1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,720 Hello and good morning, Hannah. How are you doing today. I'm doing 2 00:00:02,759 --> 00:00:05,639 great. Thank you man. I'll tell you what. I am so proud 3 00:00:05,679 --> 00:00:08,720 of you in writing this book. And the reason why is because there are 4 00:00:08,839 --> 00:00:12,960 so many authors out here now, authors as well as artists that are out 5 00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:17,879 here that hide, and especially when it comes to becoming a physical artist on 6 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:21,039 a canvas, we hide. And it's books like this that give, you 7 00:00:21,039 --> 00:00:24,039 know, the serve it as an invitation. Oh, I love that. 8 00:00:24,120 --> 00:00:27,399 Thank you so much. What what went into this? Are you? Are 9 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:32,880 you that artist that that that that you're talking about in this book. Yes, 10 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:37,799 in many ways, I am. I think Seina is grappling with many 11 00:00:37,840 --> 00:00:42,920 of the things that I'm thinking about all the time, especially as I think, 12 00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:47,560 you know, I'm delving more and more into this world of being a 13 00:00:47,640 --> 00:00:52,159 creative person and a writer and being more published. It's that a tricky balance 14 00:00:52,159 --> 00:00:57,520 between being public facing versus wanting to be hold up in my in my house, 15 00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:03,200 just writing stories and navigating that that relationship with social media and thinking about 16 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:10,519 the impact that you know that immediate contact with with your audience might have on 17 00:01:10,560 --> 00:01:15,040 your own creative process and what you do and what you how you evaluate yourself 18 00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:18,760 and your value has a lot to take it. I'm glad you said creative 19 00:01:18,799 --> 00:01:22,439 person, because the thing about it is is that so many times creative people 20 00:01:22,560 --> 00:01:25,719 only want to do one thing, and that's not how we really work. 21 00:01:25,760 --> 00:01:27,000 I mean, there's a lot of things going on in there at all times, 22 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:32,239 and you've got to learn to turn it all a free yeah. Yeah. 23 00:01:32,239 --> 00:01:34,239 And I think a lot of people, you know, I know a 24 00:01:34,239 --> 00:01:37,760 lot of writers. You know, we commiserate about how we never realized how 25 00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:41,680 much how many other aspects there are to being a children's bolser, for example, 26 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:46,000 the marketing and the publicity side and the business aspect of it. And 27 00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:48,879 you know, you think it's just writing, but it's much more than that, 28 00:01:49,599 --> 00:01:51,959 Yeah, Because I mean it's one of those things where I think writing 29 00:01:52,040 --> 00:01:55,879 is also the voice of the of the the person that's putting things on a 30 00:01:55,879 --> 00:01:59,000 canvas. It could be you know, writing is is the songwriter, and 31 00:01:59,359 --> 00:02:01,519 so to me, it's just one of the voices that are constantly moving through 32 00:02:01,560 --> 00:02:07,359 each and every one of us. Absolutely, yeah, And there's so many 33 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:10,000 different ways to express yourself and that was something that I wanted to highlighten this 34 00:02:10,039 --> 00:02:14,800 book as well. Even though I'm not an amazing visual artist. You know 35 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:19,479 those people who are painting these canvasses and these murals that you know, they're 36 00:02:19,479 --> 00:02:23,120 also expressing themselves in very intimate ways and putting themselves out there. Dina is 37 00:02:23,159 --> 00:02:28,479 so real in the way that you deal with anxiety in this and that just 38 00:02:28,680 --> 00:02:30,719 I love that because that needs to be something that needs to be in books 39 00:02:30,719 --> 00:02:36,159 so that young adults can sit there and say I'm not alone. Yeah, 40 00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:39,080 yeah, that was my thought, and that's why you know, her anxiety 41 00:02:39,199 --> 