Hannah Michelle Turner had a dream — to publish her first book by the time she graduated from high school. And while she wound up cutting it pretty close, she also wound up achieving her goal.
Released by Courteous Publications, Turner’s “Beautifully Imperfect” rolled off the presses on May 13, a dozen days before she marched with her classmates at Brookwood High School’s commencement exercises.
A collection of 125 poems detailing a young woman’s ruminations on heartbreak, racism, grief and acceptance, “Beautifully Imperfect” began to take shape when Turner — who said she’s been interested in writing since the age of 10 — was in the eighth grade, and intensified from there.
“When I was in 10th grade, my goal was to be a published author by the time I turned 20,” said Turner, the daughter of Toni Reynolds of Snellville. “Back then I didn’t think I was all that capable … I decided at the beginning of senior year that, ‘Maybe I can do this now.’ I was 60% done and I was thinking that if I really pushed, I could get this done before I graduate.”
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Turner — whose favorite authors are poets Michaela Angemeer and Rupi Kaur and novelist James Patterson — added that her poems are reflections of real-life experiences.
“A lot of what I’ve written about are things that happened to me in my life, as well as things people my age can relate to,” she said.
Although she made a vow to finish her book before graduation, those who knew of Turner’s plan were few and far in between. She credited Brookwood language arts teacher Justin Gorun for his support.
“He was one of a few people I had told about it,” she said of Gorun. “I sent it to him when it was three-fourths done to see if I could get his advice. He really encouraged me.”
Once she began zeroing in on her goal, Turner brought her mother into the circle of readers.
“I started pushing myself harder and realized I could do it,” she said. “When I got close to being done, that’s when I told my mom about it because she didn’t have a clue I was writing it until I told her. I asked her to help me getting it published. We met (Courteous Publications owner Donna Page) Riley and I was still working on it while (Riley) was editing other pages. When I was done, I finished in the nick of time, so there would be time to fine tune it before it was printed.”
After going back and forth on illustrating “Beautifully Imperfect,” Turner decided to ask a Brookwood classmate, Sabrina Blair, to contribute to the project.
“At first I didn’t want illustrations,” said Turner. “I realized in March that I had changed my mind. I contacted one of my friends at school and asked if they’d be interested in doing the art for my book. I think she thought I was pranking her.
“So I put her work in and it was really tedious, and at one point I started to rush her because the time window was closing, and she made it happen. We had some late nights, and we were still in high school at this point. She made sure she did it. There was a lot of pressure and I’m really grateful to her.”
When asked her thoughts about holding her book in her hands for the first time, Turner said, “It felt so surreal. I can’t even explain how good it felt. It really hit me when I got the email about it being on Amazon. But when I got a copy in my hands, all these emotions came through. It was indescribable. It felt so great.”
As Turner begins marketing her book, she’s also thinking about her future as a writer and said she’s in no hurry to publish a second book.
“I do plan on writing another book,” she said. “It’s crazy — some of my friends have finished it and said, ‘Where’s the next one? and ‘When’s it coming?’ I do want to write another book but I feel like I should give myself a little bit of time to grow. I’m 17 and I haven’t experienced all that much, so I feel I’ll give it a few more years and I’ll have mature topics to write about it.”
For more information, visit www.courteouspublications.com.
Credit: Gwinnett Daily Post
Credit: Gwinnett Daily Post
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