I know I promised more posts about my trip to Spain and Portugal. I had it all planned out, I’d write about Don Quixote, that most famous of Spanish heroes and his faithful sidekick Sancho Panza, but life interrupted. It was funny. All during my time in Spain and Portugal, I was having such a […]

I’m sorry for taking so long to do a blog post. I’ve been away on vacation and it’s been so overwhelming catching up upon my return that it’s taken me a while. It’s like I’m digesting all the things I saw in Spain and Portugal, all the ideas that percolated through the sand in my […]

Had lunch with a very dear friend over the weekend and during the course of the conversation I told her something, just in a matter of fact way, and afterwards I was struck with how true the statement was. I was telling her how the more successful I’ve become, how certain friends and family members […]

It’s weird what happens when you start getting successful. Within the Muslim community I’ve had lots of people come up to me and tell me how they want to get published. I’ve had a relative blatantly ask me for one of my editor’s names and phone number because his daughter had written something ‘brilliant’ and […]

Like, don’t lose control of your temper! Even when a student does something silly! It was a grade three class, and I was entertaining questions. It was stifling hot in the library! And I was tired and I was frazzled, many of the teachers had been totally rude, conducting animated conversations during my presentation but […]

Subhanallah! I survived. I feel like a wrung out dish cloth, but I survived. Having two major trips so close together was NOT a good idea! It might seem really cool and fun, and it is, if they’re spaced way apart! But having basically two days in between to recuperate…uh uh, not good. Sharjah was […]

Crazy time has begun early this year. Usually it’s just May that’s crazy but this year, because I’m going to Sharjah for about nine days, and so the commitments in April are kind of compressed, the busy time/crazy time of my schedule has started early. I knew it had been a while since I’d blogged, […]

Alhamdu lillah, trying to wrap up a number of projects that have been dragging and lagging, competing for my attention but I’ve been so busy with other commitments that I’ve been interrupted on their progress. Got a bit of time now and hope to actually get them done. And when that happens, it’s the blogging […]

Okay, I had always wondered how anyone could receive emails and not respond. I thought these types of people had gotten ‘too big for their britches’. I’ve always tried to respond to the emails I receive, even if it takes me a long time to get to them. The very least I do do, is […]

I’m going to be doing a skype visit this Friday morning insha Allah with some kids at a school in Brooklyn about career choices and I’ve been thinking about what it takes to make it as an author. Thing is you need to have a number of ‘income streams’. I know that sounds kind of […]