00:02:43,840 is something that presents you know, early in the book when she discovers a 42 00:02:43,919 --> 00:02:46,759 crack tooth at the dentist, and then you know, gradually we see other 43 00:02:46,800 --> 00:02:52,520 signs of it when she's experiencing stomach aches and nausea. But it's slow build, 44 00:02:52,759 --> 00:02:55,719 and she herself isn't quite aware of what she's confronting. You know, 45 00:02:55,759 --> 00:03:00,000 a lot of us dismiss the signs of anxiety, especially in because they're so 46 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:05,039 easy to confuse with other things, and it's also easy to sometimes think that, 47 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:06,840 you know, oh, I don't have anything to be stressed abalue, 48 00:03:06,840 --> 00:03:08,439 you know, why would I have anxiety or why would my kid have anxiety? 49 00:03:08,919 --> 00:03:14,199 So it is something that sort of takes time to reveal itself to her 50 00:03:14,639 --> 00:03:16,400 and standing up against the bullies. Oh. I had to deal with that 51 00:03:16,479 --> 00:03:20,759 when I was a kid and I didn't do well. And to this day, 52 00:03:20,800 --> 00:03:24,039 I still hold myself responsible for my reactions of trying to just walk away. 53 00:03:25,919 --> 00:03:29,560 Yeah. Yeah, And luckily, you know, in this book, 54 00:03:29,599 --> 00:03:32,520 Dita doesn't have to confront real life bullies like so many of us had to 55 00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:36,680 and still have to. But you know, it's more that that hidden bully 56 00:03:36,719 --> 00:03:40,360 that we we've also met on social media, who you know, can hide 57 00:03:40,400 --> 00:03:45,439 behind an amidity and just be nasty. And that's something that we're seeing more 58 00:03:45,479 --> 00:03:50,599 and more unfortunately, kids having to deal with and figure out how to navigate. 59 00:03:50,919 --> 00:03:53,719 Oh and how about bullying ourselves. I mean, we're not nice to 60 00:03:53,759 --> 00:03:58,520 ourselves half the time. No, no, and social media makes that harder, 61 00:03:58,599 --> 00:04:01,080 right when when we compare, I know I can't help it. I 62 00:04:01,120 --> 00:04:04,199 can't beare myself to others, even though I know how unhealthy it is. 63 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:09,520 But I feel bad for myself when when I see certain things, I know 64 00:04:09,599 --> 00:04:13,280 I probably do the same thing to others. So it's really tricky. The 65 00:04:13,719 --> 00:04:15,480 great thing about this story is we need it right now, and the reason 66 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:19,439 why is because it's about an immigrant family and we need this because we need 67 00:04:19,480 --> 00:04:24,000 the readers to say, Okay, this is my identity, this is my 68 00:04:24,079 --> 00:04:27,600 family, this is what I'm living with today. Thank you for this book. 69 00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:31,199 Oh thank you? Yeah, I mean for me, you know, 70 00:04:31,319 --> 00:04:34,240 as a child of immigrants. It's something that's really close to my heart and 71 00:04:34,279 --> 00:04:39,519 important to me. I think there's so many aspects of immigrant families that's, 72 00:04:40,120 --> 00:04:43,839 you know, really important to highlight, things like immigrant children of immigrants having 73 00:04:43,879 --> 00:04:47,279 to perhaps advocate for themselves a bit more than other kids. But also the 74 00:04:47,319 --> 00:04:50,839 idea that, you know, immigrant families are every family too, you know, 75 00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:56,720 the relationship, the mother daughter dynamic, the idea that the people you 76 00:04:56,879 --> 00:05:00,680 think you know best in the world sometimes surprise you and we're all capable of 77 00:05:00,680 --> 00:05:03,639 evolving and growing, you know, no matter no matter what our families look 78 00:05:03,759 --> 00:05:06,680 like. One of the things that you deal with in this in this book, 79 00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:11,040 which is called drawing, Dina and I think that all artists do it, 80 00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:13,120 but you feel like you're the only one on the planet, and that 81 00:05:13,240 --> 00:05:15,879 is when you start questioning your art and to me, that's part of the 82 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:21,199 personal growth. Yeah, yeah, I totally agree, and that you know, 83 00:05:21,199 --> 00:05:27,240 That was