The people behind the writer I am

I’ve had a couple of writing dreams come true in the space of a few weeks (you’ll find out what they are soon).

I wanted to reflect in this post about the people who have helped me reach this confidence in my writing that has allowed me to get to where I am today, where I see myself as a writer and this writing empowers me (and it’s a long story to describe how!)

First, my mom, who was always willing to read my stuff and often found it impressive (she still wants me to publish some creative writing I did privately back in 2007/2008). But you know, moms are like that, so I never took her seriously.

The following people have been amazingly supportive:

Jon Nixon my mentor and former PhD supervisor, who always told me there was something special about my writing, and continued to read my work even after he left Sheffield and was no longer supervising me.

Colleagues at work: Dr. Aziza and Hoda, i remember your encouraging responses on earlier articles of mine that ended up being New Chalk Talks. I remember Hoda calling herself a “fan” of my writing, and Dr. Aziza commenting publicly on my first Fanar article

More colleagues at work: Gihan for once telling me, “I didn’t know you liked writing” and making me realize that I did! I had not been aware of it until she said it. And Azza for pointing out to me that I almost “glowed” each time I published something, making me realize how writing actually makes me happy.

David Wheeler editor of Al-Fanar who kept publishing my stuff and giving me great feedback on it in ways that I think matured me enough as a writer that I could blog confidently without external editing 😉 You still love me, right? At least I send you stuff that needs less editing now 🙂

Tim Sullivan and Dina Sherif for the way they responded to some of my earlier writing and continue to encourage my writing.

Too many people I have met online and who have responded to my writing and retweeted and shared it (let’s call them #rhizo14 #clmooc #ccourses #edcontexts?). And people who have written with me collaboratively. I don’t want to list people here or I will forget someone for sure.

The folks at Hybrid Pedagogy whose writing inspires me and whose constructive peer review process and overall kindness would make any writer feel better about herself.

It’s not an Oscar. It’s a thank you. It’s not about me and what i have achieved. It’s about your role in helping me do it (you’ll know what “it” is when I am ready to brag about it publicly, but the people named here all know what it is).

So THANK YOU.

Now if only I could write like that in Arabic (huge sigh)