Naima B. Robert – Muslim Women Share their Writing Journeys Muslimah Writers Summit 2022
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Alright. It's going live.
I'm gonna keep an eye on it.
We are live. Assalamu alaikum,
everyone. Welcome to this session in the Muslim
Arthritis Summit 2022.
If you're new here, welcome.
Please take a moment to subscribe to the
channel and make sure that you hit the
like button and say Assalamu Alaikum in the
chat and tell us where you are attending
from because we really, really want to know
inshallah.
So,
today's session is very, very special to me
because
this session brings together some of the ladies
that we've been privileged to work with over
the years
as they write
and promote their books. Now
the whole point of today's session
is for you to
hear it from the horse's mouth.
It's all very well for me to sit
here and say, writing's easy.
You just have to believe in yourself.
You know? Anyone can write. Anyone can be
a writer. Like, it's all very well for
me to say that you guys know, hamdulillah,
been in this game for 20 years. Hamdulillah,
how many books later. Right?
So it might be you thinking to yourself,
sister Naima's capping. It's easy for her to
say that writing's easy. But what I wanted
to do is to bring you some of
the sisters that we've worked with
who wrote their first book with us, who
promoted their first book with us, and I
want you to hear it from them
directly.
So I'm gonna introduce my wonderful panelists. I've
got coach Hind who is here in a
supporting role,
and we're really happy to have her back
with us from Dila. She's worked with all
of these,
these lovely ladies
pretty much. And all the other sisters
have worked with us in varying capacities. So
I'm gonna go around and ask them just
to introduce themselves
and tell you the title of their book
and what the book is about. Okay? Please,
guys, take a moment
to take a screenshot.
Take a screenshot,
post it on your socials,
take a moment to subscribe to the various
channels, the Instagram platforms of the speakers, especially
if by the end of the session, you
really like what they were saying or you're
really intrigued by their book. We've added their
Instagram handles as their names on the screen,
so that's why we all have the at
sign. So it 1st and foremost, please just
take a little whether it's a selfie or
just a screenshot and just put it out
there and let people know that you are
at the Muslim and Writers Summit 2022.
And I'm gonna start off
with sister Albina Salim.
Obviously, your name is Albina,
so there's no surprises there,
But, sis, tell us about your book. Tell
us the title of your book and what
it's about.
We need you to unmute inshallah.
There you go.
Excellent.
So,
I'm I'm working on the launch of my
first book, and it's titled,
act, reflect, learn, repeat.
And,
it's about how the early Muslims were actively
scheduling periods of solitude into their lives.
And,
they weren't trying to escape from anything or
run away from their problems, but they were
trying to reflect on their current,
condition of their lives and in the, the
state of the world.
So and they would always return from their
periods of solitude really inspired or inspired or
rejuvenated
with their cups full and in a better
place to,
yeah, serve the needs of the people in
their lives. So inspired by them,
the book is about how I tried
to make some space in my life to
reflect
and, how it just,
the journey I went through when I started
this process and
That's fantastic. And, what I learned along the
way. So that's what I share in my
book.
I love it.
That's based that's going to be
a really inspiring book, Insha'Allah, and a great
reminder for so many of us. Guys, please
do follow Alveena Salim on Instagram if you
like the sound of that, Insha'Allah.
Do you have a publication date set, sis?
No. I'm still editing stage right now. You're
still working.
Yep. We talked about editing in our last
session, so
wonderful to have you with us. La la
Sisay, tell us the title of your book
and what's it about, sis.
Assalamu alaikum.
So, I'm still working on the title of
my book. My book is going to be
inshallah about,
sisters who want to heal from their past.
And, actually, we're going back to the past
and reflect about the tools that we can
implement in, the present moment now in order
to become the best version of ourselves.
And the book is really about,
the insights,
the limiting beliefs that we put as Muslims
on our path.
And with my book, I want to help
sisters and show them that they are not
alone in the trials, and, yeah, they can
overcome them with the help of Allah
That's a bit,
Yay.
I love it. It sounds like a beautiful
that what we call on the in in
the industry, I guess, like a self help
book or a book of reminders for sisters.
Really, really excited to see that coming out
and hitting the shelves. Thank you so much,
Lalla.
Any Francophones in the audience, you can hear
Lala. Masha Allah speaks French. When her and
I together, we end up speaking French, but
I will not do that to you today.
Right.
Next, we have,
I wanna go with sister Samina Siddiqui.
We may be having some connectivity issues,
but whoever would like to start between Tonya
and Samina, please do go ahead.
I can go ahead.
Oh, yes, please.
Yes, ma'am.
Yes.
Yes. So I'm Tony Hagen,
and my book is titled
Finding Purpose, Peace, and Power in Islam.
A Norwegian Muslim memoir. That. Yeah.
A Norwegian Muslim memoir. Title?
Good. I love it. I'm like, sorry, guys.
I'm I'm having a, like, a fangirl moment
here
because,
Tanya was one of our our writing clients,
and, you know, she is one of our
people. But she did not come up with
this title in while she was in the
program. So it's my first time hearing
the the title. Say it again, please, sis.
