10 Things I Hate About Me-Mother-Daughter book review.

Years ago I read this book and shared my review with you and now my teenage daughter has read it and written a review on her blog. Please read both and let us know your thoughts. Have you read it? Would you read it? Do you agree with either of us? Have you ever read the same book as your child?

Swimming in words.

I've taken 4 online writing courses now and am feeling overwhelmed. I need to take a breather. But maybe I can't ; still books to read about writing ie memoir writing. Phew.

 Suddenly, also, there are writing courses for Muslims, but at a price. I watched some webinars for Zarinah's course; she wrote Jihad of the Soul which looked interesting and had lots of free tidbits. Ribaat is offering one also which has already started.

 I need to finish off these how-to books and review my courses and then buckle down and actually write something. But wait! I'm supposed to have an intention, oh,whoops? You mean cathartic exercise is not a sufficient goal? I have a lot of self-reflection to do and probably istikharah prayers. Writing is a very serious endeavour and lives on long after you are gone. May Allah purify our intentions and lead us to create a masterpiece for the sake of Allah. Amin.

Have you written a book? What's your advice?

Think outside the GTA box!

A little pet peeve I have which was resurrected once again at RIS (Reviving the Islamic Spirit) is, people from GTA (Greater Toronto Area) who are not aware of any cities outside their area! Where are you from they ask, which city are you coming from etc is the question and each time when I tell them their eyes glaze over. I try to help them by telling them how far south it is compared to Toronto and even that it is near the border which leads them to say oh, you live in United States! SubhanAllah can someone please buy a map for the people of the GTA? Or introduce them to Google Maps or get them a GPS or an atlas...anything! When I lived up north and I traveled to the GTA and told them where I was from, they would always say oh, north of Barrie? That was always their absolute cutoff. As for being south of the GTA, well you better not live any further than Kitchener and if you are super lucky then they might know London (Ontario of course!). Beyond that is no man's land, a veritable hinterland. Some of them know Windsor though because if they want to get to the States (where I don't live..sigh) then they have crossed the border there. I think all people in the GTA should be forced to take a geography course of at least Ontario, if not the rest of Canada. For sure I guess they know Ottawa (it is the capital of Canada after all and also right here in Ontario) and Montreal and Vancouver. Not much else exists though. What can we do for our lost sisters and brothers in the GTA? Oh and did I also mention that they think big cities are towns? Yes, you live in a mega city but that doesn't mean that smaller cities in comparison to you, are towns. I guess a town would be a village to them. I dare anyone from the GTA who is reading this or perhaps your friend who knows less than you ahem to take out a map of Ontario and gaze down BELOW Kitchener-Waterloo and then gaze ABOVE Barrie and discover new cities! For those really brave souls, you can also plan a trip somewhere new, outside the GTA box! I dare you!