I just told a good friend of mine that when the writing is going well, the blog isn’t, and vice versa, so please have patience with me.

Sometimes there are just other priorities.

I really do feel like a juggler with too many balls in the air, and the blog ball is important, but at the risk of going nuts…well you know sometimes you just have to know when to put a ball down.

I have been trying to keep the blogging to at least once a week, but that hasn’t always been possible. It’s a testament to how busy I am that I haven’t even noticed I’ve gone over a week since my last frenzied post.

Needless to say a LOT has happened and continues to happen! I’m traveling to Calgary tomorrow insha Allah to do two presentations at libraries there, and I had contacted an Islamic school in Calgary to tell them I had time available to possibly do a quick visit.

It’s really an awkward thing to cold call a school like that!

Makes me feel like “Who the heck do I think I am?”

Reminds me of the days I’d cold call pharmaceutical and medical labs to see if they had any job openings.

Knowing perfectly well that they had no idea what a good worker I’d have been and what a good opportunity it was for them to hire me…well it’s isn’t easy.

And compound that with the fact that things were hectic for Islamic schools and for me because last Saturday was Eid ul Adha.

What a day that was! Took me right back to my own Hajj. Boy do I miss it!

I miss the Kaaba, I miss the feel of the Haram. I miss going around it in tawaf and I miss the Prophet’s Masjid in Medina.

So anyway, I had some time in my schedule so basically I’d been calling this Calgary school since last Friday, to no avail. And finally I asked the lady who answered the phone who inquired whether I wanted to leave yet another voice message for the principal, I asked her honestly, “Is it worth it? Aren’t I just bothering him?”

And she told me, “No! He knows who you are! He’s just been really busy!”

Of course. Of course. Don’t take it personally Rukhsana!

But now I’m set to leave home in less than twelve hours and my itinerary isn’t even confirmed.

So I resigned myself to just doing the two presentations I was booked for, thinking ‘hey, you snooze  you lose’,  when I get a phone call from the principal… but it was almost Maghrib time so I asked him to call me back in fifteen minutes, and he did. And it looks like it’s on.

I will be visiting the Calgary Islamic school after all. One way or another.

Oh boy!

We’ll see how it goes.

I’m looking forward to Calgary. It’s got such a different feel to it! Haven’t been out west for a while.

Alhamdu lillah.

It’s so nice when I get to meet with Muslim students! Oh what wouldn’t I have done to meet a Muslim author like me when I was a kid?!!!

LOL. I know that sounds super conceited and I certainly don’t mean it like that, but it’s true.

On another note, I’m struggling with the motivations of a very nefarious character!

It’s a crucial scene, and it’s just not sitting right!

Went to visit one of my daughters and I was telling her about my struggle with it and she said an interesting thing. She said, “It’s because you don’t think like that, Mom.”

And I thought, “Duh!” Of course! No wonder it’s so hard for me to get this character right! I would NEVER EVER do what she’s ready to do!!!

So I’ll really have to dig deep to figure out what someone says to themselves when they do this kind of thing!

If that sounds cryptic too bad, I really don’t want to give away any spoilers.

This novel has been SO much fun to write up till now! There are so many scenes that make me laugh out loud and even make me feel quite clever!

But this one scene…if I can get it right, then the rest of the novel should be pretty easy sailing.

Oh busy busy.

Had to edit one of my husband’s new ebooks too. A set of 101 motivational quotes, and two of them really caught my eye. I plan to use them in my adult writing workshop that starts on Tuesday evening.

Oh, and I did a phone interview for Channel Islam, a radio station out of Chicago. Will put up the link as soon as I get it!

Lots and lots of stuff to do! So please excuse me if I’m scarce.

I will do my best to blog but I can make no promises.

Over and out.