Loganville Author Publishes First Book

When newly-published author Heather Muzik began her book, "Celia's Journey," she started writing without any particular ending in mind. In doing so, she let the characters tell their own story of all of life's surprises, blessings and heartache along the way.

“I was just reacquainting myself with words and the process of wielding them, when everything went horribly awry one summer day and the characters took me away to a place that literally terrified me as a wife and mother,” Muzik said.

Readers will recognize portions of their own lives, fears, pain and hope in the family’s fight through the pain to move forward.

Having recently lost her own grandmother, a woman who embodied “superhuman strength,” Muzik recognized that this strength had brought the family through. Though her grandparents had lost a son, as a family they prevailed, honoring the toddler they lost so young.

Thus inspired, and after recently experiencing this heartfelt loss herself, when the story took a tragic turn, Muzik said she had to help the family in her book, the Stranes, through the nightmare world of what should have been a perfect life.

“I remember my husband coming home that afternoon to find me weeping and sniveling as I typed away at the keys,” she said.

Muzik began writing years ago in college, so the process was not unfamiliar. Picking up her laptop after so many years, she said, was like “coming home.” 

"Falling back in love with writing, the story flowed forth with such strength and certainty - it made me realize I was simply too young before,” she said. “I guess maturity is a pleasant side effect of age.”

She said her biggest challenge is writing to meet her own expectations.

“I am constantly reformulating and reworking and editing only to find that there always seems to be more work to be done,” Muzik said, adding she reads but has found her own style and her “own voice” when writing from the many authors, styles and genres that have influenced her. “There is no hard and fast right or wrong.”

Publishing is a challenge in itself and for first-time authors, it is especially hard, requiring a “Herculean effort to face,” Muzik said. She added that she had "experienced some of the pitfalls and shortcomings of the traditional publishing industry outside of the most well-known publishers" and that though “rejection is a daily word," for many new authors, there are new and innovative avenues for publishing through Internet options. 

“It doesn’t take a big name to make your mark, but persistence is a necessity,” Muzik said. "It isn't about who publishes your work, but rather what you have to say." For future projects, she is investigating the possibilities afforded by blogs, personal websites and social networking that authors are now using to promote their work. 

Originally from New Jersey, Muzik now makes her home in , spending much of her time with her two sons at either Bluesprings or at the Creekside Soccer Complex. But she still thinks about the Strane family from "Celia’s Journey."

“I wanted to find something redemptive and positive and hopeful in the story,” she said. “They have a lot more to live for and through.”

Individual reviews of Celia’s Journey reflect the same recognition of pain and the hopefulness of moving forward experienced individually by the members of the Strane family. You can find "Celia’s Journey" through Amazon.com and it is now available for your Kindle.