Tamara Ford adds author, poet to the menu
Published:Wednesday | July 22, 2020 | 12:10 AMVanessa James/Gleaner Writer
A little over a year ago, Tamara Ford shared her story of starting her business Xcellent Catering, where she caters for events and create beautifully customised cakes for clients. Now, she has added another title to her résumé as she is a published author of a novel and a compilation of poems, a feat she described as ‘buck ups’.
Ford explained that as an avid reader of romance novels, she is always on the hunt for the next story and found an app called Inkitt, where she could read stories from various genres for free.
“So, I downloaded the app and started reading a couple stories; then I saw that the same app has another section where you can write your own stories and submit it. So, I just downloaded it, and the rest was history,” she shared.
Ford added that she did not have a plan going in; she just started writing, and the story flowed effortlessly. The app had the added benefit of allowing persons to read each chapter as one writes and they could leave comments, a lot of which, according to Ford, involved readers always begging for the next chapter.
CREATIVE PROCESS
“You know how people would have a layout and say they are going to start it this way and have this in the middle? I didn’t have anything like that; it just flowed. So, while writing that story, I got an idea for two other stories and the poem, so I was writing four things at once,” Ford explained.
With the response from her readers and her best friend, Ekeisha Smith, pushing her, Ford decided to find out how to get her creations published but was shocked by the cost.
“I searched around until I found a publisher and he told me that the poem would have to be in two parts, and to do part one it would cost US$1,000 to edit, proofread, design the cover and publish it,” Ford disclosed, “So I went back to my friend and told her I could not afford it; I don’t know where I would get all that money from and she was like, ‘Tamara, I believe in you, I believe you can do this by yourself’.”
And she did. Ford decided to do further research, where she found that Amazon would be the best option for her as she would be able to publish her story at a lower cost.
“So, I started to do some research and it said that Amazon offers publishing where they would give you the space to edit, design the cover and they would publish – they would only charge you for printing. I was shocked!” Ford said excitedly.
According to the author, the novel took approximately a year to be written, and the result is a gritty, action-packed, modern-day romance novel full of drama. As for the poems, the book consists of 20 poems and took almost three months to be compiled. Ford said she never really liked poetry, but took a chance and is in love with the results.
“There are poems about grief, friendship, parenting, life and love; so everybody can connect to a poem,” she said.
Ford disclosed that writing, for her, was an escape and a stress reliever after a long day in the kitchen. As such, she is proud of her work and grateful to her friend for giving her the push and motivation she needed to finish this task.