The Story Behind the Book
Looking back, I am realising that it was not the days, but the pivotal moments that changed the course of my life.
After working in the community sector for nearly four years, I reached a stage where I felt I had exhausted my purpose and decided to only work till the end of my contract, but I was still unsure of what new direction to take.
I still remember the moment, sitting on my bed in introspection, suddenly noticing that nagging voice that had always been at the back of my mind, telling me to "Write!". I still remember deciding for the first time to DO something about my lifelong dream to publish my work.
I believe in setting small achievable milestones in order that we can fool our minds and give ourselves reasons to celebrate small successes, for the greater purpose of keeping us steadfast on that path towards that Bigger Goal.
In this light, I decided to start with a smaller project and pull together something I had already written, namely my poetry, and compile it into a collection that I would describe as a 'poetic autobiography', describing my life journey through my collection of poetry, written over the past 14 years of my life since I was a teenager.
To my own surprise, I managed to find, edit and compile my poetry book in a span of 2 weeks! In those 2 weeks, I immersed myself in reading and re-reading my poetry, writing and re-writing the introduction and other notes for my book, and finally researching how to get my book published and distributed by eBook retailers such as iBooks and Kindle. Thanks to my good friend Google, I learnt about a company called Smashwords that made the dream of publishing my book within grasp.
Nonetheless, there were bumps along the way towards getting my book finally published and available through eBook retailers. Regardless, that extra time to proof-read my book ended up being a blessing, as I made further revisions along the way.
Finally, on 28 December 2011, my eBook "Unveiling: Poetic Confessions of a Muslim Woman" was officially published through Smashwords, before a Second Edition was released on 14 December 2014.
Author Interview by Roots TV
About the Book
They say that a person's writing is a glimpse of their soul, describing its inner musings, its struggles and reflecting its wisdoms and growth. I must admit, for this reason, I've always been a bit apprehensive about sharing my writing with others, when writing has always been a very personal thing to me. Writing is my therapy, my solace, and the avenue through which I have come to realise a lot about myself.
So the 'sharing' of my writing has been a journey in itself, a journey that brings me to this point, this moment, this decision to move past my anxiety and forge ahead in selecting and compiling the works of the past 14 years of my life to complete this new endeavour.
This is a poetic autobiography; describing my life journey through my collection of poetry written from that time they call 'the awkward age', until this period of adulthood I am now in. I hope you find something amidst my works about love and life that causes you to also reminisce over periods in your own life; I pray you are moved in some way as I begin this 'unveiling'.
Australia - a land of beauty
The silence of friends
Myself
This Heart
Forever Dreaming
The following video features the poem Mother
Buy Unveiling from the following retailers
Amazon US for Kindle
Amazon CA for Kindle
Amazon UK for Kindle
Apple's iBookstore AU for iPhone/iPad
Apple's iBookstore US for iPhone/iPad
Apple's iBookstore CA for iPhone/iPad
Apple's iBookstore UK for iPhone/iPad
Smashwords for PC and most e-reading apps including Stanza, Aldiko, & Adobe Digital Editions
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