My writing journey of tackling social issues has been nothing short of interesting, fascinating, fun, challenging, tiring, but fulfilling. There were moments I had to step out of my comfort zone. Books that I had ideas for but didn’t have the direction of them right away until I started brainstorming and observing the world.
Code Blue: An Oath to the Badge and Gun was never going to be a five book series. After I wrote the first book, there were no plans to write anymore books. But, I had to turn Gary’s character into someone who can impact and affect people in today’s society. I had to. delve into his personal life and how his job is affecting him at home.
There has to be a price he paid for allowing what he did as a police officer. I spent time planning how I was going to tackle the next few books and what the main focus was going to be. Was it easy? Not at all. Chapter layout, whether I was adding more characters to the book series came into question and how I was going to make this series impactful and powerful.
A Woman’s Worth book series, I had to learn about postpartum depression. I had to research what it consisted of, learn how it affects women and their journey through pregnancy. How it affects their bodies, minds and souls. Tackling women’s social issues as a male writer is not easy at all. I have to get it right, I’m writing these books from a woman’s perspective and I have to make sure I put the emotion and feelings into it in the right way.
I always vowed to never write about male suicide but somehow I stepped into that space and wrote a standalone book on it. I promised my mother years ago I wouldn’t write about it but when I told her I needed to write about it, she understood. When I gave her the premise for the book, chapter layout, she was onboard with it. She’s someone who fears backlash with what I write about but if I don’t write about it, someone else will, right?
Male suicide is four times more likely to happen than a woman taking her own life. Statistics needed to be shared early on in, “I Didn’t Die.” I knew once I packed a punch with that early on, it sets the tone for how the book will go. Not easy to write about but I feel I pulled it off and the feedback has been good so far.
Sometimes in life, stepping out of your comfort zone allows you to grow and learn more about others and yourself. That’s just a few books that allowed me to step outside of my comfort zone and bring me a sense of fulfillment after writing these books.
Through my 8 years journey of self-publishing books, it’s been a crazy ride. I’ve learned that I’m much deeper in thought about life, social issues and the things we all face daily. Hopefully I can impact as many people as possible through my writing, my blogs and my podcast.
That’s my blog for today, thanks for reading, be good and go accomplish your goals!
Jamell Crouthers
Aquarianmind
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