something that was really really meaningful for me to get to explore 84 00:05:27,399 --> 00:05:30,120 because you know, Dina is this huge fan of Vince in Bango like many 85 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:33,319 of us, and you know, she's adoring his art as she's trying to 86 00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:38,199 find her own, you know, style and way to express herself, but 87 00:05:38,279 --> 00:05:42,439 she's also thinking about this relationship with audience and how in his case, you 88 00:05:42,439 --> 00:05:45,519 know, he didn't even sell much in his lifetime and never knew what a 89 00:05:45,600 --> 00:05:47,319 huge impact he was going to have on the world. And what does it 90 00:05:47,399 --> 00:05:50,800 mean and how does it shape us when we have that instant contact with the 91 00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:55,720 world and instant feedback, and what does that do to us in our creative 92 00:05:55,759 --> 00:05:59,199 process, and how does it even just the time it takes, you know, 93 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:01,639 for us to jajo's social media and the time it takes away from us 94 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:06,360 perhaps creating our next masterpiece. So all of those things are really important to 95 00:06:06,399 --> 00:06:12,040 think about as creators of any type of art. I can't imagine for today's 96 00:06:12,160 --> 00:06:15,639 up and coming artists as well as writers, what they're having to deal with 97 00:06:15,680 --> 00:06:17,800 when we talk about social media, because I didn't have that as a kid. 98 00:06:17,839 --> 00:06:20,000 I mean, that didn't happen until the nineteen nineties. For me, 99 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:24,720 and so I mean, I can't imagine you know, when you do display 100 00:06:24,759 --> 00:06:27,720 your art. Julia Cameron taught us that, hey, look, learn to 101 00:06:27,759 --> 00:06:30,040 display your art so you can learn how to ignore criticism. But look, 102 00:06:30,079 --> 00:06:33,399 I mean, but to display it on the internet and on social media. 103 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:38,319 Man, that's going to be a scary world for young adults. Yeah. 104 00:06:38,399 --> 00:06:42,959 Absolutely. And you know, this idea of being moved by likes, you 105 00:06:43,040 --> 00:06:46,399 know, what does that do? Does that make you want to create more 106 00:06:46,439 --> 00:06:49,639 of the same, you know, to imitate others or do whatever it takes 107 00:06:49,639 --> 00:06:54,240 to chase the dream of going viral, because we do start to measure our 108 00:06:54,279 --> 00:06:59,560 own value by those little thumbs upsids or those arts. And also what does 109 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:02,160 it mean you know, the viral mean good? Does popular mean good? 110 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:05,920 And what is the difference? And those are all things that we have to 111 00:07:06,319 --> 00:07:10,319 have to think about and we could think about in a vacuum, like you 112 00:07:10,360 --> 00:07:15,120 said earlier, but now it's very difficult to do that. You really do 113 00:07:15,160 --> 00:07:19,120 a great job in explaining the underlying story here, that it's from the it's 114 00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:23,680 about a Muslim child. And because a lot of people only you know, 115 00:07:23,720 --> 00:07:27,120 hear what their parents are saying or read whatever they're getting on social media. 116 00:07:27,199 --> 00:07:30,439 I love how important it is to you as the writer to bring this to 117 00:07:30,519 --> 00:07:33,959 readers. Oh, thank you, Yeah, I mean that is you know, 118 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:39,079 that's my identity as a Pakistani American Muslim child of immigrants, I share 119 00:07:39,120 --> 00:07:42,360 the same identity as my character. And you know, for me, it's 120 00:07:42,399 --> 00:07:46,279 really important for people who maybe don't have a chance to get to know a 121 00:07:46,319 --> 00:07:50,000 family like mine, to get to know one through Dina and see that, 122 00:07:50,360 --> 00:07:56,920 you know, the families are very very similar to others, and you might 123 00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:01,839 see a lot of yourself in Dina and her family and her and her community. 