Life: a work in progress...

Dear Reader,

On this page, you can find all the creative projects I'm currently leading/working on, with a brief description of what they're all about. As I've mentioned before, on several occasions, I have a rather hectic life, with all sorts of commitments and obligations. So this page is actually more for me than for you, dear Reader; to help me organise my small bit of life, essentially. Because life is a work in progress, one that started long before me and will continue on even when I'm long forgotten dust. 

The ideas for many of these projects have been floating around my mind for many years. I think the idea of oldest one first came to me back when I was 15. But instead of putting them in chronological order, I'm going to add them here in the order in which they became realised and formed enough for me to put them down on paper. Aside: I'd like to just mention that all the titles below are "working titles" that can change at any time.   

Life in Conversations

This novel is about a girl named Nabiha Farid, living in modern-day London. She suffers from a rarer mutation of Sickle Cell Disease and the novel follows her through three stages of life: as a teenage student, a working woman, then as wife and writer. I've written slightly more than two thirds of this novel so far and it is arguably the novel I've been working on for the longest. However, I've had to put this novel on hold for now because I feel as if I'm not qualified enough to accurately portray the final part. So until then, Nabiha's conversations must patiently wait.

Chronicles by Anamika   

This is a fantasy quartet, set in the fictional world of Dinuriya (patent pending). It's comprised of three novels and an epic ballad all narrated by the ominous and eccentric Anamika. This is what she has to say about them:

           Over the many years of my life, I have noticed that the history usually taught is that of the victorious kings and countries, the courageous stories of the glorious heroes and the collaborative movements of men that bought about great change. The common man and his story is often forgotten. So to have we failed to acknowledge the ingenuitive, brave and sometimes conspiratorial women without whom these events would never have realised themselves. After many years of in depth research and compiling of sources; I, Anamika, have put together these Chronicles that relate the story of four women whose marks have been left all over the world of Dinuriya, if only one were to look hard enough for them.      

The Brides & Daughters Series

The title of this series is a play on the title of Elizabeth Gaskell's last book Wives & Daughters, an iconic book in my opinion, though unfortunately she died before writing the final chapter. Anyway, this series is comprised of 4 novels and a short story that span a hundred years of British history, from the 1820s to 1920s, and encompasses 5 generations of women. Honour & Honesty, the novella I mention on my blog here, is the 2nd in the series and The Letters of Kitty is the 3rd. Though each of these stories are written to stand alone, they are also interlinked in minor ways. As of today, all the stories are fully planned out with varying amounts of detail, but I only have written-sections of Honour & Honesty and Lancashire's Rose.   

Salma's Secret Adventures 

This is a series of children stories with Islamic themes and undertone. It's about a 10 year old girl called Salma, her "unusual" friends and, of course, the adventures they go on and the lessons they learn. I've got the basics of this idea down on paper but the details are still super vague right now. Inshallah, I plan to write these ones just before or after I have children of my own. (Long term planning woohooo!!!) 

Top Secret Novel

At the moment I don't feel secure enough to say anything about this one, other than the fact that I've been mauling over the idea of this novel for well over two years now. I've done quite a bit of research for this one as well and last month I finished writing the 48-pages long detailed plot. All I need now is a lot of time in complete isolation so I can actually write the entire thing out in full, Inshallah. ('Complete Isolation', yeh right, like that can ever happen with my family constantly milling about.)   

Dark Fairytale Retelling 

This is actually a short story I'm writing for an anthology with the theme "Mirrors & Tears". This little project is still in its infancy, quite literally, as it's only 3 weeks old, so I don't want to say too much about it either.

Poetry Collections

I've been recording my poems since I was 14 and have accumulated about 121 poems since then (aside: this number does not include the revisions and re-writes I've done over the years). However, in the last six months or so, I've been organising similarly themed poems into collections. I've got 5 so far:

1) Personas - This is the largest of all the collections and this is their title poem (which explains what the collection is all about): 

I present to you a Collection, of people I have met:

Some with patience, piety, others with bitter regret.

Every person is a story, a story left untold,

Stories yet unwritten, stories new and old.

So I ask you now to try on, try on a persona or two,

Or until you find one, that you think suits you.

2) Great Nature - during this organisation process, I realised I write about nature a lot, and I mean A LOT. Just take this blog post for example, and this one. 

3) Poems from my Soul - I think the title says it all, but as an example, this poem is also part of this particular collection. 

4) Shades of Me - these are some of my darker poems. I haven't actually shared any of these on my blog because they feel far too personal. In fact, I think that the only person to have read some of these is my best friend and fellow-poet, Codename: Pixie.

5) Conversations in Rhyme - During a discussion with my blogging friend, Samia, she mentioned something along the lines of "conversations in my head" and I told her that that would make a great title. I also mentioned previously in a post that I was experimenting with dialogue within poetry, or between poetry, as a different way of communicating. Well, this collection is a product of those two things, as well as some conversations I've had with Pixie.    

  

Women's Exercise and Fitness In London (WEFIL)
This is an actual, physical project/programme that I have begun to organise with a few friends. Because of my medical background, I know for a fact that Post-menopausal and Asian women have higher risks of getting heart disease and diabetes than we had previously estimated. I even wrote my thesis on a similar topic. So we, the organiser of WEFIL, wanted to do something about this and came up with this structured programme of health and exercise that is more than just "going to the gym". It will, of course, take place in London sometime this year, Inshallah, and will be open to all women over the age of 18, Inshallah, as we aim to provide an exclusively female environment where health and fitness will be promoted. Our moto is Prevention is better than a Cure. Updates on this programme will be posted on its official blog site, Inshallah.

Nida