I gave my first book presentation to a terrific group of literature students at the American University of Madaba. We exchanged ideas and talked about the writing and interviewing process for my upcoming book Voices of Jordan. I have also been working hard on completing the book proposal and query letter so that I can send both to literary agents and publishers. Meanwhile, I hope to finish writing the first three chapters by June. Once again thank you to everyone who has supported me so far.
Through out the process of interviewing, researching and writing, you have to take all the helpful advice you can get. I would like to especially thank Professor Lisa Ohlen Harris for her advice and feedback this month regarding the publishing world and for her support to Voices of Jordan. Lisa is also the author of two books: The Fifth Season: A Daughter-in-Law's Memoir of Caregiving and Through the Veil (a Middle East memoir). I'm happy to announce that I've completed all interviews for the first three chapters and plan on completing the three chapters with accompanied photos by the end of May. Salah Malkawi (the photographer for VOJ) and I visited Wafa Bani Mustafa last week in Jerash and spent the day with her. Wafa is one of the three characters featured in the book. I am grateful for all the time and access that all three characters have provided me while working on this book. Next month we begin hearing from foundations and institutions that we applied to for support. We hope that by the end of May, we will also have a full book proposal and query letter ready to be sent to publishers before we move forward with the rest of the chapters.
Wafa Bani Mustafa, one of the most active parliamentarians and an advocate from the northern town of Jerash will be featured as a character in Voices of Jordan. Two other characters have already been chosen and are being interviewed as well. During the next few months, I will be completing all interviews while Salah Malkawi, tries to also finish all photo requirements for the first three characters. I am grateful to the team working with me as well including researchers, a translator and others. I will occasionally be posting photos from the field to keep you updated on the progress of the book. Thank you for your support.
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