This bank holiday weekend I took some time out of being mum to revisit my other baby, MY book!! and it was so worth it!! This time I read Being Amani not looking for reasons to doubt my own ability as an author and also not looking for flaws and things to pick at but looking at it as a reader and as a woman.
It’s so hard to differentiate between reading as a writer and reading as a reader. I often find that I read as a writer looking for clever ways that an author has described a character or looking for a surprising plotline that I didn’t see coming. It was nice to revisit Amani as a reader - looking solely for something that I can relate to and something that I can take from Amani’s story. It really did not disappoint.
This time reading Amani’s story was endearing and although she was struggling throughout most of the story she was also growing and it was nice to see how that came across in what I had written. So many people have commented that at the end of the book they wanted more they wanted to know what happened to Amani next. People have said they are proud of the person she becomes and they were rooting for her to win throughout the whole story and this is the first time I completely agreed with them.
Amani is everyone’s friend who makes all the wrong choices and doubts herself and you just want to give her a hug and tell her to believe in herself, believe in her instincts, and allow herself to be happy but no matter how many times you say it to her she continues to sabotage her own peace.
Amani does what so many of us do and she believes that for something to be worth it, we have to make mistakes and struggle along the way and poor naïve Amani can't see that her choices are holding her back! It's such a turning point when it all becomes clear and she sees that all she has to do is be herself and people will love her for that.
I think we can all learn something from Amani's story no matter what point we are at in our lives.
Have you read Being Amani yet? If so, what did you learn from Amani’s journey? Does she remind you of anyone?
