“Love’s Garden”, a novel recently published by Junior, Creative Writing student, Naiya Smith, shares her personal journey of growth and growing up.

Writing has been second nature to Smith since childhood. She began writing books in high school. Her inspiration came from movies, television shows, and her life overall.

When Smith entered North Carolina A&T as a freshman, she unexpectedly took a break from writing. However, once she decided to change her major she started to realize that she was receiving positive feedback in her English classes and instantly, her passion returned.

“Switching my major from journalism to creative writing changed my life entirely because I was able to write every single day, and every day I wrote about my emotions,” said Smith.

From dealing with the many challenges of being a college student, to undergoing a process of self-healing, Smith decided to put these vices to use, which enabled her to retell her story this past summer.

“Love’s Garden” takes you on a journey of honesty, patience and self-understanding. The story is a combination of letters that Smith has written to God and a friend. It focuses on Cupid, Love, Mo, and Q; all Black characters who reveal what it means to live in your truth. Smith expressed that each character is a reflection of herself. She believes that readers will be able to relate to the book in various ways.

Naiya is tremendously proud of her novel. She hopes it becomes a huge success. She is trusting that her readers will comprehend the learned lessons throughout the book. She wants it to inspire them to learn the truth about love and life.

“Naiya was very honest with this book which is why it’s so good,” said recent North Carolina A&T graduate, Jamilah Ruffin.

Smith has many aspirations when it comes to looking towards the future. One goal in particular, is for her book to reach a larger audience and gain international recognition. She hopes to own a publishing company for young authors. Although this is not her very first publication, “Love’s Garden” is the one novel that Smith is most proud of. She revealed that since the process of writing was such an emotional experience for her, she had to constantly encourage herself to complete it.

Smith believes that this is just the beginning. She plans to continue improving her writing skills so that she can publish more stories in the future. “I hope to continue on the path that I am on now. As long as I am emotionally stable and my books have a good meaning, I’ll be perfectly fine with whatever the future has,” Smith said.

The book’s hashtag on social media is #ThatUncomfortableSeason. The meaning behind it is to promote the notion that sometimes people have to deal with uncomfortable situations in order to bloom.

For more information on Smith or to purchase her book “Love’s Garden”, visit, https://www.amazon.com/.