By Anniqua Rana
We’ve all been writing away the turmoil of 2020 — whether to escape the trauma of the past year, or to try and create a future to anticipate. Writing has been our companion. It has helped us create worlds populated with people we would like to meet in person.
Shut-up and Write Groups
On-line Meetup Groups have also been a solace for those looking for community. Like many of us, I’ve signed up with groups around the world and it has helped me retain a writing schedule. However, I could not have anticipated the direction my writing would take. Stuck at home, I’ve been able to make the proverbial lemonade with Shelter-in-place.
Documenting Memories
In the beginning of 2020, my writing schedule was fairly predictable: a few hours every week in between teaching and grading papers. Then, in March 2020, when the Bay Area was expected to Shelter-in-Place, I started teaching on-line but was too stressed to write.
Like many of you, I reached out to my family through on-line calls. We coordinated our times and worked out a 7:00 am PST phone conversation to include a sister in Pakistan, another in the UK, and a third in Spain. By June, the family realized we needed to do more than discuss COVID infection rates, international politics, and family gossip.
So the sister in Spain, Selma, an artist, and I decided to document some important and some not-so-important memories of our lives growing up in Pakistan. We shared them with the other two sisters. They became our content editors, our fact-checkers.
This wasn’t enough. By May, I retired a twenty-year teaching career at the San Mateo Community Colleges, so I had plenty of time to write more regularly. Selma had retired a few years back. We decided to take our writing plan to the next level.
We’re both avid readers, but over the summer, we decided to coordinate our books so we could discuss them. We read works by writers like Szabo, Pamuk, and the Progressive Indian Writers. These writers inspired us to add a new element to the vignettes we were sharing with our family, a reference to the literature we love. We added images and art. We created short videos, which we posted on Facebook. Family and friends applauded them with Likes and Heart emojis.
The Blog We Made
And then, with the beginning of 2021, we decided to take our writing a step further and connect with a larger audience. We created a blog Tillism طلسم: MAGICAL WORDS FROM AROUND THE WORLD. We were having so much fun with these vignettes of memories related to literature, we decided to share the opportunity with the writing community. Within the first week of starting the blog with nine posts we’re at 2000 views from over seven countries. We’ve also had requests from poets and writers in the Bay Area and beyond who are interested in posting their work.
Just as connecting with others online has been a lifeline for us to overcome the loneliness of shelter-in-place, you might consider connecting with others through your cherished memories. This new way of life has become our norm, and we imagine it will continue for some time yet.
Some of you might enjoy the gratification of sharing a short (500 word) post of memory related to literature in this on-line community of writers. As writers, you already know the importance of submitting your work regularly.
How We Can Help
And that’s why we would like to reach out to you if you are looking for (a) a thought partner to discuss creating a blog or (b) an opportunity to submit your work without having to wait too long for feedback.
As 2021 proceeds and you’re still wondering what goals to set for this year, you might consider setting one to submit your writing on a regular basis. If you have never submitted your work before, this might be an easy win for you.
Here are three ways we can help:
- A 30-minute on-line discussion on how to create a blog. We used WordPress, but have also used Google sites and Wix.
- A 30-minute on-line discussion on the basics of SEO for the blog.
- And lastly, because we love discussing literature, we’re open to an on-going discussion about a piece of literature that inspires you and how you would like to write a post to include on Tillism طلسم: MAGICAL WORDS FROM AROUND THE WORLD. We can set up a 30-minute google call followed by communications online.
Guidelines for Submissions
We are seeking short personal posts of no more than 500 words for Tillism طلسم: MAGICAL WORDS FROM AROUND THE WORLD.
- Posts should be inspired by literature and connected to a personal memory.
- Posts should include at least one word from a language other than English. You’re welcome to use more.
- Include keyword tags to include in the post.
- Include no more than two images only if you have the copyright.
- Submit the information to anniquarana65@gmail.com embedded within the email (attachments will not be opened).
- We will get back to you within the week of submission.
Anniqua Rana, who lives in the Bay Area, is the author of Wild Boar in the Cane Field, shortlisted for Pakistan’s UBL Literary Award 2020 after being published by Folio Books abroad, and She Writes Press in the States. She holds a doctorate in International Education and has taught at San Mateo Community Colleges, University of San Francisco, Lahore University of Management Sciences, and Stanford University.
Her work has appeared in International Education, The Pakistan Daily Times, Bangalore Review, Fourteen Hills, The Noyo River Review, Delay Fiction, and others. She is a member of WNBA-San Francisco Chapter and CWC-SF Peninsula.
She tweets @RanaAnniqua
As a consultant and professor of strategic management, Marlena Fiol, PhD, guided her students and clients in coming to know themselves deeply, visualizing their dreams and identifying and removing the barriers to achieve them. Over half of her 85 published articles and books relate to identity and identity change. Her work has been cited over 20,000 times. 
Nita Sweeney is co-author with Brenda Knight of the writing journal, 
You polish your writing, imagining your audience. You read it over. Out loud. Does it say exactly what you want it to say? You have a friend read it to you. Impressed, she says, “You should submit this to contests. Put yourself out there. Get some recognition for your work.”
Wooden spoon puppets can create holiday magic. 
Kate Farrell, 
Kate Farrell is our host and facilitator. Kate is a storyteller, author, librarian, founded the Word Weaving Storytelling Project and published numerous educational materials on storytelling. Farrell’s new book, a timely how-to guide on the art of storytelling for adults, Story Power: Secrets to Creating, Crafting, and Telling Memorable Stories, was released in June 2020. 
