Reported by Imani Wj Wright
Motivation is something that makes you move. For me, my motivation is my granddaughters and my daughters, and inspiring other people. — Donna English
There’s an undeniable sense of hope and joy that comes from being in the presence of Donna English. The calming delivery of her words, her authentic tone, the attention she gives you while you’re speaking… You immediately come to an understanding that you’re speaking to a person who is not only listening to you, but also internalizing each word you say. It takes a special kind of being to have this natural aura.
English, author of The 9 G’s and songwriter from New York has always had an internal drive and authentic desire to help people. It’s not surprising that English is incredibly spiritual and intune with not only “you” but herself.
“I have a very vivid dream life, and I think that a lot of things come to me in my dream. When I first wake up in the morning, the first thing I do is pray and I'm like, okay, God. You know, what do I say today? And if there’s a creative thing I’m working on, that’s where I go," English said, describing her creative process.
English explained that her career as an author wasn’t always in the forefront of her journey. However, while spreading the word of God as a Sunday school teacher, she had an elinghtnening moment:
“With respect to my actual book The 9 G’s (the G’s standing for “Gifts”) I didn't have any idea to do any kind of writing. I have a degree in accounting. I worked in a nonprofit, I taught in a Sunday school. And so that was my life. But it just so happened that when I was teaching and I was teaching about the gifts of the spirit, it must have clicked, that this actually could be. To be quite honest, I really wanted it to just be dolls, nine dolls that kids can hold and say, ‘this is my doll knowledge’.”
A truly inspiring aspect of English’s story comes from the time it took her to actually begin pursuing her creative path. As many great creatives have dealt with rejection, failure, second thoughts, English’s path has those as well. Back in 2007 is when this all began, and with a younger sister who supported her older ideas, she began by letting Donna know she’d have to give all of the characters in her book a story before she could create dolls. English detailed her sister drew an outline for her to follow, and she noted it and put it in an email. 10 years later in 2017, English revisited it.
“I was talking to my granddaughter, who was seven years old at the time, and I said, I'm going to write a book. And I told her about these different characters. And she was getting excited about it. So I'm like, okay, I'm on a good track. So I got a draft together and I presented it to someone and they were like, ‘You know, I don’t if that's really a good story.’ And so I put it away. I'm like, you're not a writer Donna, just hang it up. Do your thing. And so one day, my younger sister, the same one, said, ‘So what's going on with the book?’ And I was like, well, so and so said it wasn't that good. She said, ‘Don't you know, she's a dream killer?’ She said, ‘Write the book.’ That was in 2019. In December, 2019, my sister passed. She passed in 2019 in December, and I was like, you know what, I'm going to write the book. And so I just started and I'm like, I’m not going to end until I finish. And so I did, and it was published in 2022,” English Explained.
As mentioned in the earlier paragraphs, English isn’t just an author, but also a songwriter. How did that come about? Simply put, English understands that some people aren’t as dedicated to reading as they are to other forms of receiving artistic content. So along with having The 9 G’s narrated by her youngest daughter on Audible, she also produced an album. The project is full of inspiring songwriting, uptempo instrumentation, and does a solid job of adding an extra layer to the world Donna English has so carefully crafted.
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