I love it. I love it. It's finding
purpose, peace, and power in Islam,
the Nunrut,
Norwegian Muslim memoir.
A Norwegian Muslim memoir. I love it. So,
guys, that's what we've got here. It's a
memoir of a Norwegian revert.
Lovely. Thank you so much, Tanya. Looking forward
to circling back to you.
Sister Iffet Anwar,
please do introduce yourself, lovey.
Assalamu alaikum, everybody.
It's great to be here.
My book is actually,
a story about my childhood,
growing up as a British Pakistani.
And it's just the the kind of,
the way that I've kind of had to
navigate between the two cultures.
It touches about other topics, but you have
to wait to read them read about to
find out.
Wonderful.
Love it.
Sister Samina and sister Farzana, do you guys
do either of you have the ability to
unmute and, yes. Salaam alaikum, sister Farzana.
Oh, there you are. Both of you. Okay.
Pazana, go ahead. Welcome. Thanks a lot. I'll
I'll go ahead.
Yeah. Sister, I had a few problems with
the audio, but can you hear me now?
Perfectly.
Okay.
Yeah. So I'll start off with what my
book's about. My book's about, generational trauma within,
Muslim communities
and how women have kind of
influenced,
not become a problem, but kind of they've
influenced
some of that trauma within the younger generation
of women. So that's what I've kind of
like,
and the the cultural aspect that kind of
influence has a negative influence within
some communities.
And,
yeah, and how we've kind of
drifted away from Islam, and we need to
come back to that. So that's kind of
a short
Yeah. Structure of my book. Yeah. I love
it. Thanks so much. Well done. Very much
looking forward to that.
Samina Siddiqui.
Title of your book and what it's about,
dear? Okay. Samina
O'Dean.
Samina O'Dean. Sorry, madam. Plume. Sorry.
And
my book is called Deli Nights to London
Light, a daughter's loving memoir to her father.
So it's about my late father
and how he navigated partition
and,
the birth of Pakistan.
So the partition of India and then coming
to London
and, you know,
his sacrifice
and his memories. So I interviewed a lot
of his friends, his family,
lots of research on the partition of India,
even though it's only a chapter and a
bit.
Excellent. I love it. So we've got some
memoirs, we've got self help, we've got reminders,
reflections.
So
what I would like to just make it
clear to everybody here before we dive in
is that
these are all nonfiction titles.
Okay? These are all nonfiction titles written for
adults.
So this is these are the ladies who
work with us in our 90 day book
program,
where we concentrate on non fiction more or
less for adults, sometimes for teens, but more
or less for adults. But I mean, writing
a book,
a nonfiction book, a book for adults
is quite daunting
to a lot of people.
Right? So I'd like to hear from any
one of you, really.
Before you started out,
where was your head at? Like, why did
you think to yourself,
I'm going to write a book? And where
you know, what what were your beliefs about
what you were capable of? You know, did
you think, yep, this is gonna be easy.
Like, yep, I'm doing this, you know, just
hit me with it. Did you have fears?
Did you have doubts?
Where were you
just before you committed to this journey? Anyone
who would like to to speak on that.
Just, you know, just unmute and let's go.
K. So
I'll start this off.
So initially, I came
to sister I attended sister Naima's workshop on
writing a children's book. So that was the
original plan. I came to write a children's
book. And whilst I was there, Sister Naima
kind of
was talking about writing a book that would,
you know, have a good impact. Not that
a children's book wouldn't but something a book
within us.
And from a young age, say about 10
years old, 11 years old, I've always wanted
to become an author. I didn't know it
was possible. I didn't believe it was possible.
I thought it was for other people, but
hence now I'm here, alhamdulillah.
But,
I I saw injustice within the Muslim communities.
And I'm not just talking about Pakistani communities,
but majority of, you know, communities
they had this problem where they follow culture
and not
Islamic. So so I thought, okay, how can
I
how can I get my voice heard
and get my point across
where I can be a voice for women
who don't have a voice? So that that's
where my book came from. And as I
went deeper into this, I realized how much
of a problem this was
of women
not being able to have a voice. And
yeah, we did have a voice within the
home to a certain extent
and if we did ever speak up that
would kind of be like shushed, this is
not possible, you can't do this. So I
thought okay, how do I make this possible?
And that's when the book was,
born in a way. Alhamdulillah.
Masha'Allah.
Anybody else want to share where their head
was at before they
embarked on the journey of writing this book,
which, like I said, is no mean feat.
Where were you? Where was your head up?
So, for me, it was when I was
looking for my identity
as an African European born in Belgium and
raised,
and I always wanted to leave a legacy.
And I would think about, one day I
will write, Insha Allah, a book that has
been my dream
and also about my heritage of my ancestors,
and I always wanted to leave something that
people know,
about our story.
And then,
I started with you with writing on my
father's memoir,
and then we took another turn to write
about,
the trials that I've been through. So, I
wanted to share with the sisters
about,
the fact that I've lost a husband. I
was, also with orphans of Hamlet kind of
similar, like your story. And I told it,
from my own perspective, that I would also,
show the sister that they are not alone
on the trials, what they're facing, and that
they can learn maybe from me and I
can learn from them because I've been when
I was writing, I found out that it
was more more about my development also.
