Pursuing my Passion
by Dornell & Kodzina Griffin
(MD, USA)
A true predestined love story
A Divine Addiction is truly inspired by God. Although I have a passion for writing, I wasn't aware of this zeal, until my husband, Dornell "Dorty" Griffin had a life-altering encounter with God. The Lord wanted him to clean his life up. God went over his life, from A to Z - from the beginning to now - revealing all the things that he should do and all the things that he should not be doing. Dorty said God showed him things so that he could see plainly. He explained, "He cleansed me."
The encounter that Dorty had with God was indication that the Lord was dealing with him in a mighty way. The depth of this deliverance was God's quest for us to tell the world about our life together. Our story is one of love gained and lost, unfaithfulness, secrets, crime, and passion. We have a strong relationship with Jesus Christ, that has carried us through the storms. We began as boyfriend and girlfriend, at an early age. We grew up together and then grew apart, but we always remained friends. I gave up on our relationship and planned to marry another. Dorty was hustling on the side while keeping a day job. It was nothing but the grace of God that kept him from serving 25 years in prison. He changed his associations and decided that I was the one. Despite my doubts, we were married, but a secret was between us!
We began writing the story of our life, page by page through painstaking sweat and tears. Two years and 128 pages later, we had created our first manuscript. During the course of writing, we did lots of research in order to decide on how we wanted to get our book published. We figured that we would ultimately give our manuscript the attention, dedication and passion that it deserved. Through educating ourselves on the many aspects of the literary world, we discovered that it can be cold and vicious. Many of the companies will drain you; they will suck your money right out of your bank account. Submitting a manuscript or a query to a publisher is difficult and rejection after rejection is discouraging. Some of the smaller presses may consider new writers, but the royalties or the percentage payment from each book sale do not measure up to your time and effort. With self-publishing there is no rejection and you have the first and final editorial control.
For the reasons highlighted above, self-publishing was the way for us. We took the following steps:
Hired a professional editor;
Employed a designer and elected a quality front
and back cover design;
Decided typesetting strategy to format the interior (I have extensive experience and after vigorous research, decided to do the typesetting. I don't suggest you try this!);
Selected a Print on Demand publisher (they print one book at a time); and
Became big time proactive in setting up book signings, media coverage and interviews.
Most of the self-publishing companies offer proofreading (or editorial services), ghost writing and marketing. You may want to seek these services through outside sources. Do an analysis to compare three to five different companies so you can make an educated decision. In addition, talk to other authors and get their feedback.
I am working on my second publication, Family Time. Writing is my passion that was awakened by A Divine Addiction. It created the birth of D&K Publishing and will stand through time. Self-publishing is a great avenue to take, but you will only get out, what you put in!
Kodzina Griffin
Visit D&K Publishing, Kodzina's website.
