So, rather than me writing what I hope people want to know about re: the behind-the-scenes of Daughters of Silence, I asked my IG (Instagram) posse what they want to know. Here, the questions from near and far, and my responses, as well as a little behind-the-scenes action via YouTube. 

What is your first memory of the act of writing?

                                                -E, Ireland-by-way-of-Alberta

I have early memories of practicing writing. Funnily enough, not the Ethiopic (Ge’ez) alphabet, but the English. My English teacher in elementary school used to say, “Your penmanship should be precise and elegant. If I am standing on top of a mountain,” she’d point out the classroom window even though there were no mountains nearby, “I should be able to read it effortlessly.” Her cursive was exquisite. Even during school breaks, I spent many an afternoon practicing my cursive in special notebooks with layers of dotted lines.

I remember the first story I wrote in English, about a black cat who lived in a forest but didn’t have any friends. By the end, black cat has friends. Not sure if they all left the forest. Or if leaving the forest was part of the process of gaining friends.

I also used to pretend to read English before I learned how to. I’d flip through my parents’ thick English novels really fast, sounding out rolling ‘r’s. Must be why “my English is so good”