I had to be honest and authentic,
and I just wanted to leave a legacy,
for Ahira and also, yeah, for sister that,
want to have, like, motivation
and know that they are not alone in
this struggle.
Alright. So,
was it that easy?
Was it that easy? And I and I
tell me tell me because, like, let's be
real here. You know? I want like I
said Yeah. People think that I'm like, oh,
it's easy for me to say blah blah
blah. But how easy is it to, to
be honest, you know, with with your with
your writing, with what you're sharing? Yeah. You
know, talk to yeah. Talk to that.
Well, in the beginning, I thought like, oh,
people are not supposed to know everything. I
thought I could, not sell everything, but then
I told myself, but how can you transmit
your message if not being real?
So for me, it was a really a
big job on myself.
So I had to put off the masks,
that I carried for all those years and
just be la la, you know, and I
found out
other phases in my life where I w
where I wasn't healed properly.
And I had to go back into that
and through the writing, it gave me some
healing
And from the healing that, that my real
personality came, my real authentic character.
And then I told myself I have to
be real. I cannot speak it, especially because
I want to leave a legacy for Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and Allah is my witness
angels. I cannot write down something that has
never happened.
And so, it's it's it's
relieving, and it's also like I'm being vulnerable
vulnerable. I'm being there, and I'm here. You're
not alone. Come on. You know, it's like,
yeah, it was,
not easy, but after a while, it became
like a routine.
Masha'Allah. I love that. And,
you know, speaking of, you know, having this
idea that writing a book and, you know,
knowing that one day I'm gonna write a
book, I wanna just turn to Samina here,
for a second because,
Sameena, you've had, you know, a long journey
with us,
and you knew from years ago that you
wanted to write a memoir.
Tell tell tell us about
the the obstacles that you had at the
beginning or just even along the way, because,
I mean, your launch date is in March,
isn't it? Masha'Allah.
So what what barriers were there? What obstacles
did you meet along the way, and how
did you overcome them?
I think I had to get my biggest
barrier was myself.
And,
what helped me was your when I was
in release was the
mindset. And I would listen to that over
and over again.
And
I've always wanted to write a book, but
I didn't have the tools.
My biggest the thing that I learned most
amongst other things was that don't self edit
when you write your first draft. And this
is what I've been doing my whole life.
I'd been writing a few paragraphs, a few
pages, then I'd go back.
Then it was just one of those cycles
and I just couldn't get out of that.
But when I found that tool, I found
my voice.
And now I found my voice. I just
it's been 3 years
since our first call. Know that. Mhmm. It
was in Magu Sharif
and it's happening now. And I'm I'm really
excited
and nervous as well, but that's natural.
And I just wanted to write about my
father because he's really important to me.
And I learned so much, I learned a
lot about him, but I learned about myself.
I learned about my heritage
and, you know, the carnage of the partition
of India
and the birth of Pakistan. I didn't know
anything, really. I didn't know anything.
Wow. And I think not our generation
don't really know anything. And I hope that
if and if one person
picks up my book and goes off and
reads about
either from my bibliography or from the internet
or podcasts.
I'll I'll have done I'll have done my
job. I'll I'll be satisfied.
Masha'Allah. I love that. And, you know, may
Allah have mercy on your father and accept
this work of yours, you know, as as
an act of of Ibadah, you know, and
sadaqa jari, inshallah. What a what a wonderful
gift to give your whole family, you know,
in the next generations,
really, the gift of knowing somebody,
a member of their family, you know, one
of their ancestors, really, in such a a
close and personal way. I love it. Yvette,
you and I had a conversation also many,
many years ago, so I know that you've
been wanting to write a book for a
while as well. Tell me about that. You
know? How did you end up taking that
leap of faith then to to finally start
writing?
I think when we spoke, that was I
think that was also, like, 2018,
2019, maybe.
Yep. And I had a few ideas ideas
floating around.
And I was like, should I do fiction?
Should I do nonfiction?
And then I kind of went through my
own therapy, I would say, where I,
just kind of embarked upon a journey where
I was like, I need to,
kind of get over trauma from childhood,
and kind of went on a journey of
self love, self discovery.
And then I thought to myself, I kind
of have to
give myself permission to do this. That was
a really important thing for me to give
myself permission.
I didn't need to ask anybody else.
So that was kind of the first stepping
stone, I would say,
towards
getting to this even even to the idea
of writing anything. And so the call with
you really helped, and then I kind of
backtracked, and I was like, no. I'm not
ready to do this.
And then I think we you did, like,
a workshop on memoir writing and I thought,
you know what? That sounds like what I
want to do. And this time, I'm just
gonna take the plunge and I'm just gonna
do it.
And I just came to my full force.
And I think by that point, because I
had been so humming and I know I
was like, I'm ready to do this now.
So when, like, you went through the road
map with me,
for those who, like, I might have not
heard about it before, sister Naima and sister
Hinn, they have, like,
like, a road map, like a plan that
you have before you start writing even.
And that's kinda like the skeleton of your
book.
And that kind of really helped me to
focus on what I wanted to do,
and what I wanted my man want to
go with direction I wanted it to go.