Sheryl J. Bize-Boutte is a Pushcart Prize nominated author. Her second book, All That and More’s Wedding, is a collection of fictional mystery/crime short stories. Running for the 2:10, a follow-on to A Dollar Five delved deeper into her coming of age in Oakland and the embedded issues of race and skin color. Betrayal on the Bayou, published June 2020, is her first novel. Website: 
Humaira Ghilzai is a writer, speaker and Afghanistan Cultural Consultant. Humaira opens the world to Afghan culture and cuisine through her wildly popular blog, 
Mary Mackey is an award-winning novelist and poet with fourteen novels and eight collections of poetry. Mary became a writer by running high fevers, tramping through tropical jungles, dodging machine gun fire, being swarmed by army ants, making catastrophic decisions about men, and reading. Website: 
Sharifah Hardie is a business consultant, talk show host and influencer. Sharifah was a Long Beach City Council Candidate in the 2020 March 3rd Primary Election and is a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Expert. With over twenty five years of business experience, Sharifah Hardie has positioned herself to become one of the top executives in entertainment, business, politics and a person on the rise. Sharifah is the author of Signs You Might Be An Entrepreneur – How to Discover the Entrepreneur in You
Lyzette Wanzer’s work appears in over twenty-five literary journals. She is a contributor to The Chalk Circle: Intercultural Prizewinning Essays (Wyatt-MacKenzie), The Naked Truth, Essay Daily, and San Francisco University High School Journal. A three-time San Francisco Arts Commission and Center for Cultural Innovation grant recipient, Lyzette serves as Judge for the Soul-making Keats Literary Competition Intercultural Essay category. She is currently helming an anthology entitled Trauma, Tresses, & Truth: Untangling Our Hair Through Personal Narrative.
Sumbul Ali-Karamali, a former corporate attorney with an additional degree in Islamic law, is an award-winning writer and speaker. She grew up in California, answering questions about her religion, which is why her books engagingly introduce readers to Muslim beliefs and practices and include The Muslim Next Door: The Qur’an, the Media, and that Veil Thing and her just-released Demystifying Shariah: What It Is, How It Works, and Why It’s Not Taking Over Our Country.
Pushcart Prize nominee Sheryl J. Bize-Boutte is an Oakland multidisciplinary writer. Her autobiographical and fictional short story collections, along with her lyrical and stunning poetry have been described as “rich in vivid imagery,” “incredible,” and “great contributions to literature.” Her first novel, Betrayal on the Bayou, was published in June 2020. She is also a popular literary reader, presenter, storyteller, curator and emcee for local events.
Fourth-generation native San Franciscan, Kathleen Archambeau, is an award-winning writer and LGBTQ activist. She is author of four nonfiction works, Climbing the Corporate Ladder in High Heels (2006), “Seized,” an essay in The Other Woman (2007), edited by Victoria Zackheim, Pride & Joy (2017), and We Make It Better (2019), with gay dad, Eric Rosswood. Academy Award-winning screenwriter, Dustin Lance Black wrote the Foreword to Pride & Joy and endorsed We Make It Better. Archambeau’s work has been favorably reviewed in global and national literary publications and she has been a featured speaker at national and global Pride literary events. Her book was included as part of the Oakland Museum of California store’s Queer California Exhibit and she is a founding member of the James Hormel LGBT wing of the SF Public Library.
Michael Larsen co-founded Larsen-Pomada Literary Agents in 1972. Over four decades, the agency sold hundreds of books to more than 100 publishers and imprints. The agency has stopped accepting new writers, but Mike loves helping all writers. He gives talks about writing and publishing, and does author coaching. He wrote How to Write a Book Proposal and How to Get a Literary Agent, and co-authored Guerrilla Marketing for Writers. Mike is co-director of the San Francisco Writers Conference and the San Francisco Writing for Change Conference.
Rose Castillo Guilbault is the author of the highly acclaimed memoir Farmworker’s Daughter: Growing Up Mexican In America. Her essays have been published in dozens of textbooks and anthologies. She also wrote the book The Latina’s Guide to Success In the Workplace. Rose was the first Hispanic columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle; her column “Hispanic USA” was honored by a number of journalistic and community organizations. A longtime television journalist, she was awarded an EMMY for her work. Ms. Castillo Guilbault was featured in the award-winning book Latinas and Their Muses. Her community activities include Chair of the Commonwealth Club of California’s board of directors and serving as a judge on the Book Awards Committee for several years.
Editor “Grows” Food and Authors
Self-Proclaimed “Political Junkie” Reveals Her Writing Secrets
GS: Thanks. My interest in writing started with an awareness of news and politics. My grandmother was a Holocaust survivor in that she realized early on things were going downhill for the Jews in Poland. She left before it got really bad and tried to convince her siblings to come with her to the states. They thought she was over reacting and hence were killed by the Nazis. She taught me early on to pay attention to the government because things can get very bad and you need to be alert. My mother was a political junkie and she taught me the same lessons. 
By Debra Eckerling, author of 
I learned about “To Write” lists from best-selling author Natalie Goldberg, of Writing Down the Bones fame. As I sat in the classroom at Mabel Dodge Luhan House in Taos, New Mexico, I watched her pick up her writing journal, flip to the back, and show us a list of scrawled topics she’d penned on the final page. She carried a notebook everywhere and jotted ideas on the back page as they occurred to her. “If I’m stuck, I look at these,” she said.
WNBA-the National Organization 
Nita Sweeney is co-author with Brenda Knight of the writing journal, 
Suzanne Pederson released Bend in the Circle in October 2020. A women’s fiction/contemporary romance about an American military couple in Germany who navigate the aftermath of rape in the 1980s.
WNBA-SF past president Kate Farrell