88 Cups of Tea

Love all things upbeat, warm, and uplifting? Welcome to 88 Cups of Tea, an online platform and podcast for creative writers who look for guidance in their storytelling journey and connection to a community, fostering year-round conversations around the personal and professional life of a writer. Our podcast episodes and online essays and articles explore and unpack conversations that touch on topics like overcoming rejections and challenges, querying tips and crafting advice, lifestyle habits that support the heart and the soul, what it means to be Human while navigating a creative path, and more. We pride ourselves in nurturing a supportive environment that aims to encourage, inspire, and entertain. Check out our website 88cupsoftea.com for essays, articles, and access to nearly 200 podcast episodes!

Samira Ahmed On Saying Yes To Yourself

Warm welcome to our new listeners, and welcome back long-time listeners. 

Here’s the link to join our free self-guided accountability group for the month of April: https://www.facebook.com/groups/88cupsofteaselfguidedaccountabilityapril2020/

If you’d love a chance to be one of the voices in the 30-consecutive days of recording for our collective stories throughout this time, head over here to submit: https://88cupsoftea.typeform.com/to/DB2voV 

Head over to https://www.instagram.com/88cupsoftea/ to watch Samira Ahmed’s Instagram takeover filled with exciting behind-the-scenes footage of her writing life!

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Curious to discover creative ways to fit in time for your writing even with a busy schedule? How to be more kind to yourself during your writing journey? Or how to craft dual POVs in your novel? We talk about it all and more with Samira Ahmed.

Samira is the author of Love, Hate & Other FiltersInternment, and her newest novel that just released in early April – Mad, Bad & Dangerous to Know. Her poetry, essays, and short stories have appeared in anthologies including: Take the MicColor Outside the LinesInk Knows No BordersWho Will Speak for AmericaThis is What a Librarian Looks Like, and the forthcoming Vampires Never Get Old and A Universe of Stories.

In Samira’s episode, we discuss her childhood experience growing up in small-town America, how different groups of people are targeted throughout history, and how to safely confront racism by using our power and privilege for a purpose. We then unpack Samira’s career path from working in education to becoming a full-time writer, how she learned to construct a novel, how she discovered the inner workings of the publishing world, and what the process of finding a literary agent was like for her. 

We talk about creative ways to fit in time for your writing even with a busy schedule, the importance of saying “yes” to yourself and your dreams, and why it’s crucial to be gentle with the language you use towards your writing, especially with your first draft. Further in, we chat about her newly released novel Mad, Bad, & Dangerous to Know, the inspiration behind the story, and her writing process for crafting dual POVs. And Samira wraps up our conversation with a creative assignment for our listeners that will help you make progress towards your writing goals!

Please say ‘Hi’ to Samira on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/sam_aye_ahm/

Head over to Samira’s shownotes page at https://88cupsoftea.com/samira-ahmed/‎ to download her writing prompt and to find the resources and books mentioned in her episode, tweetable quotes, and the timestamps of highlights throughout the entire conversation. 

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