Q1. Hello, can you please introduce yourself? Readers would love to know more about you.
My name is Elijah Lewis. I am from Baltimore, MD. In addition to being an author and motivational speaker, I am an engineer with NAVSEA in Indian Head, MD. I am also a graduate of Tuskegee and Morgan State University. Some of my hobbies would be playing basketball, meditation, and spending time with family and friends, just to name a few.
Q2. What were the key challenges you faced while writing your book “Your Jewels are in your journey”?
Honestly, there weren’t too many key challenges that I faced in writing “Your Jewels are in Your Journey”. When my publisher and I met to begin the process of writing “Your Jewels are in Your Journey”, he laid out the outline of how to write my book that was very simple to follow. I really thought that was beneficial for a first-time author and I had the benefit of having someone who’s written seven books himself give me excellent advice in the writing process. Thankfully, I didn’t have to go through too much writer’s block.
However, I would say that real key challenges in writing my book would be having to write about certain life experiences that I haven’t shared with a lot of people. I say that because sometimes when you go through painful experiences, you think as time goes on, those experiences don’t affect you anymore. You kind of get the attitude of “well, that happened a long time ago, I’m good. That doesn’t bother me anymore.” However, when you sit down and write about those experiences, you realize those experiences played a big role in where you are today and actually you realize that maybe I haven’t fully healed from those experiences as I thought I did. In fact, writing about certain experiences in my book, such as having your heart broken from someone you care about, or the challenges I went through in high school made me realize that. However, I would say that writing my book was very therapeutic because it allowed me to release the pain of those experiences and put them on paper. Although I felt as though I had to go back to the place of pain to write the book, I do believe the best art can come from pain because pain is something we all have to go through. In the end, I would say chapters 4 and 5 were the most difficult to write for me and I’m sure anyone who reads my book, will understand why.
Q3. What books or authors have most influenced your own writing?
I would say the books or authors that have most influenced my writing are “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” and the Bible. I say “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” because when you study Malcolm X’s life, you see a how a person can evolve from the absolute worst to the absolute best. If I had to sum up Malcolm’s life in one sentence, it would be it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. In fact, I remember when my father first made read his autobiography and it was very inspiring actually. The timing actually couldn’t have been better as I was going through my own struggles in high school. I admire the fact that Malcolm could go from a high school dropout and a life of crime to one of the greatest leaders in human history. In the end, we all love a good comeback story. Now I would never compare myself to Malcolm, nor my book to his autobiography, but I could make the argument that his life was the original “Your Jewels are in Your Journey” if you will. He definitely had to go through a lot of life lessons to be his optimal self. If you haven’t read his autobiography, I would recommend it.
I say the Bible because of the wisdom that is in it. In fact, I reference quite a few scriptures in my book to highlight certain chapters. Of course, I am not trying to promote any particular religious path, but my goal is that regardless of the reader’s beliefs, he or she can take in the wisdom and apply it to the journey of their spiritual path, whatever that looks like to him or her. Plus, I will say growing up I spent a lot of time reading the Bible and I actually dive into my religious upbringing, which I think readers will find very interesting and surprising. So, you definitely want to get your copy of my book and check that out for yourself.
Finally, I will say music has influenced my writing because there are certain artists, in which I quote their music to emphasize the jewel that I want to bring out in my book. While writing the book I listened to a lot of music. It helps the writing process along the way and gets the creative juices flowing.
Q4. What’s your favorite spot to visit in your own country? And what makes it so special to you?
My favorite place to visit in the United States would have to be Orlando, FL. What makes Orlando special to me is that there are so many activities you can do there. For me, I love adventure and theme parks. Orlando allows you to do both, whether it’s going to Icon Park, Universal Studios, or Disney World, etc. It sort of brings out the inner child in me. I’ve been there three times and have enjoyed every trip, especially the last two because I went with my best friend since elementary school. Hopefully, I’ll be able to visit Orlando again soon! Plus, they’re going to have some new rides at some of their amusement parks and they have built a lot of property down there too.
Q5. What inspired you to write the book ‘Your Jewels are in your journey’?
