Author: 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.
Islam, Life

Being Part of the Minister’s Muslim Reference Group

Raidah Shah Idil

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I had the incredible opportunity last night to speak at the Ministers’ Muslim Australian Reference Group.

My role was to give feedback on the CRC Youth and Religion Conference, which was held on October 21st at the ParkRoyal Hotel. I was one of the youth speakers there. I really enjoyed hearing  the stories of young people from the Egyptian Coptic, Sikh and Hindu faith. I only came in for the afternoon session, and I missed out on the talks given by Catholic, Jewish, Christian youth, as well as another Muslim youth. Interfaith dialogue is so critical in today’s world. Humanising the face of religion makes such a big difference.

Last night, I met the Hon. Victor Dominello MP, Minister for Citizenship and Communities and Aboriginal Affairs. He’s really cool! He spoke a bit about his parents coming in from Italy when they were children, making him a second-generation Italian migrant. It’s heartening to see someone from his background making his way in the world, and helping to generate positive change for the rest of the community.

I can only hope that with the passage of time and positive government support, the Muslim community in Australia will have an easier time co-existing with everyone else.

 

Book review, Books, Life, Opinion

When The World Ends, NY Times Fiction Piece

Raidah Shah Idil

799138_battle_begins_iiThe New York Times ran a great fiction piece today: When The World Ends, by Elyse Pitok.

Elyse’s piece is short and powerful, much like a punch to the gut. It really makes you think – what would happen if we were at the end of the world? All these luxuries that we take for granted will vanish. We’ll all be stripped down to the basic act of survival. How will that change you?

She very cleverly juxtaposed the protagonist having Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) with, well, the world ending. That takes mastery. One of my favourite lines:

But you realize that there is so much healing to be done, and no more. Tomorrow you will still be skinny. The next day you will still be obsessive. The day after that you will still be compulsive. No amount of therapy or medicine or patience is going to change that, but somehow you will find a way to coexist with your neuroses.

Her piece reminds me of Cormack McCarthy’s The Road, a novel which disturbed me for weeks. At this point, I wouldn’t re-read it. I have no intention to watch the movie, either. But was it a good book? Yes, so good I think it might have given me nightmares. Apocalyptic fiction is not for the faint of heart. The scary thing is that at the rate humankind is burning up resources – how far away are we from the point of no return? It’s a harrowing thought.

As one of my teachers taught me – tread lightly upon the earth. It’s the only one we have.

Islam, Life

Young mums have it tough

Raidah Shah Idil

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I read this article, It seems younger mothers are having it tough, and it got me thinking. Here’s a quote from the article:

But it was the younger parents who seemed to be suffering the most. They were more likely to have more negative memories of their experiences of being a parent, and nearly a third of them remembered feeling like other people were coping better than them, or having excessive worry and sadness.

For as much as there’s pressure to marry young and have kids quickly – is it really that good an idea? Statistics tell me otherwise. I got married at 28, and I’m in no rush to repopulate the earth.

In some Muslim circles, being the ‘older’ mum seems to be the faux pas. But for everybody else, it’s the in thing to do. Mothers are getting older and older. Check this out – Science beats fertility clock. Now I’m not a proponent of freezing ovarian tissue in your twenties so you can party hard and then settle down and have babies at forty. I just think this option is fantastic for women going through chemotherapy or other health issues. It’s amazing to see science offering hope for women to conceive, when once, it would have been impossible.

Seriously, times are changing. You don’t know when you’ll end up settling down, and rushing to get married to ANYONE so you can have babies is a very bad idea. It’s all about balance and priorities. I’m lucky that my family and in-laws aren’t badgering me to provide the goods (i.e. babies), and if they were, that wouldn’t sway my decision to wait in the slightest.

True story. I bumped into a friend of my family’s at a local mosque, and asked me how I was. I smiled and said I was busy being a housewife and working from home. She gasped and said, “Housewife? You’re not a housewife until you have babies! What’s life for?”

I answered, “To know God.” That just rolled out of my mouth – probably from the blessings of being in a mosque. Her face just changed, and she nodded solemnly. Now that is one way to put an end to the baby question 🙂

Gaming, Life, Opinion

My First Gamer Article, Front-Page Featured on Bitmob!

Raidah Shah Idil

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Great news! I wrote my first gamer article on Bitmob, and it got featured on the front page!

I’m so thrilled! Thank you, Layton Shumway, for featuring my article 🙂 That gives me a nice, warm, fuzzy feeling that hey, I do belong somewhere in the gaming world. And, of course, it gives me a great incentive to keep gaming and writing about it lol. What XBox/Playstation/Wii games are you playing right now?

 

freelance, Life

Being a video game journalist

Raidah Shah Idil

While I was searching for more writing/editing projects on elance.com, a thought occurred to me – what’s it like being a video game journalist? Imagine being paid to play and write about video games! Inspired by the thought, I did a quick google search and came across this handy article – How To Become A Video Game Journalist.

The article makes the good point that to be a video game journalist, you still have to be a good writer. This gives me hope. I’m writing almost every day, whether it be opinion pieces, fiction, or my blog, and I’m a firm believer in Malcolm Gladwell’s ten thousand hour rule. To achieve mastery in anything, you you to put in ten thousand hours of practice.