124 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:05,439 So you know, that's that's really always been my goal to show those 125 00:08:05,600 --> 00:08:09,800 universal values and those universal truths that we all share. Speaking of seeing yourself, 126 00:08:09,839 --> 00:08:11,319 what did you learn from this book? Because even even though you're the 127 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:16,920 writer, you still have to be the student. Oh, always, always, 128 00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:18,759 And I think you know, as a writer, you know, we're 129 00:08:18,879 --> 00:08:24,560 evolving and we're like learning how to be better at certain things in this In 130 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:26,920 this book, I was really paying attention to pacing and you know, the 131 00:08:28,240 --> 00:08:31,519 traditional story arc versus what this book is, which is you know, a 132 00:08:31,279 --> 00:08:35,720 little a little different. So I was like, am I doing this night, 133 00:08:35,799 --> 00:08:37,600 Well, you know, is this going to turn out okay? And 134 00:08:37,080 --> 00:08:41,799 so it's fun to push yourself and challenge yourself and grow as a writer. 135 00:08:41,919 --> 00:08:46,559 And of you know, someone trying to say you talk about that pacing, 136 00:08:46,600 --> 00:08:48,720 I mean that right there in itself. I mean, that's that's going to 137 00:08:48,799 --> 00:08:52,360 be colon semi colon's and commas and and and you know, do I do 138 00:08:52,360 --> 00:08:54,679 I have a run on sentence? I mean, what did you have to 139 00:08:54,679 --> 00:08:58,519 face that with your editor? Not so much as as just you know, 140 00:09:00,039 --> 00:09:01,559 am I moving the story in the way I want? You know, I 141 00:09:01,679 --> 00:09:07,279 kept chapters short in this in this book deliberately. I think it keeps readers 142 00:09:07,360 --> 00:09:11,799 engaged, especially reluctant readers who might you know, really need that satisfaction of 143 00:09:11,799 --> 00:09:16,799 finishing a chapter. I made it easier. And the books, you know, 144 00:09:16,919 --> 00:09:20,679 not a huge tome. It's it's you know, medium lengths. So 145 00:09:20,200 --> 00:09:22,600 I think all of those things are important to me because I want, I 146 00:09:22,600 --> 00:09:26,480 want to keep people engaged in what is called a quiet story. You know, 147 00:09:26,480 --> 00:09:28,600 it's not like filled with action or adventure, but there's a lot going 148 00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:33,360 on, and I want readers to feel invested and motivated to keep reading and 149 00:09:33,600 --> 00:09:35,360 to wonder what happens next? Oh my god, you speak my street when 150 00:09:35,399 --> 00:09:39,879 you say there's shorter chapters, because my entire life, it's it's all been 151 00:09:39,960 --> 00:09:41,240 based on Hey, I want to read a short chapter so I can have 152 00:09:41,279 --> 00:09:45,080 a victory, because I mean inside my mind and body and soul, you 153 00:09:45,080 --> 00:09:46,639 know, getting to the end of a chapter. That's a that's a big 154 00:09:46,639 --> 00:09:50,519 thing for me. Yeah, exactly. And I think you know, as 155 00:09:50,519 --> 00:09:54,759 we all know, it's harder and harder to take focus these days and to 156 00:09:54,919 --> 00:09:58,399 keep people attention. Yeah. Yeah, So where can people go to find 157 00:09:58,399 --> 00:10:01,600 out more about this book as well us more about you because I want them 158 00:10:01,639 --> 00:10:05,919 to love you and support you and just give you lots of attention. Well, 159 00:10:05,960 --> 00:10:09,960 thank you, I would love that too. You can find me online. 160 00:10:09,080 --> 00:10:13,919 I have a website hennahon dot com where you can learn all about my 161 00:10:13,960 --> 00:10:18,519 books, more about me, see goofy pictures of me as chyles, and 162 00:10:18,600 --> 00:10:20,159 you can you can reach out to me as well. I have a contact 163 00:10:20,240 --> 00:10:24,600 me form. I do lots of school visits, so you can arrange one 164 00:10:24,639 --> 00:10:28,000 through there as well. And you can also connect with me on social media. 165 00:10:28,120 --> 00:10:31,919 I want to. I do still have that complicated relationship with it. 166 00:10:31,279 --> 00:10:35,440 You can find me at Hannathan Books. I love it. Please come back 167 00:10:35,440 --> 00:10:37,759 to the show anytime in the future. The door is always going to be 168 00:10:37,799 --> 00:10:41,039 open for you. Oh, thank you so much. Such a pleasure. 169 00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:43,559 You'd be brilliant today. Okay, thank you, you dude.