Everyone is dealing with an upended new reality what with the pandemic and all. I’ve lost gigs and income but on the whole, I count myself fortunate. And in the grand scheme of things I’ve decided to give back, do what I can to make life a bit more bearable. What can I give back? […]

Had a very interesting conversation over the weekend with a lady originally from India. We were talking about The Breadwinner. I have a complicated relationship with this book. When it first came out, I hated it. Still do. Kind of. But…I really like the author Deborah Ellis and I think she had the best of […]

Had a hard time sleeping last night. Today I was doing a custom made presentation for a school that likes to call me back every year and I always get nervous when I have to do a presentation outside my tried and true. I was supposed to address the idea of reconciliation with grade ones […]

On the tenth of November I conducted a workshop for Packaging Your Imagination, a one day conference for children’s writers and illustrators. It’s part of CANSCAIP, the Canadian Society of Children’s Authors Illustrators and Performers an organization I joined at the very beginning, to learn the craft of writing. Oh what a journey it’s been! […]

How do you maintain the interest in a project that has spanned several years? From the moment you first got the idea to all the permutations it goes through before the story actually works…how do you maintain your passion and interest in it? It’s not always easy! I was talking to a family member, telling […]

In Islam we have a concept called sadaqa jaariya, which is a type of charity that continues giving exponentially even after you die. It can be in the form of donating to a masjid where people will remember the name of God and praise Him, long after you’ve passed away. It can be in the […]

Last night, as I was scrolling through my twitter feed, I came across the first news of the attack in Mississauga at an Indian restaurant. People sitting, celebrating two birthdays, when two covered up men (with light skin apparently) arrived and set off an improvised explosive device! Subhan Allah! What are things coming to? And […]

Saints and Misfits is one of those fun reads that comes along every once in a while that is just so well written and insightful it can make you gasp at times! Written by S.K. Ali, it deals with sexual assault within the Muslim community and the way Janna main character handles the situation with […]

A few days ago I went to one of my daughter’s houses for dinner and the grandkids ran up to me and asked me, of course, to read them stories. It’s always been what we do. So we went up to their rooms, and they each chose a book. The oldest chose Rosie Revere Engineer, […]

I wonder if anyone else is finding that the tumult of our current political times is messing with their creativity. With the political shenanigans going on south of the border, it’s almost like, ‘How can I ever write a story that can compete with that!?’ Honestly, who’d have thought! Truth really is stranger than fiction. […]