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It has been more than a week since the three of us came back to Baghdad, I know I haven't posted for a long time now but parents knows why and singles should try being a parent and I'm sure everyone would excuses me.
I haven't been able to follow the news closely since I came back but I think now I can because my Looli is older she is 8 weeks now and she cries a bit less and sleeps a little more so I can find some time to follow the news.
We came back to our home but this time was the hardest because everything is different and there were so many arrangements and things to do since we have a baby now…it was so exhausting but now I'm almost finished.
When I was there, I heard from my friends that the things are a bit worst than when I was in Baghdad, and when I came back I found that was somehow true, I felt the tension in the streets specially in the areas that were controlled by the awakening like Adhamiya but I don't mean to say that things are bad but a little bit worst…but there are some good things that happened while I was gone, like opening some closed roads and removing some concrete blocks which is a really great thing, the electricity is better than before; it's still bad but better than the last year this time; as you know the hotter the weather is the less electricity there is because people would use more electricity for operating the cooling systems, and I heard two rumors about that, the first is that AlMaliki "promises the Iraqis a cold summer this year" and the other rumor is that AlMaliki threatened the minister of electricity that he will be resigned if he didn't provide Baghdad with at least 12 hours of electricity a day, and I tend to believe these rumors because this year is the elections year and for sure Maliki would love to be more popular so that he wins the elections for the second time…so in general the good things are more than the bad things and that's why I should say things are better but if anyone looks at it rationally he would agree with me that the situation is fragile and everything might deteriorates any minute and I hope not.
Another thing that was really great; I came back from work yesterday and as I was closing the garage door I noticed a small card with the large Google logo on it and a stamp!! I took it off the ground and turn it, there was my name on it!! And my address!!! Coooool, I got mail!!! And from Google!! It came from USA to my door, what a great thing and what a great mailing service we have despite the very difficult situations we have, I was really glad and couldn't wait to open it…it was from Adscense, they sent me the mail with the PIN code which I never thought would reach me, that's fantastic.
And finally I'm thinking of something and I need your help with it, I'm thinking of writing a book in three languages, so many people told me that I should write a book and I have been thinking about it seriously these few days…I'll write in English and Turkish at first and if things were good I'll write it in Arabic two…you might be wondering why Turkish? Because Turks are great readers and I have noticed that they have very very few books about Iraq and they know almost nothing about Iraq and what happens in it, they have a very shallow knowledge about the situations and what happened in Iraq…so what I need your help with is the following, and please give your feeds in the comments section or via email:
1-should I do it or not?
2-how should it be? I mean should it be like a diary and I'll use the contents of the blog for the time period and write about the past, or what? Please give me ideas.
3-since I haven't published any book before so I don't know what to do and how it's done? If anyone knows please tell me, I mean should I contact some office or something that will be responsible for everything or should I finish everything and just print it? I'm clueless.
I'll be waiting for your feeds.
19 comments:
Yes, you should do it.
If you want a publisher to take it on, the usual thing is to send them a letter with a summary of what you plan to include in the book. In this case, it could be based on the blog, but with more background explanation for readers who don't know Iraq.
There is an excellent reference called "Writers and Artists Year Book" which will tell you all about it. Very practical.
Speaking as an American, I think that:
1) yes, you should do it; so few people in America have any idea what life is like for the average Iraqi, but many would like to, so I think there could be a great market for your book
2) I think the content is far more important than the format, so you should use whatever format feels the most natural to you (whether that be a diary, 3rd person narrative, etc.)
3) As I understand it, the general process (at least here in America) is:
A) you write the book
B) you "shop" it around by sending it to various publishers
C) if one of those publishers wants it, they negotiate a deal to purchase the rights to it; if multiple publishers want it, they get to bid against each other (but that's rather unlikely for a new writer)
Good luck (I for one will buy your book, if it makes it to America).
I'm most worried about your safety if you published a book about your experiences in Iraq. You should probably use a fake name. If you contact a U.S.A. publisher I'm sure they'd give you a lot of money to publish it and would help you with it. They love this kind of stuff!
Don Cox,
thank you very much...I'll try to find that book online.
Jeremy,
thank you very much...yes I think the best way is to contact publishers and make a deal.
Paloma,
well, I'm not really worried about safety because our bad guys don't read books specially in English...well, I should looking for a publisher now and then think about the details....if anyone knows a good one in the US please let me know.
1. Why not. I always check up on your blog to see what Iraq is like from the perspective of an Iraqi, and there is a market for this perspective.
2. I think you should base it around the blog. Maybe give more detail or what other people around you thought at certain times. You could use the blog for your perspective and also get what your friends and family thought.
3. I think here in America most new writers write a book first and then send it to publishers, but I have never written a book so I don't know.