So that was that was it, really. And
then that was it. Each week, I would,
get accountability from sustain.
And just the general support from the kind
of caution calls that I had, and it
just kept going and it kept going. And
now I reached my first draft a couple
of weeks ago.
Yes.
I'm still kinda like processing that.
And then now I'm at the stage where
I need to, start the editing.
And I was a bit apprehensive. But, Hamdah,
I had a chat with sister Naima yesterday,
and she kind of told me to mind
my language if I remember correctly.
Because I said, yeah. It feels like now
editing is the real work, the hard work.
And she's like, right. Mind your language.
Yeah. She's looking into a group of us,
but it it did put things into perspective.
So I'm ready to kind of think this
is gonna be really fun and it's gonna
be really exciting and that's the sort of
language that I'm gonna have in my head
when I'm starting this part of the the
writing process. Hamdulillah. I love it. I love
it. I love coachable. I love it when
my ladies are coachable.
Now, Tonya,
you,
are a writer.
Writing comes very easy for you, the written
word and expressing yourself in the written word.
From from what I know of you, it
comes easily for you. But you didn't have
an easy time when you were actually writing
the book, like, life happened. Right?
Like it happened for almost everyone on this
panel. So how do you feel that you
were able to keep pushing through
and actually
in spite of the hurdles, in spite of
the the setbacks? I mean, you had a
lot of stuff going on. Tell us a
little bit about what was going on and
what made you push through eventually.
I'm so sorry.
I have been sick, very sick for 2
days now. But Shafaq Alai off. I'm so
sorry to hear that. No worries.
Yes. I have some
hurdles underway.
Mainly because I live with my own 3
children now,
without my husband being in the same country
most of the time.
Right now he's here, so that is very
good. And,
yeah, I was a student
while writing, when I started to Mhmm.
Yeah. But the most important thing to keep
pushing me was,
I think, the daily. When I attended the
release program,
I had these daily
what do you call them? The coaching sessions
every Tuesday?
The coaching calls. Yeah. Yeah. That was super
helpful and motivating
because of
yes. Everything else we hear from all the
testers,
what they have achieved the last week.
And even if we don't achieve much,
we're able to come to the call, and
then we get the motivation to keep going.
So yeah. But, also, I have
a I have a proper message to share.
Mhmm.
So I want
to at least finish my work
in a very good manner so I can
get the book published,
Inshallah, so it can touch people's lives
and benefit someone.
Alwina.
Yes. Alwina,
I wanna come to you, sis.
You are here as somebody who is, you
know, still working on the book, looking to
launch it Insha'Allah.
What would you say keeps you motivated to
stick with the project and not give up?
Because let's be frank, you know, anyone in
here, if you have ever started on
a book writing project of any kind, just
give us a yes in the chat. We
wanna see. Identify yourselves.
Because
if you have ever,
sort of committed yourself to some kind of
writing project, there will be times when
you wanna give up, when it's not going
the way that you hoped it would go,
when you do that
you make that cardinal sin of reading over
what you wrote and then it just does
not sound the way you wanted it to
sound, and then all of a sudden you're
like, what?
I'm writing rubbish here. Or life happens. You
know, you get ill, you know, the the
children get sick,
you know, stuff happens all around you. You
no longer feel like you're in the right
mind space, you know, time is going, maybe
you've spent money and all of these types
of things. Right? So, Alvina, how did you
manage and how do you manage
to stay committed
to your goal? Because this is one thing
that I say in all the programs is
that, you know, every one of you is
here today because you made your book a
nonnegotiable.
You've heard me using that phrase a lot,
I think, nonnegotiable,
because when you've committed to something, it becomes
a nonnegotiable.
So, Alvina,
what keeps you committed to your project?
I think the pandemic
really made me realize how much life is
not in control
and how things changed a lot with the
kids at home and the husband working from
home and everything being really overwhelming.
So for me, having that space after Fajr
every morning
was, I felt, my way of control because
it was the only time of the day
which was not subject to any change, whether
the kids are at home, whether they're not
at home, or whether we're in lockdown or
not. My fajr is the same, and that
time, I'm always alone. So I think that
is what helped me to stay committed because
that time didn't change for me. So when
I linked it to my writing journey, I
was able to stay consistent because there was
no other window of the day to guarantee
time or guarantee commitment.
But by linking it to that space that
I had, just helps me, keep on going.
And enjoying the process, I think that's played
a part as well. When I get bogged
down by the editing or how long I
have to go
or or or, you know, you get stressed
out thinking, am I ever gonna make it?
I take all of that out of my
head, and I just think just enjoy writing,
which is why you started in the first
place.
So, yeah, that's what helps me. I love
that.
I absolutely
love that. Absolutely love that. Guys, I just
wanna ask
you to just take a quick minute.
Okay?
I'm gonna put everybody on the screen at
once because I want us to play a
game. I want everybody on their cameras, please.
We're gonna play a game. Those of you
who are in the audience, please can you
make sure that you check everyone's names?
Go ahead. Take another screenshot. If you didn't
take a screenshot before, share it on your
stories, share it on your platforms or whatever.
Let people know where you are. Okay? And,
ladies, I want to ask
if
okay. This is the game. Right?
