A little late, but here it is. For those who celebrate, I hope you had a good, safe and reflective Raya. This is yet another lockdown Raya for my household in Malaysia. Vaccinations are rolling out though so reaching herd immunity is something to look forward to.
I’ve been learning a lot about staying still and counting my blessings during this time. All it took was a global pandemic to keep me in one place :p I miss my loved ones overseas and am so, so grateful for technology.
I’m working on another book! What it is exactly remains to be seen LOL. I’m leaning towards Muslim romcom or a Middle Grade fantasy. SFF (sci-fi and fantasy) will always be my first love, but after writing and revising my YA contemporary fantasy, a genre change could be refreshing. Wait and see eh.
I’m a very intuitive (read: chaotic panster) writer so I start off with immersing myself in audiobooks. I’m jotting ideas or sparks of inspiration now in an actual journal, using actual colourful pens!
Some non-SFF audiobooks I’ve really enjoyed so far are:
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 