given talent, that being unable to go back to work was of no consequence... Writing. So, I wrote.
As many of my fellow authors can attest, my book did not take off right away. It took what felt like forever. I did research on marketing & promotion. I asked a billion questions, I cried A Lot, but eventually I got my first review and... it was not good. My heart broke a little, but I refused to give up. I wrote another book and another and so forth and so on. A hand full of years later I received an invitation to be a part of a gala where I received an award for Lillith. Heart repaired! People were actually reading my work and loving it. I was not a complete failure.
Some years after that I put together a small group of young brilliant authors and together we formed Red Ink Publications and I haven't looked back. One of my brilliant young authors, Omega, had an amazing idea to give all of Lillith's queens their own novella. However, all of the queens didn’t make. Sheba, Nefertiti, and Cleopatra did. I loved giving them their own voice after having them appear in Lillith’s story. It felt great to get back to where I began and make a complete saga. From there I wrote Revelation and then Apocalypse. While writing Revelation I knew Lillith and her queens were coming to an end, it had been eleven years since I sat down with a vision and a dream with them, it was time to let them go. It was an end of an era. It was the end of what started it all for me, so it was bittersweet.
I can look back now and say not being able to go back in my chosen field was one of the best things that could have happened to me. Even with all the uncertainty and fear of what could happen it gave me Lillith and the courage to follow my true dream. When a window closes, a door truly opens. I’m not saying I will never revisit my wonderful horse(wo)men, but it is time for them to take a bow and rest a bit. Eleven years is a long time to be in the spotlight. I will always be grateful to the Queens for giving me an amazing start!
Until next time Loves, I wish you all Happy Reading!
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