To New Beginnings...

Here’s to fresh starts - and I’m so happy to have you here with me!

I turned 40 last month and, on a whim, bought myself a simple, pink notebook at the supermarket. I wanted to ask close friends and family to jot down words of wisdom, jokes and silly drawings. I got beautiful messages and one in particular that I wanted to share:

So, in true mid-life crisis fashion, I decided to quit my job to focus on my new author life. (I also looked up a red car to buy 🚗… j/k I barely can tell the difference between a Ferrari and a Ford).

Let’s f-ing go! In exactly one year from today on May 20, 2025, my debut novel, What Will People Think?, will be out in bookstores and online for people to actually read… After ten long years filled with twists, turns, ups & downs. I could’t have done it without hubby and a tribe of beautiful support… and also:

I am starting this newsletter to document the whirlwind countdown to publication and share books, writing tips and inspiration along the way. And as with every new beginning, change can be scary, but sometimes you just… gotta start.

And take it one word at a time 🙂 

Read: All Eyes on Palestine 📚

The last 8 months have been an exercise in repeated heartbreak and collective grief all over the world - how can I possibly explain what’s going on to my children?

We tell stories to try to make sense of the world, feel connected to one another, and because it’s cheaper than therapy. My novel is about Mia, a Palestinian American in New York who hides her standup comedy gigs from her conservative family. She discovers her grandma’s diary detailing an illicit love affair with a British soldier in Jaffa in 1947 (!).

I’ve been crafting this story for ten looooong years. Here’s an excerpt of the novel that won a Netflix short story award in 2021 in London, UK:

So in that spirit, here are two emotional books I recommend that touch on different aspects of Palestinian identity over 76 turbulent years.

Fiction: Salt Houses by Hala Alyan

The opening of this novel is moody and atmospheric: a mother delivers an ominous coffee cup reading on the eve of her daughter’s wedding. She sees a vision of flight, sudden change, chaos. This theme carries through four generations of the Yacoubs, a Palestinian family that is displaced from Nablus to Jaffa, Kuwait, Paris and Boston. Replace a few of these cities and this could easily have been my family’s true story.

Non-Fiction: I Don’t Want This Poem to End by Mahmoud Darwish

I am not big on poetry, but when it’s good, it’s really, really good. In real life, Mahmoud Darwish was in love with a Jewish girl and wrote eloquently about clandestine trysts set against a backdrop of military aggression. Here is one of dozens of lyrical lines from this collection of poems:

“Our identity was millions of flowers

On the streets we were a festival

The wind, our home”

✏️ Write: Just Start!

Take a cue from me today. Is this newsletter perfect? Nope. I’m sure I’ll find typos and ten things I wanted to fix after sending it out. I’ve been writing professionally and creatively since I could hold a pen - and it doesn’t get ‘easier.’

Whether it’s an email you’ve been avoiding, an Instagram caption that doesn’t feel clever enough or the clunky opening chapter of a novel, it’s not going to get done until you do it.

My mantra? Just write. Just sit your butt down… and write.

🌳 Inspire: Meditation For the Win

I went from self pity (why does nobody want my novel?) to agents and publishers fighting over my book (hello, six-figure book deal!) through haaaard work, luck and my secret weapon: meditation.

During the pandemic, I found myself worn down by dry work, homeschooling noisy kids under the age of 5, and reeling from the loss of a friend. Life is always going to bring storms, so how can I learn how to ride waves a little better?

Meditation is free. Takes ten minutes. You can do it anywhere (I like to sit near a tree). And it’s surprisingly effective. Here’s to a new chapter:

Links: Browse These

The internet is a weird and wonderful place. Here are great conversation starters:

• Taylor Swift’s new album - thoughts? I like the song Fortnite

• Separate bedrooms? Blankets? Mattresses? Couples weigh in

• New high speed train in Tokyo (Japan: bucket list destination)

• Watch this Russian ballerina paint with her feet

• Why this year’s Met Gala was different from the rest

Countdown to publication day begins: May 20, 2025!

Thank you for reading - see you next week!

With kindness, Sara