Put your hand up like this.
Everybody has to put their hand up like
this.
Alright?
You with me? Everyone put your hand up.
You guys have seen this game. It's a
TikTok game. Alright? Put your hand up like
this. Okay. Put a finger down
if you ever wanted to give up on
your book project.
Put a finger down if you felt nervous
about people reading your manuscript.
Put a finger down if you ever ever
found yourself asking
what on earth did I sign up for
when I started writing this book?
Put your finger down if you ever thought
to yourself while you were editing,
I can't do this. It's too it's too
much. I can't manage this.
Put a finger down. Okay? If at any
stage in the journey,
you had to literally make dua to Allah
to say, Allah, help me. Otherwise, I'm not
gonna be able to finish this.
Who's got their hands up, down? Let me
see.
Alright. No. Hind is the only one. Last
man standing.
Alright.
For that. Fun times. Alright. So I want
to ask you then,
how
if someone came up to you,
someone you know, someone you you'd know, you
love, you respect,
and said,
I'm thinking of writing a book.
I'm thinking of sharing my story or, you
know, sharing my message or sharing the knowledge
that I have in a book.
You you're doing this or you've done this.
What advice do you have for me?
And I'm gonna I'm going to encourage you
to to really
tell us something that we haven't heard. Yeah?
Because obviously, like I said, it's easy for
me to say, but you guys have been
through a process.
Every one of you has been
on the same journey, but you've taken slightly
different routes.
I wanna say this again.
Every one of you, when you started out
on this journey, you had a destination in
mind. You had a goal. It was to
write a book and to share your message,
put it out into the world.
But the
the destination of that goal, the the the,
the location of that destination or that goal
is different for everyone. Some of you had
a memoir that you wanted to write. Some
of you had a self help book. Some
of you are writing a book of 80,000
words. Some of you are only writing 20,000
words. Right? So in a sense, it's like
your destinations are kind of plotted in different
places,
and therefore, the routes that you've taken, although
you've all more or less done the same
things, you've planned, then you've been writing regularly,
and you've been having coaching calls, you've been
having accountability, etcetera, but you've all
encountered different things along the way
to your particular
destination.
Does that make sense, guys?
You've all encountered your own challenges,
your own obstacles, what you know, the own
the the work that you've had to do,
you know, the growth that you've undertaken. Each
one of you has had your own unique
journey. So
going back to my question,
now that you are nearing the end of
that unique journey, someone comes up to you
and says, what advice do you have for
me, sis?
What are you telling them? I'm gonna start
with Hind, actually,
because, I'm gonna coach Hind.
She,
does a lot of coaching with fiction authors
as well as our nonfiction authors and our
wonderful children's authors,
but I know that she coaches fiction authors
too. Right? So fiction authors have got, like,
a different set of problems in a way.
But, Hind,
you've written novels.
What would what do you say to someone
who says,
look, I like what you're doing. I, you
know, I wanna do what you've done.
Talk to me. What advice do you have
for me?
The the number one thing is to recommit
consistently.
So, like, every day you want to remember
that this is your goal.
This is and you're not gonna get there
unless you put in the work.
So it is a
sort of reconnecting
with your,
with your intention with your intention and with
your overall dream and your overall goal. You
want to
stay connected to that and reconnect with it
as often as you can.
So that's what I would say
to all of my
anybody that, that I would coach. But can
I share something that I learned
from
our from our basically, from our students?
Is that,
what I see them doing is
do it your way. Whatever is working for
you, then that's completely fine, and just keep
going with that. Because I think too often,
we get caught in that, well, I should
be doing this or I should be doing
that. But if you're if that should isn't
working for you, well, what good is it
if, you know, lots of people write on
their, on their tablets?
For some people, that doesn't work for them
and they write in a notebook. For some
people, they write on their phone. And who
am I to say one is better? Whatever
works for you is how you should continue
continue
along your journey with.
I love that. I love that 100%.
Yeah. I love it.
It's a lot for us coaches to say
do it your way because, obviously, we teach
a particular way. But at the end of
the day, some for some people, writing 10
minutes every day is what keeps them sane.
It's what keeps them motivated. It's what keeps
them making up their word counts. For some
people,
you know, they go in and they don't
emerge
from their writing for 2 hours, 3 hours,
but then they're done for the week. Like,
they can't go back in there again. So
everyone, we just say to them, if it's
working for you like that, miss Midla.
Lalla, what's your advice, my dear?
So,
what I would advise is, 2 things. The
first is,
the reason why you want to write a
book. So what is your why?
And from the moment you feel not motivated
or you don't have the energy to write
or you feel down, then you go back
to the why. So your reason why your
book is so special, why your book should
be,
read by a lot of women,
and that will keep you automatically,
motivated.
And secondly,
what has helped with me is having
myself, having mercy.
Like, I'm knowing that,
you have to do what you need to
do, but baby steps
because,
writing a book is not a marathon. It's
not about,
doing it fast, and and, you know, it's
about doing it, like,
every day, but a little bit. And if
you can do it one day, it's okay.
You know? But you keep doing those little
baby steps. That's the most important without judging
yourself while writing.
Not judging yourself, just writing
and doing what you can.