It’s funny because prior to me writing “Your Jewels are in Your Journey”, I had no intention of being an author. I honestly didn’t think I had what it took to write a book. What led to me being an author was that in September 2022, I went to the Level Up Black Empowerment Expo in Waldorf, MD and there I met my publisher, Matthew C. Horne. I bought two of his books and the lady who was at his table told me to come back and he’ll sign my book. So, I came back and Matthew signed my two books. Then he asks me, “Brother, you ever think about writing a book? You look like you got something on your mind.”
Honestly, the answer in my head was no, but I said I would consider it. We exchanged numbers and followed each other on Instagram. I said I would let him know by Wednesday, my decision. I kept thinking about my life experiences and the lessons that I have learned from them and I figured that this opportunity would be great for me and other people. So, I let him know Wednesday, we met that Friday and signed the contract. It’s one of those scenarios where someone sees more in you than you do yourself. For me, just the opportunity to give guidance to people is the ultimate inspiration. Booker T. Washington said it best, “If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.” That’s what led to “Your Jewels are in Your Journey”.
Q6. How long did it take you to write your book ‘Your Jewels are in your journey’?
6 months, I started in October 2022 and finished in March 2023.
Q7. On what platforms can readers buy your books?
Readers can buy my book on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and my website (www.yourjewelsareinyourjourney.com).
Q8. Tell us about the process of coming up with the book cover and the title ‘Your Jewels are in your journey’?
For the book cover, I knew I wanted to put a jewel on the cover to grab the reader’s attention. Of course, a diamond is arguably the best jewel of all. Whenever you find a jewel, it usually grabs your attention. The road on book cover represents the journey that we all take in life and on the road of life, we usually find many jewels along the way. The sign “JOURNEY 1,000 miles” is an ode to the saying, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step” by Lao Tzu. In the end, I wanted a book cover that encapsulates that message of the reader finding jewels along his/her journey because after all, a picture is worth a thousand words. Like I always tell everyone, we all have a journey to travel on in this thing called life.
As far as coming up with the title “Your Jewels Are in Your Journey”, I have to give credit to Matthew on that. I had thought of thirteen book titles on my own, but to be honest, none of them really stood out to capture the interest of the reader. When Matthew and I met, he wrote the title on a piece of paper and asked my opinion of the title. Soon as I saw it, I knew that was the perfect title. In fact, the title of the book, made the book cover a lot easier to make. In the end, as you go through life, you’re going to find many life lessons along the way.
Q9. When writing a book how do you keep things fresh, for both your readers and also yourself?
To keep things fresh for both my readers and myself, I trying to write my book as if we’re having a conversation with each other. My goal of writing my book is to talk to my reader and not down on my reader. I ultimately want to mention life experiences that are relatable and capture the readers’ interest to the point where they don’t want to put the book down. Ultimately, I want my book to different from other self-help books by balancing being serious and humor about my life and the lessons we all need to learn.
I also try to keep things fresh by quoting various sources and people. So, on one hand, I can quote a different book to summarize the jewel I want to highlight and on the other hand, I may use lyrics from a song to do the same thing. When it comes to people, I may quote historical figures, but also celebrities. The bottom line it shows the reader that they can get inspiration from anyone or anything.
Q10. What is the most valuable piece of advice you’ve been given about writing?
The most valuable piece of advice I’ve been given about writing is “Don’t consider your reader, consider yourself” by Matthew. The way that I interpret that piece of advice is that you should write something that you would want to read. In other words, if you’re writing something just to sound good to your readers, but in reality, you have no interest in it yourself, then you shouldn’t write about it. Smart people know when a person is just throwing something against the wall, hoping that it sticks. They also know when the writer took genuine time and effort in his/her work to display the message they want to convey. That’s my advice to anyone getting into writing, find something that you’re passionate about that you want to write. It doesn’t matter if it’s fiction, non-fiction, a children’s book, etc. If you have an interest in it, go for it. If not, don’t waste your time. In the end, the right people will show up to read your book because if you build they will come or in this case, if you write it, they will read it.
Your Jewels Are in Your Journey on Amazon
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