I am a fool, a heartbroken lover, a goddess of inner beauty and outer glow. I am balanced, I am tipsy. I am and then I am not.
On paper and in my mind’s eye, I am this and much more.
I am inside the plot. It thickens and thins out. It pulsates, it throbs. It weakens, it strengthens.
My fingers have a life of their own as they type. I am amazed at what appears on the screen in front of me. I am giddy with the power that words give me.
I seek refuge in the magic of the written word. I type with two fingers because I never learned to type. For the initial twenty-three years of my life in Karachi, computers and typewriters had no presence. I can still type with a certain speed, my gaze fixed not on the screen but on the keyboard. In the early part of my writing career, I went through draft after draft written in long hand. When inspiration hit, I hid in a corner and wrote furiously. I was fourteen then.
I think it was never a goal of mine but the hope of many around me that I embrace writing. Growing up, my parents performed the role of gentle guides, nudging us in the direction we were inclined toward and then stepping back and watched us grow.
I wasn’t judged when amongst siblings with successful career paths such as doctors, MBAs, and valedictorian nurses, I proclaimed my decision of being a designer. With that, writing became a cherished hobby. I began writing for local magazines as a freelancer in 1993.
When I moved to US in 1995, I thought I was leaving that part of my life behind. How wrong I was. Beyond the Cayenne Wall began as a healing journey that took on a life of its own in 2005. When it was published, the collection received widespread publicity, great reviews, awards, and international recognition.
Soon after, I began working on Saffron Dreams, a novel about a 9/11 Muslim widow, which was published by Modern History Press in February 2009. Writing that novel helped me look at own belief system and examine its role in my life. In many ways, it made me more comfortable with my identity as a Muslim-American author and designer in a post 9/11 world.
You can find a wealth of information on my website at www.shailaabdullah.com including a reading guide, excerpt, reviews, and buying information.
FREE GIFT
Thank you and thanks to the readers of InkyBlots. For those with comments and questions, I can be reached at shailaabdullah@gmail.com. If you mention InkyBlots, you will receive a free e-book called A Taste of Saffron, containing recipes of dishes mentioned in Saffron Dreams. Readers who sign up for updates on my website will get a free excerpt of my 2005 book, Beyond the Cayenne Wall.