Completely on point. Yeah. I love it. I
love it. Masha'allah.
Just I I think somebody has to take
notes after this, and definitely write down every
single piece of advice
gold.
Alvina, what about you?
I think what I learned especially with this
course is that you need your team. And
it's you think writing is such a lonely
process,
but you need you need your editor, you
need your
consultant, you need your accountability coach,
you need people who are sharing how they
did it so you can learn from them
as well. So actually, I didn't realize, like,
how many people actually helped get your book
out there is definitely not something you can
do alone.
Okay then. Sorry, guys. The tech issues here.
Thank you, sis. Right. Who would like to
share next? I want this original advice coming
from everybody. Ifeht, what say you? What's the
advice?
I really agree with what sister Lella was
saying about being kind to yourself.
So for example, one day you're like, I
can't I can't do it today because of
x y zed. I'm just telling yourself, it's
okay.
Tomorrow's a new day. Try again tomorrow.
And also what, sister Alina was mentioning about
the fact that you've got support and you've
got a team.
And one thing that really helped me was,
during the coaching calls,
I kind of made a report with one
of the sisters there, and
we would message each other,
on Facebook Messenger just saying, oh, so today,
I'm I'm going to find 100 words, and
I did get it done by 9 PM
tonight. Can you just message me at 8
PM to see if I've done it or
not? So that kind of accountability. I mean,
sister Hen, like, phenomenal accountability
coach, but it's just nice to see someone
else who's actually doing the writing with you.
And they're writing like you said, everyone's on
their own path and everyone's doing their own
writing, but it's just that short process of
500 words today. I'm gonna I'm gonna give
myself a deadline and someone's gonna kinda follow
me up on that as well.
That was something that,
really helped to kind of get me going.
Oh, I totally I totally hear that. And
I think, you know, we can all attest
to the the power of accountability. Right? About
that accountability
and support,
and just, yeah, not being on your own,
you know, not feeling isolated like you're all
alone on this. Masha'Allah.
Samina, what's your advice, my dear?
Your original advice.
So I would say,
just do it because there's never a good
time. So if you've got small children, you
say, oh, I'll wait till they go to
school.
Or I'll wait till they go to high
school, I'll wait till they there's never a
good time because life is always going to
get in the way for everyone. Everyone's had
different challenges. Everyone that I've
been on courses with,
writers that I know outside these groups,
everyone has challenges and life gets in the
way, so just do it.
And somebody else mentioned that consistency
is key.
Accountability,
for me, personally, I really need accountability.
And I've learned to be more and more
consistent.
Yeah. Accountability is,
definitely, masha'Allah. The queen, the king, it does
make such a huge difference. And you are
one of the, our clients who like to
that 10 minutes a day really, really helped
you that structure, masha'Allah.
Fazana, what's your original advice?
I think sometimes writing a book can be
extremely frustrating
where you kind of
becomes
frustrated with the words that you've written and
not stopping. And then when you go back
and you read some of the words you've
written, it just doesn't make sense. So it
can be extremely frustrating at times. So I
think you can kind of step back and
then give yourself some time. Don't feel guilty
that, you know, I'm not writing every day
or,
I'm gonna stop this book because it if
it's not making
sense
now, how is it gonna make sense? So
it's knowing that, okay, there can be a
first edit or a second edit. And, you
know, until you're not happy with that book
and, alhamdulillah,
the amazing support that Sister Naima and Sister
Hen give us, it's,
unbelievable. You know, they really, really help, move
things forward. So, yeah, that's my kind of
advice on that.
I love that.
I love that. Right. Have I covered everyone?
No. Tonya, what is your original advice? What
would you say is, is advice that you
would give somebody who wanted to know what
you would
advise?
I think definitely
it is very good to find your own
way
because we were advised
to spend 10 minutes a day to write.
And for me, that was very
demotivating
because I don't achieve much in 10 minutes
Well, writing comes very easy for me.
So I figure it out,
I think, in a just a few weeks
that
I can count these 10 minutes, and at
least I fulfill 10 minutes a day if
I spend it in one day or 2
days in that full week.
So when I write
maybe one full hour or even 2 hours,
and one block and I find a time
for that,
That was a lot more enjoyable because I
feel I have achieved something, and then I
can relax a little bit in the other
days. And then
I would continue like that until I
yes.
That's at least
was away from me
to feel more motivated about the writing and
actually seeing that I make progress here.
Yeah. And I think it I think that
that speaks to that speaks to what coach
Hend was saying. Right? That, you know, if
it's working for you, keep working it. Because
like we said, for some people, a little
bit every day is what keeps them sane.
For others, you know, like you said, it
wasn't exciting for you. It wasn't interesting. It
wasn't motivating. In fact, it was it was
it was the opposite. So, Alhamdulillah,
I think, you know, there is definitely for
all of us an aspect of trusting our
intuition as well. And again, it's the belief
in yourself.
You know, I may believe that the best
way of writing a book is to literally
break it down bit by bit and have
a whole list of everything that I'm gonna
write about and then go away and write
each little bit. For others, that doesn't work
for them. For others, they want to have
maybe an idea and then they're gonna run
with it. They're going to explore that idea.