Please keep up the good work! May god bless you and your new family. :)
Also, I think you should get in contact with The New York Times. I am sure they would be willing to help you find a publisher.
The format should be the means of delivering your experiences in the most truthful and thought provoking way. People should read your book and be inspired by the resilence, yet ashamed at their fellow man for the senseless violence.
I wish you luck!
You should do it. Please have a german version, too. I'd even translate it.
I think that most of the books we have here about Iraq are written by journalists. That does not really give the full information about the sitation inside Iraq. It tells the things from the wrong point of view.
For publishing in Germany I would contact stern neon, because I think they have published an article by you in the past.
1. No, you need to work more on your English and your literary techniques before you actually write a book, on a blog you can lift your legs up and write as randomly as you want, but no way you're going to write a book where you cram bucketloads of information in a single stream-of-thought paragraph.
2. What are you going to write about? war from an Iraqi citizen perspective targeting an american audience? been there, done that (twice with River and Salam, plus every blogger and his brother are publishing their obnoxiously self-important books right now.)
3. You know Turkish? Amazing!
4. If you insist, contact Lulu publishers, they will publish anything written by Iraqi bloggers.
I hope you find my input useful.
Abbas
The Tinguy,
thank you for your feeds...yes I think contacting the NY times is a good idea but that should be after finishing the book.
Evan Switzer
Thank you very much
Somerkind,
That seems a good idea but after publishing in English of course. and of course after finishing the materials that I haven't even started yet loool...yes I wrote once for NEON and I think they would help a lot.
Abbas,
1-as you said this is a blog not a book so I can write on my ease, but when anyone wants to write a book he should pay more attention and use editors even if his mother language is English and that's why there are book publishers who would take a large sum of money or a percentage of profits...
2-can you count the romantic novels? or the parenting books? or any kind of books...there are countless number of books about any topic.
3-I'm not fluent in Turkish but I have someone who will translate it for me.
4-thank you..
Thank you for your feeds.
Mohammed,
I think you should definitely do it.
Salam and Riverbend's books were mere print versions of their blogs. You could do something different. Every Western journalist who has spent five minutes in Iraq since 2003 has written a book about it! And they sell.
It would be far more interesting - to my mind - to hear from someone who has lived in Iraq these past six years than someone who spent three or four months in the Palestine Hotel. I don't know that such a book exists in English but I think a lot of people would be interested in reading it.
I disagree with Abbas. Your English is fine, all you need is a good editor.
I wish you luck with it.
Many thanks for reporting from Baghdad. Thank you for all the news and also for the rumors.
As to the book, I suggest that you write a book for the tourists:
Chapter 1: Iraq
Geogeraphy, Population, Cities, Weather, .....
So, this chapter is some basic information about Iraq.
Chapter 2:
Ancient sites
Islamic cities and places
Modern spots
It's about where to go.
Chapter 3:
This chapter is a mixture of the old and modern history of Iraq.
Chapter 4:
Your presonal advises and recomendations to the tourists and other foreigners who are visiting Iraq.
Make sure to put some nice pictures in your book. May be Abbas and friends will provide you with some beautiful pictures.
Just forget the war and killings because we need peace.
Make sure to thank me in the introduction before printing the Book. hahahah
Take care,
1. Abbas is right in that your english skills will likely hamper your effort. I understand that you will want to use english to get a shot at being published internationally but trying to write a book in a foreign langauge really requires you to be quite proficient in using it. Your english is good, but perhaps not good enough. I wouldn't try it myself either btw, not that I'm looking to write a book. Why not write in Arabic and try to get it translated?
2. Fiction my man. A novel about crime and passion played out against the backdrop of Iraq under occupation. How the freedoms and personal lives and the hopes and dreams of the main characters are affected by events way beyond their control.
3. I think you should write it and pretty much have it completed. Then write a synopsis, just a few pages. Research publishing houses and make a list of publishers to send your book to. Then send in the synopsis on paper and the whole book on a CD or some other electronic storage device. Then hope for someone to show an interest.
Writing a book is a good idea. Many famous columnists here do it using columns they have written and already published in newspapers. You can certainly use what you've written on your blog. You may even get a book contract before writing the book and have an editor to help you while you write it. The idea of writing a book for tourists visiting Iraq is also a good one. I'm not sure when Iraq is going to be ready for tourists, but when it is, you could have your book ready for them. When I went to Armenia in 1992 on a relief project, someone gave me a tourist guide when I got there and it was very very helpful.
Glad you made it home and the prospects for a cooler summer are on the horizon. Looli is there just in time to get to know Iraq. Here's hoping her memories of living there are only good ones.
Dr. Mohammed, Y E S, you should definitely write a book! You should rely heavily on your blog for the information and for the thoughts that you will remember as you reread your posts. The American public in particular has a big thirst for the honest perspective that only people in your position can provide. If you start the project now, you won't miss the opportunity to reap huge rewards, as this war will be winding down soon, and it will take you quite a while to be published.
