My New Work from Home in Egypt Website

As evident by the title, I've started a new blog Work From Home in Egypt
(fair warning: it's in Arabic ;) )

I have been wanting to relay my experiences as work from home mom and as a work from home freelance writer for quite some time. This another side of me less glamorous albeit more practical that I feel can benefit many of the moms (or dads or students) looking to explore the lifestyle and look for hints.

I started it our in Arabic because there are no websites or blogs that offer help to Egyptian people in their native tongue, and many of them prefer to read information that way. If I could only help

The blog will discuss work from home opportunities in general, and writing in particular. It will also talk about bid sites, with a focus on the website I have most experience with: Odesk. So, the Odesk tips and hints will be quite extensive over time.

If you could benefit from the tips in Work From Home Blog or know someone that will please spread the love.

Egypt the Uprising A 5-star Read

Today is a major milestone for me, Egypt: The Uprising has received an Amazon review and a 5 STAR rating!

The book has been described as 

A fast-paced read, riddled with adventures and trials and problem-solving.

Reminiscent of "National treasure", this young adult book has a little of everything for reader - sibling rivalry and love, family dynamics, young crushes, loyalty, magic,fabled creatures and beings, strange worlds and journeys. 

National Treasure? Hmmm, funny my husband used the same reference.  I thought it was more along the lines of the Da Vinci Code ;)
What do you think?

Egypt the Uprising is Available Ladies and Gents

Available for immediate download Click here


And soon on Nook, Apple iBookstore, and Google ereader. 


If you intend to read it on your computer download the pdf file :)


Happy reading! 


Update 02/06/2011: Also on Amazon (this is still the ebook or kindle edition) Click Here

Novel Coming Right Up

Did you notice that awesome new mysterious background I have?


Have I been doin' something behind your back? ;p


Yes, 'tis true boys and gals, I've been up to something ...


I have been hiding out writing a novel.

It will be coming out in the beginning of June 2011 *fingers crossed.*


Want a sneak peak?


Here's the cover... 

I Write Like

So I was surfing the web, not out of lack of  things to do --just quite the opposite actually, where I came across this " I Write Like " gadget.
The idea is simple and quite appealing to someone looking for pointless self-inflating fun.
You insert a snippet of your writing and it gives you a badge telling you who you supposedly mimic in your pathetic attempts of being a writer.
So, I reluctantly chose a piece, cut and paste it, press enter and wait the results:

DAN BROWN

hah! I thought. So my sentences are choppy, my syntax is rudimentary, and my story line is horrendously spiraling!!

But unlike Mr. Brown, I am not about to diss the Church, or the mosque, or the synagogue for that matter in my novel. So I think that my chances of turning my book into a world wide phenomenon are , ahem, well , next to nil!

Selling Your Soul To the Devil And Sending Out Hate Mail

Apparently many were insulted by my post. Some have been successful in 'tracking down' my email--that's the way they put it, as if my email is a runaway rogue!--and have gracefully showered me with insults. So I now provide a direct link to my email, just in case anyone else wants a piece of me.

I have been called : backward, conservative-not an insult, but they used it as if it was--, and retared. That tells more about them than me.

 Still, I'd like to make a few things clear.....

 I have not disabled comments on this post, or any other. In fact, I do not even moderate comments. That was a blogger glitch (and it has happened before!)

I am not an a rigidly conservative person; I am quite open-minded and I do support freedom of speech; but what I do not support is the dichotomy of the media, best illustrated by the article "Bashing Islam is Freedom Criticizing Israel is a Hate Crime" There just seems to be too many Muslims/Arabs out to get the faults in our countries, and not nearly enough people that care about what's wrong with the rest of the world.
Marwa ElSherbini and Mohamed Aldora were faces brought to the attention of the world through the media.  Writers , in choosing what to write about, exercise choose the fate of nations. And they do so in either through love or hate.

You can spread love, equality, and hope through your writing from time to time. Find a positive example and interview them. Highlight an accomplishment. Write a piece suggesting solutions once in a while people, it won't kill ya!

Journalism And Selling Your Soul To the devil

I am sick of Egyptian/Arab/Muslim  writers and journalists selling their souls to the devil, and giving up every tiny-winy inch of self-respect they might have had one day to please the 'crowd'. There is of course the premise of fame and perhaps making a living out of bashing your own country. Stirring up a storm sells! Who cares what the consequences are!

You know the type? They write article after article listing all-the-things-wrong with Egypt, make Islam look bad, and then they look the other way and say :"but Islam has nothing to do with it. It is a great religion REALLY!!!" Well, why don't you write, at least once in your lifetime, about something positive in Islam.

I am not suggesting to follow the lead of Al Ahram newspaper's writers and sing the praises of the government but COME ON , honestly, you think nothing is wrong with the West? No human rights violations by our dear neighbours the Israelis??? Diversify, dear writers! It does not only suck on our end of the globe. It sucks everywhere. 