They're gonna write everything they wanna write on
that particular topic and then move on. Right?
So, subhanAllah,
you know, for me,
you know, we'll be talking about this later
on in the in the in the over
over the weekend, InshaAllah, when we talk about
sort of, you know, the the woman that
you become along the way. So I don't
want to preempt that too much. But because
it's something that we talk about a lot,
you know, when we're working together
and because
just like any other big endeavor, any big,
bold, beautiful goal,
you will be changed
by this process.
Right? You will not be the same person
you were
when you started
as the person you are at the end.
So if we can round up this session,
I just want to ask every one of
you,
how has this book writing process changed you?
How have you changed as an individual? What
have you gained from the process?
Just to give everybody
a little taster of the woman that you
became along the way. Anybody can start, Insha'Allah.
Yeah. For me, I think it was,
whilst writing things come up
that you don't expect.
Like,
when you're writing it may take you
into the past where you've not realized that
that was a problem for you. And once
you start writing you think why is it
so difficult to write this chapter?
And I think,
having that understanding
is, it's like gold because sometimes we go
through life in kind of a zombie mode
where we're not really
existing in that space. But when we go
back and we learn that, okay, how did
that event
actually
impact my life or the person's life who
I was talking to at the time. So
I kind of,
it's a good way to heal like, sister
Lalla mentioned before. It's definitely
a healing process and at times you may
even
stop
writing that chapter because it's too much. And
then you just go back to it and
or you
no. What I used to do is start
off another chapter that wasn't as intense and
then go back to that one.
So
The woman you became along the way. La
la, go ahead.
So the women the woman that I became
is actually,
I had to be honest with myself. I
learned to be, vulnerable,
really honest.
And I learned to manage my emotions
because through the writing process, I found out
that,
while I was writing certain chapters,
I had to revive back those moments
and learn about the trials that I've seen
and then make the best of it in
the present moment. And for me, it's like,
yeah, I'm repeating again. It has been a
healing, a more on a deeper level
writing is like,
journaling for your soul.
And that's what I've,
became more present, more mindful, more calm
because I was allowed to write down
everything what was going on in my mind.
It was different from the kind of journal,
you know, but it was more like,
what is what I what is the thing
that I wanna leave to my children,
to my brothers, my sisters,
my family,
my sister tribe.
And what I've learned also is the fact
that,
when I came to you, Naima,
you enhanced
it's like a sister tribe. I didn't felt
alone. It's like a sisterhood,
the coaching call,
sister hand every week, sending in a message,
a voice, and knowing how you are. I
felt like supported.
Like, now I can say that, I'm
feeling like,
peaceful,
more authentic
and also,
not alone in my journaling process, in my
writing process. I mean,
it's more
Masha'allah. I love what you said about the
the work for the soul.
Really, really beautiful sentiment there. Masha'allah.
Love it. Samina,
who did you become along the way?
Well, I just I won't repeat because I
echo everything that Rosanna and Leila said.
But for me, was tech, you know, I
didn't even I've never used Google Docs.
I'd, you know, I'd heard about Mailchimp and
again and Canva and stuff. Okay. I'm not,
you know, proficient in certain things, but I've
learned so much,
in the tech way. And
social media, I wasn't on social media
before I started with you on purpose. Got
a bit of an addictive personality, but I
always said that I would, come on social
media when I had a business.
And writing a book is like a business.
You become a business person.
So you have to treat it like you
would be a business that, you're, you're going
to have to be learn to be savvy
about self marketing. You learn from your children.
You learn from your friends. You learn from
your peers.
And that's what I've done. Whenever, like, my
daughter started off my Instagram for me. This
is what you've got to do, mom. And
then
I just learnt and learnt, you know, from
you, Naima, from, you know, all the other,
sisters on the courses.
And, you know, if my niece came along
she sat with me for 20 minutes and
said oh try this, try that And then
I was able to use those skills and
hone these. And Instagram, just quickly, Instagram,
March 12th last year, I had 0 followers
and I had this Instagram live planned from
ages ago.
So I got an Instagram account and my
my daughter said, you've already got one and
I've never used it.
And within,
that March 13th was the my first Instagram
live. I just got about 12, 13 people
on there. And now
from various means,
I've got well over 700. Okay. There's I'm
not saying you should have that. It should
be quality.
But then I was speaking to someone else
outside from Instagram. And when I said that
sometimes I'd get a 100 views
on my stories, because I didn't do stories
initially,
and she said, well, you've got 7 hun
then I had 600. You've got 600. That's
a really good conversion
in percentage. I can't remember the percentage.
And,
okay. It's always different. Liking your post is
going to be different from viewing. It's like
people are not exactly engaged. They might just
be nosy, they might have just left their
phone on and if yours is the next,
you know, your second or third thing they're
not even watching.
But,
you know, I'm out there and I'm noticing
that every day when I go on, that
I've got 1 or 2 new followers because
I've learned because I follow lots of people.
I also follow authors,
follow writers. Don't see them as competition. See
them as like family. They'll help you,
you can help them. That's how I've got
onto podcasts with fellow authors.
And just ask them, say, if they say,
oh, would you like, are you serious about,
would you like to be on my podcast?