Your English is good enough for you to write a book, but I recommend getting an editor or a partner to help with the final version. I have seen some examples of your photography and I'll bet you have a lot of pictures we have not seen on you blog. Include as many as you can. Wish I could be more help, but in any case, you have my best wishes for a VERY successful venture. God Bless you and your family.
Joe
PS, glad to have you back blogging. I hope Baghdad stays safe and continues to get better with each passing day.
Mohammed, the diary entries on your blog have been very valuable.
When you publish them in book format, I urge you to keep the original entries intact (except for minor editing of the grammar and so forth). Those original views were fresh and vivid--they were what you had in your mind at the time that you wrote them, and that is a record that will only become more important as the years pass.
Of course, there are no doubt many additional things you have learned about the subject of a blog entry afterwards. There may be things about which you have changed your mind, or view differently.
I suggest that in your book you write first your original thoughts, and then after each chapter add a section or chapter of extra commentary, to include things you learned later.
That combination would give your readers a chance to both share your immediate experience, along with your later perspective.
Very few books give the reader this combination, but in something as chaotic as a war, I think it is important for people to learn how confusing situations can be.
And by the way, no detail is too minor for a book like this. Only a small handful of Iraqis have been able to write in English about their day-to-day life in a war zone. Small things such as how you shop, whether the water or electricity runs, what routes you had to drive to get to work, your troubles in getting out to Jordan, etc. are all very interesting to the foreign reader.
Your book could be something not just for our time, but for everyone who comes after us in the future. This might be a heavy load on you, when you already have so many dangers and difficulties, along with the new responsibility of fatherhood.
I can only thank you for what you have already written on your blog, and give you every encouragement to continue.
May God bless you and your family.
Regards, Roland.
Your blogs have been so insightful, you really express yourself nicely.
I can not only hear you, but, I feel your emotions, and have so much empathy. I really respect your ambition to write, and think its a great idea to have it translated in Turkish.
I was in Turkey last year, and your right, they don't get much in their news about Iraq. Yet, I know they are involved there with USA, and likely will be even more involved in the future. So a terrific idea.
A Diary is good idea, and later you can take these as reminders and elaborate in more detail. Don't worry too much about grammar, just let it flow naturally, as you do in blogs.
It takes a long time to write a book, so don't worry too much.
I hope things become safer and more stable there. When book is nearly complete or complete-you'll have to check into Publisher list.
Before you submit a portion of your book to a publisher, you'll have to get copywrite-to protect from being stolen. Unfortunately, one must always protect themselves against such things.
MY PRAYERS ARE WITH YOU AND YOUR FAMILY
Yes, you express yourself very well, and one cannot only understand what your saying, but, can feel your emotions too. So you have what it takes. I so respect your ambitions and all you've done to get people to understand what is really happening there.
True that Turks don't get much news about Iraq in their media. I was there 3 months last year and they get very little news on countries outside of Turkey. Most are poor so just get a few stations.
As they are involved in Iraq, now, due to USA's request, and bound to be more so in the future-thats an excellent idea.
You don't need to worry too much about Grammar at first-just follow your thoughts and feelings as in the blogs-a diary a good idea-and you can elaborate more on it later.
It takes a long time to write a book, and I hope by time its complete, things are more stable and peaceful there. Then you can research publishers, and be sure you get a copywrite so when you send a portion of the book-they cannot steal your material.
Its up to you rather to do in English or Arabic. Your English fair, and if the publishers likes the material, they can correct the English errors, I believe. Anyway,
My prayers are with you, family, and Iraq. Peace be with you. Ann
Dr Mohammed,
Yes you should do it!!! I have followed your blog for the last few years, mostly quietly, and in awe. I have only commented when the overwhelming need to takes over. I started following blogs when my husband first deployed to Iraq during what is now termed OIF 1. Others have fallen by the wayside, but I continue to regularly check yours. There have been times when I hear of things happening in Iraq where I hold my breath, hoping you post and that you are ok. You have written openly and honestly, without the poison pen of so many others.
As for English not being your native tongue, who cares? That is what editing is for. You write with such passion that the day to day trials and tribulations you face speak to me. A collection of your blogs, just trying to live your life in the most normal way possible, while enduring this hell, is amazing and would make an incredible book. I have a couple of friends who are authors. Their writing is along the same lines, real life in a refugee camp or in some civil war torn African nation. Westview press, sage publications, Washington press, Lynne Rienner are just a few publishers that come to mind for the sociological aspect of your book. If you would like me to put you in touch with them personally, I can. I think that a book based on you daily life, trying to struggle for normalcy while your country is invaded, torn apart, and cast aside, would be amazing.
Chelli
aka blue army wife in a sea of red
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