Assalaamu alaikum Reader,

This wasn't the email I was planning to send you this week. But a writer I was working with passed away some days ago and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about her. May Allah envelop her in His mercy and elevate her.

I had been working with Rasha since early 2022. She was writing a memoir about how getting cancer transformed her faith.

We finished the final edits on her book this summer. I was trying to help her with the submissions process at various publishing houses so we could get her book published. But Allah had other plans for her.

It's hard for me to think of Rasha in the past tense. I still can't believe that she's gone, that I'm never going to get another message from her or hear her voice again. On Instagram, I wrote about how she was so much more than a writer I worked with. She became a dear and beloved friend to me.

But since she passed away, I've also been reflecting on my work as an editor and writing coach. Our writing isn't something tangential that we do, like a job.

I was Rasha’s editor, yes, but through the process of helping her revise her book, we became so much more than colleagues. I became a space for her to be open and vulnerable about the things she was afraid to write about in her memoir. And she became a space for me to be open and vulnerable enough to ask about the things that I didn't understand about her life.

And without this kind of relationship where you have the space to ask and hear difficult questions, it's hard to go deep, to write about the things that really matter.

Rasha taught that me that simply being present, asking the right questions, and giving a writer space to understand themselves, is what we need to write our best stories.

As writers, whether we're writing fiction or nonfiction, we need these kinds of trusting relationships. When our writing is stripped of ego and pretension, when we can honestly say, I wrote the truest thing I could possibly write, then we know we're doing the work of touching hearts, making room for more honesty, more vulnerability, more empathy.

Working with Rasha also deeply influenced my teaching philosophy. When we first started working together, she had written the first draft of her memoir and came to me for help with editing.

Rasha had never considered herself a writer and had never taken any craft courses. But she was already a brilliant storyteller. I was gripped by her words. I could see places where her writing needed more work, but she was already a good writer.

Rasha taught me that this is true of all of us, that we're all already good writers.

The fact that we write means that we already have the most important part of the equation down — the inkling to tell a story worth being told. Mostly, we just need help to realize that we can be brave enough to tell that story.

My friend was sick, and while she never said or did anything to make me feel this way, I always felt a sense of urgency when it came to working on her story. On the contrary, Rasha always trusted in Allah's plan for her, and focused on doing her part — prioritizing working on her book whenever she had the ability to do so.

I pray that one day we will all get to hold Rasha’s book in our hands and read her extraordinary story.

None of us are guaranteed tomorrow. I know that I've neglected my writing so many times, thinking, I'll get to it later. But later may never come.

You and I, we have life now, Alhamdulillah. Let's make sure we make writing a part of it 💛

Please keep my dear friend and her family in your duas.

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With best wishes & duas for your writing,

Hajera

How I can support you in your writing:

✍🏽 Transform your writing by learning craft and getting my feedback on your stories: Join me inside Grounded Writers, a creative writing membership for Muslim women.

📖 Find fiction intimidating and not sure how to go from writing about your life to writing fictional stories? It's easier than you think. Take my Ease Into Fiction course.

📞 Struggling with your writing and need some guidance from someone who has been where you are now? Book a call with me and get advice that works for you and gets you feeling excited about your writing again.​