The Joy of making Gifts - handmade bracelets

The most I enjoyed this Holiday Season was making these three copper bracelets for gifts. I also loved cooking and spending time with my family. Now it’s time to get back to my writing and finishing my second novel (well at least the first draft). Thank you to year 2017.

Czech glass jade

Red Czech glass and black stone

Aventurine. Onyx. Black Tigereye.

Sharing and Giving

Lamb Biryani

Here is an excerpt from my novel, The Beggar’s Dance (pg. 107 paperback).

In this scene; a young middle-class girl, Zakiya, brings a beggar boy, Juma (protagonist), home. She serves him lunch. The story is told by Juma (first person POV).

Quote
  I stack the rice on my plate, heaping it with three chicken legs and a huge potato. Dada Zakiya hands me a spoon. I laugh at her. “How can I fit the chicken into this spoon?” Dada Zakiya laughs too. I eat the food with my hands. The rice and curry are juicy and salty, and the cardamoms and cloves make it flavourful. We have it with yogurt and banana. Dada Zakiya eats a green chilly dipped in salt with every bite. I decide against that. Her welcoming home makes me forget my pain, and I silently pray that this lasts forever.
  “Thank you, Dada, thank you so much,” I say after our meal.
  “Shukrana,” she says. “Sharing brings barakat.”
Unquote

Cooking and sharing food is one of the pleasures of my life. In the photo, I'd cooked lamb biryani for a family reunion at my home a while back. Hope you enjoyed the excerpt from The Beggar's Dance.

Author and Muse

I have many dog lovers following me on Instagram or should I clarify, they’re probably following my dog, Zorro.

He is a bichon-shihtzu breed. He will be six this June. Zorro loves to walk and play fetch. He is a great company when I am writing.

But when I’m writing for too long, he’ll come closer to my keyboard to tell me that I should play with him instead.

Check more of him on Instagram
www.instagram.com/faridasomjee

Creative Writing and Hobby

I have a hobby of making bead jewellery. I attend bead shows every year, one of my guilty pleasures. The process of designing and handling natural stones silences my mind. It stimulates my creative side, especially when I am stuck in my writing.

Kazuri Copper Bracelet

This week, the writing challenge began when the protagonist in my novel (work in progress) fell in love. I had to get the romance right, for her age, and her innocence.

I made Kazuri bracelets, and this creative process cleared my thinking and helped me understand the kind of love the protagonist is looking for. So with the new bracelet dangling on my wrist, I’m all set to complete her love story.

Check more on Instagram: Kazuri Silver and Kazuri Stretchy - the beads used are a gift from a friend in Kenya.

Kazuri—the Swahili word meaning small and beautiful.

Link to Kazuri Story

Timeline Process of the Novel

Me writing the timeline. 

I am half way through my novel and suddenly I know the ending. It’s really exciting.

I am a pantser for sure. I do not know what is happening next in the story and I do not write in a chronological order either.

I’ve experienced this with my first novel, The Beggar’s Dance. I was half way through the first draft and the ending came to me. This is when I wrote a timeline to have a clear vision of where the characters were in the story. Once I’d done that everything fell in place on it’s own.

It is happening again with my next novel. So I’ve got the timeline done. Now it’s all about filling the blanks.

Photo: Me writing the timeline. I didn’t know that my dog, Zorro, was resting behind me. Glad my hubby took this picture

Judge, 23rd Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards

I was very excited when I received a great review from  "Judge, 23rd Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards,” on my novel, The Beggar’s Dance:

The following is the judges's review:

Quote
The story opens with an intriguing and grabbing hook.

The plot is intriguing because it’s a foreign situation for us. We like Juma and we want to keep reading to see if he survives the streets. He grows through the loss of his mother and having to be on his own. We have great sympathy for Juma. His voice is just right for his age and situation, so we are intrigued by him. He tries to improve himself, makes mistakes and learns from them. Well done.

The voice of Juma is young and foreign, so it feels real and draws us in. It's clear you had a great heart for this story and it comes through in the writing.

The dictionary in the back is a nice touch and helpful. And I like that you still define the words within their context. The writing is clean and easy to read.
Unquote

Books are evaluated on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 meaning “needs improvement” and 5 meaning “outstanding.” See below evaluation as received for The Beggar's Dance.

