I wrote Market of Memories in lockdown
2020: Character reveal- Mina, Nani and Amma.
Written by someone who doesn’t believe in herself.
One extra quiet pandemic morning my husband and I sipped our coffees sitting in our shotgun style New Orleans apartment. It happened to be Ramadan and Eid was around the corner. I shamefully admitted to hiding food in my closet in Ramadan during university days. My husband laughed and shook his disapproving head and thats when I realized he didn’t understand the excitement of breaking a long fast, having your favorite family specialty every iftaar, and sneaking away from family right at prayer time! I know many of you probably find these slightly blasphemous statements relatable, don’t pretend!
When I began explaining Iftaari to him, moving images of a young Pakistani American girl popped in my head like corn. I exclaimed: I just got an idea of a little girl craving Pakistani street food on Eid! She visits the Eid market for a taste of nostalgia but her Naani jaan and Amma pull her away every time she is about to take a bite. Mina ends up falling asleep out of exhaustion and hunger, and dreams of her old home in Karachi. When she finally wakes up, she sees a spread of her favorite foods and a grand Eid party with all her friends and family!
2020: Initial sketches made by me
It took two days to day dream and write out this idea exactly as I had pictured in my mind and shared it with the most trusted friends and family. They were equally excited. “Finally”, I thought to myself, “I have a book. I can make it!”. Little did I know about the grueling journey ahead.
Editing, proofing, illustrating, printing, publishing, promoting… and mentally hitting a huge wall with the word FAILURE plastered all over it.
2021: Mina’s character development by Illustrator Abeer Kasiri
I spent an insatiable amount of time learning about the processes of each of these steps, YouTube and Google zindabad. My muse Alex McConduit- 5 time publisher of children’s books, famous local new orleans author, was guiding me every step of the way. Oh yeah, the pressure was on big time.
The first illustrator disappeared after starting the work. The second ones vision didnt align with mine, and now I am working with a third and hoping for the best. So far so good. As much as we all wish we were Anoosha Syed, we are not :/. In the words of the journalist Vivian Kent from Inventing Anna (played by Anna Chlumsky) and her husband; “we are not special, we have to do the work”.
2021: One of the many visualization calls with Abeer Kasiri
Some authors said it took them 10 years to publish their first children’s book. Yikes…
In the mean time I have dug through story book ideas in my notes and begun writing my next book, and will continue preparing for the launch of my first book ever writen, Market of Memories.
To learn more about my book creation journey, from vision boarding activities to, finding an editor and illustrator, to creating the contract for illustrators, look out for how I created my book from start to finish.
To glance at Abeer’s wonderful portfolio, click here.
To find childrens educational activities on Pakistan visit the blogs big red lolipop and silly chicken.
First draft of page one by Abeer in 2022