From what I’ve read, Bitmob sounds like a great place to start writing about video games. They have this great series: The Skyrim Collection. I’ve only just gotten back into playing Skyrim after almost a year away, so I’m planning to write and pitch a Skyrim article to the Bitmob crew. Stay tuned!

A bit about my gaming: I use the XBox 360, and am currently playing Skyrim, the latest in the Elder Scroll series. In my previous games, I had bought a house in Whiterun, at least two horses (my previous one leapt to its death over some jagged cliff – this made me sad), I was the Harbinger of the Companions (oh, and also a werewolf). What’s not to love?

Fun fact: The peak of my Skyrim experience happened in the lead-up to my wedding, early this year. There’s nothing like taking down fire-breathing dragons when it comes to reducing wedding planning stress.

Another fun fact: My husband isn’t a gamer. But I’m sure he’ll be more partial to my video games once I start getting paid to write about it. lol.

Poetry, Writing

Killing Submission Phobia

Raidah Shah Idil

This is what Michelle Seaton has to say about battling submission phobia:

In 12 years of teaching at Grub Street, I’ve learned three truths about students:

  1. They don’t submit enough, especially the most talented ones. Read that sentence again and then ask yourself how many times you’ve submitted something in the past year. Yeah, I thought so.
  2. Many of my most talented students never submit anything. This makes me crazy.
  3. The students who publish most often submit constantly, as though it’s their job, or their final year on Earth. And guess what? It works.

Read the rest of Michelle’s article here. I vividly remember being a starry-eyed English major in Ye Olde Uni days – I had submitted a portfolio of my prose and poetry to my creative writing teacher, Associate Professor Anne Brewster, from UNSW. She loved my work, and said to me, “You should submit your work to a literary journal.” I remember feeling delighted and embarrassed. Her writing was phenomenal, and to have her praise my work was a serious ego-boost. But did I submit any of my work to any literary journal? Nope. Not until late Tuesday night. After more than ten years of writing since my creative writing days at uni (this is not counting all my angsty teenage writing), I finally bit the bullet and submitted two of my poems to Overland journal. Eeek! It could take several months before they get back to me, and it could very well be a rejection letter, but you know what? It’s only upward from here. The more I submit my work, the more likely it’ll get published. It’s scary to put yourself out there, and rejection isn’t fun either, but as Michelle puts it, “Rejection is all powerful. You think rejection is proof that you have no talent or that the work is no good. Actually, the only thing a rejection proves is that you sent out your work. Good for you. I suggest you collect ten of these and then reward yourself.” 

 

Opinion

My article ‘Are You Too Sensitive?’ is up on Daily Life!

Raidah Shah Idil

My article “Are You Too Sensitive?” is up on Daily Life! The topic of sensitivity is very dear to my heart, being a Highly Sensitive Person myself, and I hope that my article sheds some light on what makes us special. It’s not a bed of roses, as any HSP (Highly Sensitive Person) can tell you. Here’s to more understanding and acceptance of who we are!

Books, Life

Finding Jamilah is getting published!

Raidah Shah Idil

I have wonderful news! Finding Jamilah is going to get published! Yesterday, I met with Belal Taha from MyLegacy Publications to hash out the details. Stay tuned for a print edition with a brand new cover.

Belal told me that he bought my eBook, really enjoyed it, then he contacted me about putting it in print. As a self-published author, this is a dream come true. The world of self-publishing is a tough one – finishing my story and putting it on Amazon was the easy part, but marketing it, getting it into print and into bookstores was the hard part. I’m really glad that now I have a publishing house to back me up, and to help me get my story into homes around Australia, and elsewhere.

For all aspiring authors out there: Believe in yourself, believe in your story, and keep writing! Thank you MyLegacy Publications and to my family and friends who believe in my story. May this be the beginning of many, many more.

Life

Overland journal

Raidah Shah Idil

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How exciting! I just emailed my essay proposal to John Marnell from Overland journal. A good friend of mine posted the Overland call for Muslim Essayists onmy FB wall on Friday, and I’ve put something together over the past few days. Big thanks to my husband, family and Lisa for proof-reading my essay proposal. I haven’t written an essay proposal or anything vaguely resembling an essay since my university days, so writing for Overland was a fantastic exercise in reawakening dormant brain cells lol. I think it’s awesome to see Overland encouraging Muslim essayists to write. Everyone else loves talking about Muslims, and a lot of it is inaccurate, to say the least. If we don’t do the talking ourselves, who will?

Life, Poetry

On Poetry

Raidah Shah Idil

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It’s been a busy week! I’m in the middle of uploading my entry for the Australian Muslim Artists competition, organised by the IMA (Islamic Museum of Australia). I’ve chosen to upload three of my best poems – Bone Marrow, Cannibals and Utopia – and I’m looking forward to the feedback.

Speaking of poetry, hop on over to my buddy Maryam Chahine’s blog! Maryam is a published poet, and I love the way she carefully constructs her poetry. A joy to behold. Maryam and her family are very dear to me, and getting to know them was definitely one of the highlights of my stay in Jordan. Maryam and her sister Noora really helped encourage me to complete and refine my book, Finding Jamilah. Close friends in Sydney who kept in touch with me also supported me through my writing – Fatima and Lisa, I’m looking at you!
Their support goes to show that writing is something not done in complete isolation. Sure, the act of writing does take place in solitude, but refining it and being encouraged to complete one’s work takes a lot of support. Behind every writer is a special group of friends and family. Thank you to each and every one of you!