Structure, Organization, and Pacing: 5
Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar: 5
Plot and Story Appeal: 4
Character Appeal and Development: 4
Voice and Writing Style: 4

What inspired me to write my first Novel - The Beggar's Dance

When I was ten years old, growing up in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, one evening, I watched a young boy (about eight years old) with his mother, begging. I wondered why I was in the comfort of a car, enjoying an icecream treat and he was on the sidewalk begging? I couldn’t understand so I went back to find him, but never saw him. For a very long time, I would think of him and try to figure out how he’d have spent his day and survived—not realizing that I was writing The Beggar’s Dance all along. It took me many years to understand that there was nothing special about me; I was just born lucky. This childhood encounter was the seed that led to the unfolding of Juma’s story.

The protagonist, Juma, is my imagination of a beggar I once met. He seeks freedom from the life of a beggar. It's his inner spirit that leads him on a journey of hope and survival. 

Celebrating The Beggar's Dance

Reading an excerpt from
The Beggar's Dance

The Beggar's Dance book launch was a celebration with people who supported me during this five year writing journey.

Joyce Gram introducing me
www.gramediting.com

My editor Joyce Gram shared her story about how much she enjoyed working on this project before introducing me.

 

The party getting started - emcee Liz Schofield

I am blessed with family and friends who helped at the event - my husband, my son, my sister-in-law Zain, my brother, my goddaughter and two friends, Rozy and Zahra, and fantastic emcee Liz Schofield.

Book signing with Gloria Barkley
www.gloriabarkley.ca

Highlights worth mentioning:

• My mum crying before I had even started the presentation.
• Gloria Barkley attending and getting my book  signed.
• Me wearing high heels for the three hours. 

Moments I shall cherish forever. 

Books have arrived - The Beggar's Dance

The Beggar's Dance by Farida Somjee

Somebody pinch me
  Is this for real
Must be a dream

I gaze at the box
 and smile
Yes, it is a dream

The Monsoon Rains

After a heavy rainfall, the sun was out, the grass was wet, and the worms welcomed the migrating birds for a feast. I stood on my deck and listened to the stellar jays, robins, chickadees and woodpeckers singing together. Rain is magical in the West Coast during the fall season, despite the cold.

I remember as a child, growing up in East Africa, the cool breeze from the rains brought laughter on the streets. Children would get drenched playing—a heavenly experience.The scent of the earth and rain was divine.

I have captured several scenes in my novel, The Beggar's Dance, during the monsoon season.

The Magic of African Beads

Kazuri bead bracelet by Farida Somjee

I discovered Kazuri beads—Swahili word for small and beautiful—a couple of years ago when attending Fraser Valley Bead Show in British Columbia. The person selling Kazuri beads told me the story of how these beads were handmade by women in Kenya. At the time, I had completed one of the chapters in my novel The Beggar's Dance, where there is a subtle mention about the handmade beads. Was this a coincidence or was it mean't to be? I love such mysteries of life, and suddenly this subtle scene in the novel became meaningful.

On the weekend, I was at the bead show again and purchased Kazuri beads for the bracelet I made (see photo). The reddish brown beads represent the earthy soil in Africa, the antique findings is for the rich cultures of Africa and the bird's wing charm stands for a falcon—all symbolic in my novel.

 

Memories of the Streets

Mkwepu Street (source: unknown)

I am left with heartache after watching BBC Africa* on heritage buildings demolished in Dar es Salaam. My mum had her dressmaking shop, Karifa, on Mkwepu Street where I spent hours after school—either doing homework, buying fruits from the vendors, chatting with shopkeepers, giving out coins to the beggars or simply belonging there. In the last three years, I've lived on this street through my imagination, which inspired some scenes in my novel, The Beggar’s Dance. I can't believe the history is disappearing and all I am left with is memories.

I searched further to convince myself maybe the news is untrue, until I saw a photograph* of the entire block gone, and it brought tears to my eyes. I had to walk away from what I was witnessing, go out into the fresh air but the darn tears would not stop. I am hoping that the scenes I have in my novel capture the memories and I am able to do justice to the streets I grew up in.

Now, how am I going to break this news to my mum. Sigh! 

* see links:
Demolished buildings - The Citizen 

Heritage buildings, Dar es Salaam - BBC Africa

The Magic of Indian Ocean

While on the beach, capturing my childhood memories, a young man comes by, asking me to excuse his cow so they could pass. This memory remains deep in my heart. And every time I think of this day, I hear the roaring of the ocean waves, the laughter of the children and the moo of the cow.

Oyster Bay, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania 1987

Come hear me whisper my writing journey through my past—the life in Africa that defined me, and through my present—the life in Canada where I found growth. Without both, I could have not written my novel, The Beggar’s Dance.

It's been over three years in the writing of The Beggar's Dance, and now it's ready to publish. Whether it chooses a traditional or self publishing route, neither one is going to fail me. Why? Because this is what I am supposed to do, share a story.