I have great news! I’ve actually passed my minimum writing quota of 9,ooo words! I’ve just passed 11,000 and I’m really happy that my story is taking shape.
Here’s the first line:
My name is Yusuf. Let me tell you the story of how I turned my world upside down.
It’s amazing how fond of my characters I’ve become over the course of writing Yusuf’s story. Like every other story, it started off with a blank page, and now there’s a whole cast of characters jostling to take centre stage. The hard thing about writing a short story is that the action has to happen quickly, and I can’t spend too much time meandering through the plot. Reading 8 Unstoppable Rules For Writing Killer Short Stories really helped me organize my story. Check it out! One of the best pointers it gave was when to actually introduce the conflict while balancing world-building.
Going away to Port Macquarie has been great for giving me the mental space to just buckle down and write. I tend to get distracted when I’m at home, and writing in short spurts is the only way that works for me. Here, I’ve got the luxury of time, so I’m much more likely to sit down for longer periods of time and churn out words. I’m trying very hard not to fall into the trap of editing my work – that can wait until it’s finished.
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Published by Raidah Shah Idil
Raidah Shah Idil is a student counsellor, poet, writer, and creative instructor with a passion for YA (young adult), fantasy, sci-fi and detective fiction. She was born in Singapore and moved to Australia at the age of 12. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (English) and Bachelor of Science (Psychology) from the University of New South Wales in 2005.
After working as a marketing copywriter and studying the Islamic Sciences in Amman, Jordan for nearly two years, she returned to Sydney, got married, then moved to Malaysia. While working as a part-time tutor at Axiom Learning, she works as an online counsellor for Seekershub Global. She has completed her Diploma of Counselling through the Australian Institute of Professional Counsellors. Her full-time job is raising her baby daughter. Everything else is squeezed in between. Literally. Her writing has been published in The Feminist Wire, SISTERS magazine, Daily Life, Lip Mag and Venture Beat. Raidah’s poetry was recently published in the ‘Armed With Only Our Souls’ online DDFS chapbook by New York poet Caits Meissner. Her debut double-featured novel, “Finding Jamilah and the Story of Yusuf” was published by MyLegacy publications in early 2014.
In her spare time (ha), she reads, listens to audiobooks, goes on walks, and is always on the lookout for tasty noodle soup. She currently lives in a green, leafy suburb in Kuala Lumpur with her husband, three small children and mother-in-law.
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Raidah Shah Idil 
That’s fantastic, Raidah! I’m so happy that the vacation has helped you to write.
Yes, don’t edit if you can until the end. Editing while writing has proven to be a vicious cycle for me.
I’ll have to check out the link about the short stories. Thanks for sharing.
Enjoy your holiday!