Infinite Ink

Love is in the air

When you're tired of wedding/baby pictures on Facebook, you open Wattpad, only to find--you guessed it--stories about weddings and subsequent babies. It appears that all the single Muslimahs are on Wattpad, typing away love stories. It's all under the umbrella of good intentions ("my story is halal, yo!), but peek out of the umbrella and you see a world of reading that extends beyond the Wattpad Islamic story. Recently, I happened to have a conversation with a woman where I told her that I write. She asked me what I write, and when I described it she said, "Oh, you write in the kids magazines, so cute." 

Ahem. I am in my mid-twenties. It's been awhile since someone called me "cute"! I understand her feelings, though. After loading up on Islamic non fiction (heavy-duty type) on my Kindle, and actually reading it, digesting it and absorbing it, opening Wattpad and seeing the hottest story in the Spiritual section is, well, you guessed it again! "So cute".

I was playing with the idea of writing a story from Leena Moin's perspective. (Leena is Inaya's sister. Inaya is the protagonist of my Ramadan story. My Ramadan story is on my profile. It's called "A Whisper of Peace". That's enough background info.) I opened Canva (the site I use to design my book covers) and looked through my old book cover projects. One of them was titled "Hello, my name is niqabi". Out of curiosity, I searched for "niqabi" on Wattpad.

You can guess the results, but I will tell you anyway:

The Niqabi. Niqabi Love. The Niqabi and the Sheikh. The Perks of having a Nikah (A Muslim Love Story). The patience niqabi (Islamic fictional love story). Niqab Diaries. Sabr (on hold). I bet you. The Niqabi's Life. Fast forward, forward, confessions of a niqabi, a niqabi love story--you get the point.

Hello! I seriously feel like writing my story directly on my blog. In that case, it won't have love stories popping up all around it when a reader clicks on it. Hey, don't get me wrong, love is all good, but there's a point when it becomes seriously cliche.

And you just feel like saying, "Grow up, please" but instead you just smile and say, "How cute."