"I am a publisher/author. I began writing roughly about five years ago in 2005/2006, but began to seriously start writing professionally in 2007. I completed my first manuscript in 2008 and set out on the difficult task of getting published shortly afterwards. After submitting my manuscript to several publishers and being either turned down or not replied to at all, I began to revaluate my situation and came up with a new strategy. I’ve always envisioned myself being an entrepreneur and ultimately a successful businessman, so I started to reapply my ambitions of being an author with this type of mentality. I thought to myself why not self publish my book which led to an even bigger goal of creating and establishing my own company. With this newfound determination I did just that. I cut out the middleman and made myself, my own resources, and my mind, the source in which I would tap into in order to achieve success. I planned out what I wanted my company’s missions to be, created a business plan, structured things, and a few months later released my debut novel “187 Iz An Art”, which was coauthored along with Richard L. Brown. I was born and raised in Durham, North Carolina and have lived in several other states, with the bulk of my time outside of N.C. being in Brooklyn. I'm not one to act like I've been writing before I started talking. I've had an ambition of being a writer for a while though. I was actually encouraged to start writing by my friends closest to me. I would share basic stories with them and they would tell me how much they enjoyed my stories, and that I should be a writer. Knowing that what I've experienced in life and have seen was actually much more dynamic than the basic campfire stories that I would share, I thought I would make it a goal to become a successful writer. Also I have to credit a few of my college professors who would frequently encourage me to write professially. They would say that I had a compelling style of writing. Ultimately I love my craft and consistently work on growing as an author. I find writing to be very theraputic, and it provides me with peace and balance. One of the most rewarding aspects of being an author I would say is, that it increases your intellect because you have to do tons of research on ideas contained within a story, so that it will be creditable and dynamic." -Mikal El-Amin (http://www.authorsden.com/visit/autho...)