Emeralds

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS + AUTHOR'S NOTE.

I have a lot to say about this book, but before that I have to thank some people.

First of all, alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah for what I reached, even though it's way less than lots of other stories on Wattpad, it's a lot more and better than what I had in mind. At first, all I wanted was 10,000 reads, and look what we have now! I'm too happy with the achievement, though I'm still very far away from my real goals.

There are people that I don't think I would have kept writing if it wasn't for them, and above all is my best friend, Tasneem, the one who's known about this work--and all my work--before a word was even written. She was too excited since the very beginning and till the very end, she believed in me and thus made me believe in myself. I think I would have stopped too many times before finishing if it wasn't for her. Another very close friend, a sister, who's always made me think my writing was special, who was sincere and direct and who never fooled me into believe I'm something I'm not, but made me believe I can go further with writing, and that's why I'm eager to be better, she's Israa, if she wasn't born as my special friend I think she would have been born as my older sister or something. Furthermore, I want to thank this friend I knew in my first year in university, Sarah, this friend who's become a huge supporter in no time, the one who's waited for my writings like we've known each other for an eternity, and who's made our college year a lot more bearable for Tasneem and I. I want to also thank my high school friend, my girl bro (lol), my author friend, my supporter, Asmaa, we will walk the red carpet one day bro! Another friend I've known in university, some who's also started reading my work right away and waited for updates, Amira, thank you girl!

This story would literally have not been so special to me if it wasn't for you readers, I want to tag each one of you who had voted and wrote comments that made my day every time. I woke up smiling because of you too many times, I was always excited to know what you're gonna say about the chapter, some of your comments made me laugh, some made me smile idiotically and some just showed me that I can make my dream come true one day inshallah. The comments on the chapter when Leen became blind were unforgettable! So readers, thank you. Seriously and sincerely. You encouraged me to finish this story.

Now enough with the thanking part I guess, there's a lot that I actually want to say, and I hope you read on.

Before starting Emeralds I'd never thought I'd be able to write a romantic story, because you know I haven't experienced any of that. But I watched too many k-dramas (that sounds silly I know but yeah) and that somehow linked with the romance I've read in some books, and at some point I said why not? Why not write about love? Why not show love is not only a girlfriend and a boyfriend? Thanks to a story on Wattpad called A Muslim's Romantic Journey (you must have read it) I was inspired to write about us--Muslims--and say we can love too. You and I and everyone can actually have a love story, a story that doesn't go against our religion.

The part about blindness came to me because I wanted to describe how you could know someone by their voices, the sounds they make, and their smell. That somehow connected well to a romantic story, and emeralds were a gem I'd come to love recently, so I thought it'd make the eyes even more special to be that beautiful shade of green. It was also somehow an inspiration from I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella, the main character's engagement ring was vintage, with an emerald stone, kind of what I'd really love.

I chose some characters to be Palestinian because I wanted to remove barriers between the Arabs even if it's just a story, and Palestine is just too special. I don't personally know someone named Leen, but lots of arab girls are named so. However, I found it while googling some well-known names in Palestine, and I ended up deciding that if I ever have a daughter inshallah, I'll name her Leen, and if I have another one I'll name her Jenin (it's a city in Palestine if you don't know). Ah, and Leen is an Arabic word, it means softness.

I dedicated this story to Gaza when I first wrote it, and now I want to dedicate it to others as well. To people who can't see or hear or speak, to people with any kind of disability.

I want them to know that disabilities are only a state of mind, they're a prison we put ourselves in, but we are freer than we think, and freer than what everyone will think of us.

Leen was a character who's succeeded greatly when she lost her sight; so yes, you might lose some great things and think it's the end of the world, but no, maybe it's just the beginning. This is the main reason I've kept Leen blind till the end, because I want everyone to have hope, and this is why I've left the book with an open ending too, to leave people hoping. Because hope keeps us alive somehow, doesn't it? It keeps our minds wondering and our hearts pounding, it keeps us thinking, keeps us functioning.

The other part I wanted to talk about was how we--girls--don't need anyone to stay alive and succeed. We are stronger than we think and give ourselves credit for. This story might be romantic but I didn't mean from it to show that love is every girl's dream or the limit of her goals.

I know we'll all be praying for an Adam :D but no one is so perfect (although I kept trying to make him less perfect!) so we shouldn't wait for a husband from heaven :'D. He doesn't exist, but we have to keep our standards high nonetheless ;).

I hope people are not mad at me for making Leen blind anymore :D. I hope too that you'll keep reading my stories :D.

Thanks a lot!
Nouran.