A Milestone: The First Completed Draft

The Softcopy: Initial design of the book cover.

The Hardcopy: Printed design of the book cover.

Bismillah.

Last week was a challenging week. My parents (who are also my publishers) told me they'd be sending the manuscript out to reviewers. I was scared out of my wits, so afraid of what they would say, agonizing over the (yet-to-come) critics. Had 'disagreements' with my parents etc. But in the end I went ahead with what they said.

Initially my parents thought of printing all the pages in colour to be given to the reviewers so they can see it clearer. But after printing only one copy and learning that it was very costly to have it printed in colour, they decided to print it in black and white, which too was fine.

I came back home today and remembered that they had printed a coloured copy. I didn't take much notice of it except that Ahmad had said that it looked really good. It didn't register much to me at that time. That's to say; normally Ahmad would critic my works- but when he says something is good, it's good.

Well, my mom showed me the printed hardcopy today. At first I couldn't believe it. Is this really it? MashaAllah, I was grinning ear to ear and was.... speechless. I was holding on to the book. In full colour, every single page. After a whole year of spending on it, it's finally... in book form. Not 100% complete, but getting there.

I said to my mom, "I can't believe it...". My mom beamed at me and said, "Well, I can't believe that at one point you told me you didn't want to continue it." I smiled sheepishly. I remember that. When I was engulfed in my own fears and emotions. I was traumatized by the "what-if"s.

Looking at it now, I was very proud of how it turned out. And Alhamdulillah, just in time, I remembered of a blog post I read yesterday. The writer had said, "We become so proud that when something gets done, we think it's our effort. We forget that everything comes from Allah." And indeed, everything does come from Allah.

It's going to be a long journey after this. I have yet to meet reviewers, listen to their critics, listen to people's critics, edit it again and again. There will be pain, joy, disappointment. But there will also be perseverance, effort and most importantly, faith in Him.

Alia, remember to be ikhlaas and make this for His sake. Don't lose yourself and keep on track, come what may.

Ummi and Ayah, please remind me always. I love you guys:)