A little while ago Amnah from Little Life of Mine put a call out to some bloggers asking us if we would be interested in writing a “Why I Write’ post. My hand flew up in an instant and then I quickly pulled it down. You see I don’t see what I do as writing, I see it as blogging. How is it different? It’s not I guess, essentially you have to write-to blog, but in my head it seems different. I don’t write the poignant, opinion based, thought provoking type of posts that some of the other ladies do. Yet, here I am, writing this post, because yes, blogging is writing (I’ll still need some convincing though).
So, let’s get to it, why do I write? A few months after having the cookie monster, almost 4 years ago, my husband suggested I get a blog to share some of my recipes. He has a blog of his own and thought I would like one too. I was a bit weary at first but eventually caved and one night after putting the cookie monster to sleep we took to WordPress and started to brainstorm name ideas. That was the night Modest Munchies was born. Awesome name, if I do say so myself.
This blog was initially designed to share recipes, and it still does. It was also a way to keep myself busy away from the daily grind of everything mum, wife and house, but that didn’t last long, those two worlds collided. With my son (the cookie monster) getting older and my need to keep him busy I added the Modest Mummy section to the blog. Modest Mummy is a mix of things home and mum related, it includes kids craft/activity ideas and more. This also gives me an outlet for all those residual ideas still in my head after completing my teaching qualification. It’s still a work in progress, so is the recipe section or this whole blog for that matter, but I’m enjoying the ride and I’m hoping you, my readers, are as well.
Below, are a few questions I needed to answer in this post.
What am I working on?
At the moment I’m working on posting more often on the blog and building a bigger following. I always have a million ideas running through my head, and a million goals I’d like to achieve but I need to get my head out of the clouds. I’d like to do so many things but I need to hone in on my strengths and stick to that. Some of those ideas include craft and cook books, but I can barely keep up with a blog, let alone write books, so let’s just close the door on that for now.
Pipe dreams aside, like I said (or is it typed), my current focus is the blog, this blog, your blog! Doing what I love and hoping that even 1 person out there benefits, in shaa Allah (but if it’s more than 1 I’d be extremely happy with that too).
How does my work differ from others in it’s genre?
It doesn’t really. As I grow and find more Muslim Mum bloggers I find myself finding so many amazing women, mums, muslims doing the same thing (or at the very least-a similar thing). Maybe I take pride in my images, maybe I write differently, maybe just maybe there’s something there that is unique, but for the most part I think we’re all just mums and food lovers trying to achieve the same thing.
How does your writing process work?
I have different ways. I get ideas a lot and I used to jot them down on paper, my homemade mini whiteboard, or anything I could get my hand on at the time really. I wish there was a way to record thoughts straight from my brain, words too, they seem to flow out at the most inconvenient times and when I actually sit down to write them it just never comes out the same. I’ve been trying to get more ‘with it’ lately by using digital means to record my ideas. I now put my ideas into Evernote and when I’m ready to sit down to write a post I write it in Evernote too. After finishing a post, which can take anywhere from 1 day to 1 year, I copy it into the blog, do a bit of editing, add in some images and hit publish. The rest is history as they say!
I’ve commissioned a few other friends to tell us why they write, keep an eye out.
Razeena of READ Little Muslims
Razeena Gutta has recently founded www.readlittlemuslims.com as an attempt to source and review the highest quality books and resources being produced for Little Muslims from around the world. She is passionate about good quality Islamic-themed literature for children and she is also passionate about supporting those authors and designers working hard to produce such works.
She lives in Australia and has two Little Muslims. She has also just published her first Islamic children’s book which is due to be released very soon!
Stay updated with her work via
Www.facebook.com/
And on Instagram @readlittlemuslims
Nazneen of Coffee and Crumpets
Nazneen is the author of the blog Coffee and Crumpets, named after her two food loves, coffee and crumpets. She lives in Broomfield which is a little city in northwest Colorado, not far from Denver. She spends her free time walking the many parks in the city, visiting museums, farmers markets, mountain towns and hiking the mountain trails.
She was born in Saudi Arabia, grew up in London and moved to the States after her A Levels. Her family is from India. However, she still considers London home. Her background, travels and family are the inspiration of the food she creates. Her work and four children keep her on her toes, there is absolutely no down time! She spends 60% of her time driving and 40% in the kitchen! Find more of her delicious recipes at www.coffeeandcrumpets.com or follow her on Instagram @coffeecrumpets
Sumaira from The Muslimah Mommy
Sumaira Zaheer is a mother of three active children, and passionate blogger at www.TheMuslimahMommy.com where you will find her parenting stories as well as tips & advice for pregnant women and parents. You can also find Sumaira on Instagram – @TheMuslimahMommy, and on Facebook – The Muslimah Mommy.
i totally agree…..with your lines….. I wish there was a way to record thoughts straight from my brain, words too, they seem to flow out at the most inconvenient times and when I actually sit down to write them it just never comes out the same.
same happens with me too.
I’m loving the new look of the site! Looks so mod and fresh mA!
Sorry!! It’s taken forever to get here! Thank you for featuring my tidbit, now, whether I can get my own post out is something we’ll have to see 🙂
Meanwhile, it was great reading a bit about you! I find it interesting how and why we do what we do and often wonder if someone is as disorganised as I am!