Of course, If you feel like you have a calling, a cause you are fighting for, then by all means focus on that. But your focus should not be what ever pleases Mr.Editor  (pictured in Blue-Gray above)

You think I can't back my case up with evidence, think again. I will not even begin to discuss the pieces written by Egyptians/Arabs in 'International' newspapers/magazines. For now, at least in this post, let it be local.

A couple of months ago, Al Masry Al Yom ran a feature on Nubians, Great people. What was not so great was that the paper had an article about the Nubians 'religious beliefs.' It stated that they believe in, and practice, an esoteric religious mixture of Islam-Christianity-and-Judaism. It also stated that they  keep it a secret for fear of persecution. Well, guess who got the secret out!!! I was appalled by the piece. I could not think of one reason why anyone would want to write about that, except to fuel further discrimination against Nubians. I wondered whether this was ethical. Did they decide to reveal their 'secret' via this article, or where they duped into spilling their guts out?

I like journalism with goal, purpose, and --like I said-- a calling. I wish there were a few more peace-loving writers out there. You know, the type that don't care much for spreading hate and negativity, and perhaps highlight the positive once in a while.

The Cairo House

I reviewed The Cairo House on Blogcritics and the review is featured on Seattlepi

I have always been intrigued by autobiographies and memoirs in our culture. How many women can actually retell their lives in all honesty and truth without having Fatwas issued against or without getting disowned by their family?
For the already controversial, a bellydancer with a sex tape or an actress who lured a famous politician, I suppose it is easier. But for the rest of us, the ones who appear so harmless and innocent to all those around us, it is a different matter.

The fictional autobiography is nice; many things can be left unsaid. Yet still, there is a liberating power in saying everything like it truly was. I feel like it is a first-rate cathartic experience.

But then again, who am I to know. I have never written a memoir-- at least not yet!

Only Fools Rush In: How To Find The Courage To Be

Yes, the wise men said it. Elvis said it. And everybody knows it: only fools rush in!


We are programmed as children, by our parents and our society, to avoid hastiness. We are always told to 'take our time' and to 'think about things carefully'. As we grow older schools, universities, and even our employers want us to assess and reassess every decision before we take it. We are asked to relentlessly think about our decisions. We are required to contemplate, ponder and ruminate lest we take a wrong decision or say something we shouldn't have.



You may wonder, what's the harm?

Well, let me quote my alter ego,  Hamlet, on this:

"And thus conscience does make cowards of us all,

And thus the native hue of resolution

Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought.

And enterprises of great pitch and moment

With this regard their currents turn awry,

And lose the name of action.—"

Dangers do lurk everywhere. It is our consciousness, our awareness of these dreads that makes us coward. When the ultimate indecisive tragic hero Hamlet says that our thoughts cast a 'sickly' shadow over our resolution, his wisdom does transcend the ages.

Please, try to humor me and forget for a second that he was actually contemplating suicide . Notice how resolution is referred to as 'native'. It is innate; we are resolute by nature. If an infant had dwelled over his first step, nobody would have walked the face of the earth!!!



Want another modern day example?

Brainstorming! The reason brainstorming is so effective in generating good, creative ideas is the way the process flows, without much interference from the conscious mind. You don't think, you just "do".

Inaction makes your life turn 'awry'.
Take my word on it, sometimes you need to rush in, just dive in and let what is meant to be happen. Over calculation sure makes life safer, but you risk being trapped in your own head, shackled by your own inertia while the rest of the world goes round.

Appropriate, inappropriate, or just downright crazy: how freedom of expression can change the world

Deciding whether you want your virtual persona to be appropriate, or to let it be a representation of the wilder side of you is a tough decision.

Keeping on the safe side of things is, well, safe but certainly not rewarding. It is not that expressing yourself freely gives you an adrenaline rush, or that bordering on the risqué in and of itself puts you under the spotlight. The problem is that all creative, innovative, ideas are at first 'crazy'. If you do not let your ideas roam freely, you can never change your reality, solve your problems, or --if you are an idealist visionary --change the world.

Somehow, 'inappropriate' and 'out-there' ideas become automatically equated with the profane. People vigilantly censor themselves lest they break a cultural taboo. But sadly, in doing so they lock their potential away; and live as mindless followers in a pitiful herd.

When I say 'wilder side', I am not referring to taking your shirt off for a stranger in front of a webcam! I am referring to these thoughts that come to mind and you just brush them off because they are 'unconventional', or maybe you file them under the 'never going to happen' tab.

So before you censor yourself, trust it. Trust that you are genuinely good and that you have genuinely good ideas. Don't believe what the pessimists say. We humans are not dirty nasty creatures operating on basic instincts--our Cerebral cortex does, sometimes, take the upper hand!

You might change yourself, your community, or even your world if you just let yourself truly BE.