Life & Work with Narell Hunt

Writing was a passion before I could speak. I remember watching my mother one day, I couldn’t tell you how old I was, but I know that I could not talk. She was pacing up and down and was clearly in deep thought, her reaction at that moment was how I was feeling, the anxiousness of wanting to talk because I had so much on my mind. If you ever doubted if children or infants can understand what’s going on, I’m here to tell you, they do. I just so happened to remember. My mother grabbed a pen and paper and began writing down her thoughts. As I remember and as she verified, I crawled up to her, pleading in a child’s way, for the pen and paper that she was using to write. YES! I found a way to communicate. However, I didn’t realize that my thoughts would not automatically translate unto paper as I thought they would. I drew circles and lines hoping she would understand what I was trying to say.

My mother saved those papers for a while and when I was able to speak and write, she asked me about the message I was trying to relay, but I couldn’t remember at the time. Unsure if I couldn’t remember, or just chucked up those distant memories to being Just My Imagination. As I grew older, journaling became a habitual hobby, but nothing more than that. It wasn’t until my late twenties that I fell into a depression because I had no idea what direction my life was going and what I truly wanted to pursue. My friend asked me, “Narell if you were locked in a room and could spend your time doing only one thing, what would it be?” Without hesitation, I said, “Write.” To which his response was, “so then write.” Three years later, I self-published two of my novels and started my own publishing company.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
When betting on yourself, they’re undoubtedly many challenges. I believe it’s God’s way of determining how badly you want it. What are you willing to sacrifice? And how much are you willing to do the inner work to grow into the person that you need to become to see your goals through? I had no clue about publishing, formatting, designing a book cover, professional editing, and the big one – marketing. For me, completing my novels was the easy part, because I’ve always had a passion for writing, now, what came after the book was complete was where I almost lost it. Not to mention, publishing is not cheap. So, I buckled down on my finances. I’m a woman who loves getting her hair and nails done, doing some shopping, going out to eat, and all the good stuff, but I had to sacrifice those things to accomplish my goal. The fear of judgment was another struggle. Imagining what people would think when they read my work, so I had to work on my confidence and being comfortable with criticism. Sacrificing and growing isn’t easy, but if you want success as badly as you want to breathe, you will do what’s needed. I still have ways to go.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a self-published author and creator who started her own publishing company to not only own my work but will soon help other independent authors get their work published. I write mostly fiction, poetry, and non-fiction work. I’m known for my first novel, Just My Imagination, and for getting on stage, and performing poetry from my second book, Father, May I. I am most proud of not only publishing my work and having the courage to get on stage and perform, but the small details that go on behind the scenes, like creating the bags for my pop-up vendor events, or learning the value of mass email marketing and creating my templates and messages—becoming more vocal about telling the world about my book and endeavors. I am proud of the times when I was lost because if not for those moments, I would not have gotten back to my true love, creative writing. It’s certainly not easy to tell anyone what sets me apart from others, but I would have to say that in today’s society, where everyone takes the rabbit approach to life, I’m a firm believer in the tortoise method, and that is, slow and steady wins the race.

How do you think about happiness?
Writing something that impacts another’s life makes me happy. My story starts in Brooklyn, New York. I went from being an inner-city youth, and teenage mother to a published author. I want to always empower others with my story and the stories and poems that I create. A great author once said, “Your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else,” – Toni Morrison. I couldn’t agree more.