Today we’d like to introduce you to Jalisa Smith.
Jalisa, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Hello, my name is Jalisa Smith and I am a children’s author of book “In His Absence, I Can Still Feel His Presence,” which helps children to cope with grief through the loss of their loved ones. I published my book on November 21, 2017, and it has been a blessing to many children. I loss my father at the age of eleven and it was my first heartbreak I ever experienced so young.
Growing up, I was touched by so many stories of young children dealing with that same heartbreak of losing their parents/guardians. I decided to write a children’s book to help young children understand what grief is and help them through it. My book is more like a keepsake book, structured to always. It tells a story about a little girl name Rose who loss her father and how she was able to keep making her father proud through the things he cheered her on when he was present. It also structured like an journal where the children can write and add pictures. In 2019 I was blessed enough to turn my paperback book into a hardcover as well as add a Spanish edition in the back of the book.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I worked with Blueberry Illustrations to help me with my project. Their team made it a very smooth road for me to create my first baby. Once my book was done and I read it for the first time, everything started to come to life: the words, characters, memories of me and my dad and emotions. The pictures made everything so surreal that the only thing I struggled with was reliving that moment again. It was beautiful.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a children’s author that specialize in inspirational speaking to young children about grief. What makes my children book different is it is a real story and it has a journal inside where the children can write in it and a section for pictures where the children can keep for their memories.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Being that this was my first project of publishing my children’s book, I had to do a lot of research on companies that could make my words become a story to become a book. I looked at reviews on different publishing companies and Blueberry Illustrations was the best fit for me. They were actually located in another country and I was very skeptical about sending funds to them but I trusted them and It was the best decision I made. Everything is a risk when you first starting a book or business because you don’t want to get scammed but take all the time to do your research and make your decision based off what’s in your heart to do.
Contact Info:
- Email: smithjalisa.js@gmail.com
- Website: www.authorjalisasmith.com
Image Credits
Blueberry Illustrations