I've just dived in there. Hawaii,
New York,
London.
I've done them. You guys can see.
Samina came from 0 on Instagram to literally
not only almost a 1000 followers and engaged
followers as well, but podcasts,
interviews,
you you've been to a festival and the
book is not even out yet,
So not only were you able to figure
out the tech, but now you can help
other people to do it as you guys
can see.
So huge growth for you. Huge growth for
yourself. As well. I moderate I moderate on
rooms, and they all you do I've got
this long profile and they
3 or 4 times out of 10, somebody
asks me about my, my book, my memoir,
And then in the back, they have a
back channel now. I actually sip and say,
would you like an a free answer? Oh.
Oh. So I've been doing that. So I'm
sure I've got more people.
So I love that. That's a little behind
the scenes move. Excellent.
I love it. If,
the woman you became along the way, talk
to us about her.
I don't know where to stop.
Well, I think the the beginning part was
kinda the wobbly part, and what really helped
at that point was,
I'm gonna say it no. I'm gonna say
it. The cathartic draft.
I'm surprised everybody has said it already,
but that really helped. Just just to kind
of get all the emotions out,
and just kind of be real. And I
think Sister Lannah mentioned, yeah, she just kind
of like writing fearlessly.
Or was it should my I might be
sister Aisha as well. I think it was
kind of a bit of an overlap. And
one one of us has mentioned it.
And that just really kind of,
I get I think it gave me the
confidence to kind of just keep going. Because
once you've got it all kind of, like,
blurted out, you know, on paper,
You feel like you can start
shaping it into an actual,
you know, a text a a piece of
writing that people write to public.
So I feel like that was really healing
for me,
to be able to do that and to
kinda, along the way,
process
emotions.
I think one of this is mentioned about
going back to the past. Yeah. And just,
you know, the memory lane you go you
go down and you've kind of,
almost have block blocks on the way, but
you just
kind of keep going,
and see where it leads you.
So,
I love it.
It's the
catharsis and that healing journey as well.
Lastly, Alvina,
how do you feel that you've changed in
the process of writing your book and working
on it? I think,
confidence
my confidence has increased a lot higher.
So when the editor gives you feedback and
wants to know more, like, why did you
say that and why did you reach that
conclusion? And you just become a bit more
open with sharing
and thinking, actually, people do want to know.
So you're more willing to, like, share more
details about your life, which I never used
to do because at the back of my
head, it's like, why is it relevant? Why
is it important? Why do people want to
know? But then the journey raise raises your
confidence, and it makes you think, actually, people
do wanna know. So Yes. You become more
open to share.
I love that.
I love it. I absolutely love it. Hind,
do you wanna say
a a few closing
remarks
inshallah about this journey that these writers have
been on before we finish up inshallah?
I just love being on their journey with
them. I really do because, like, every step
of the way when, you know, they first
start, I'm surprised that people didn't say, you
know, I call myself a writer now. Because
I'm sure that they all do. And at
the beginning, the number of women who who
would come to us and say, well, but
I'm not really a writer. But, yes, you
are. You are a writer, and I love
being a part of that.
So honored to be on your journeys, all
of you. And
I I wish you all of the best
in in everything,
not just your writing journey, in in all
of life. Inshallah. May Allah grant you great
barakah.
And, just keep at it because now that
you've come this far, you should feel like,
Alhamdulillah,
I can do anything.
You know, if I have Allah on my
side, I can just, you know, if I
have that goal and I work towards it
and I have my tribe, I can do
anything.
I
love it and we love it and I
don't have to say anything else now because
coach Hinn said it all. You guys are
fabulous. You and all your colleagues and your
cohorts. And I know those sisters who the
they are in your groups, in in your
cohorts, in your coaching calls, who are cheering
you on from the sidelines.
It's just such a huge privilege for us.
And so for those of you who are
watching, we just need you to know that
this is doable.
It is possible.
It is within reach as long as you
are committed.
Once you commit,
there there are everything is figureoutable.
Right? So I hope
that this has shown you that I'm not
just talking. Okay? Coach Hain and I, we
don't just talk and say, oh, it's so
easy or anyone can do it. No.
This is available to every one of you
who
is ready to commit, ready to give herself
permission, ready to believe, and ready to put
in the work. So with that, I just
wanna thank every single one of our panelists
today for showing up and playing full out.
JazakAllah Khayden, thank you so much for just
sharing with our, you know, with our audience,
with our attendees.
It goes without saying that we love you.
We love you for the sake of Allah.
We're so proud of you, and we wish
you all the very best with your books.
May Allah put barakah in your affairs and
allow you to have a beautiful impact on
the world inshallah.
And for those of you who are watching
out there, if any of this spoke to
you, if you want to be a part
of what they're a part of, if you
want to achieve a bit of what they've
achieved, then simply go to
the link in the description, bit.lee/apply
for 222.
Send us a message. Let us know what
is the book idea on your heart, and
let's see if it's a fit, if we
could help you inshallah. But for now, ladies,
we're gonna bid you good night, and we'll
see you inshallah
in the next session tomorrow. JazakAllah,
ladies. Give us all a wave.