It’s the dog days of summer and it’s hard to get enthusiastic about much! Had a long talk with an editor on what’s working and not working with some sample chapters I sent her. It was funny. As I’m talking to her and she’s confirming all of my worst fears about the piece, there’s part […]

One of the most depressing thing you can do is go to the comments section of any article about something happening in a Muslim country. Now I get that the internet offers a modicum of anonymity that isn’t available in everyday life and that very very few people would actually utter these racist horrible remarks […]

Went up to Newmarket this morning for a presentation sponsored by Weaving Words festival. Weaving Words is storytelling festival taking place just north of Toronto on Sept. 29th. Free to all! And they invited me! Well to promote it, they asked me to do a storytelling session at the Newmarket Public Library! Newmarket is a […]

It’s been weird over the last few days. Even while I’ve been nourishing my soul, I’ve been feeling a bit restless and impatient on the career front. That’s pretty normal during ‘wait’ mode. ‘Wait’ mode of course is when you’re waiting to hear and even though it’s supposed to get easier it never does. And […]

Spent the last few days ironing out some glitches because I was hacked. Me! As someone said to me, ‘I don’t get it. It’s not like you’re CNN or something!’ Um…thanks Got the first indication from a friend and then from, of all places, my Australian publisher! Not fun, but alhamdu lillah, it’s all part […]

and the feeling’s good. It never fails. As Ramadan approaches, especially during the summer, I start to dread the long days, the thirst and the hunger, in that order, and the headachey feeling that I sometimes get when I’m trying to concentrate, or do some Eid shopping, and yet when Ramadan actually begins there’s actually […]

I received this notice in several different languages from the organizers of the Kanoon festival that I attended last February in Tabriz, Iran. They asked me to spread the word. If you can’t read it, it says the festival is being held on the 14-15th of September, this year in Isfahan. Anyone interested should mail […]

So many people have asked me, since I got back, if I wasn’t concerned about being in Turkey, especially now with all the protests. The protests really caught me by surprise. It’s funny because last Friday, the day before we were leaving, we were at the only Chinese restaurant in the country, which is in […]

What with the wonders of modern travel, I’m writing this on the plane back from Istanbul. Still trying to digest what happened in Kapadokya. The last evening we were in Kapadokya, which is a wonderful little area where the people have carved their houses in granite chimneys formed 25 million years ago by volcanic action. […]

Hubby said I should fix my first post from here to indicate that yes, indeed, I’ve been talking about Turkey, but I can’t be bothered, so I’ll just mention it now. I’m writing this from Turkey. It certainly isn’t what I expected! Our guide is a petite lady with pretty good English, very secular, and […]