I come from a creative family. My mother and sister are visual artists, both of them are talented illustrators. My brother is teaching himself the art of photography. My other brother is a whiz with coloring pens or paints. And I write.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been meaning to write a book. I’ve churned out the odd short story here and there. But I can’t seem to hold on to an idea long enough to turn it into something longer.
A few years ago, I received a message from a friend that simply said, “Farigh bethi ho. Koi novel hi likh lo.” (Translation: You’re just sitting around. Write a novel already.)
Even that failed to galvanize me into action.
In 2020, I was grading exam papers and worrying about how I won’t get enough sleep to get to work the next day when the Saudi Ministry of Education announced the closure of all institutions due to Covid-19. As a teacher, that was worrisome because the school was midway through finals at that time and I was worried the students’ efforts would go to waste. But also as a teacher, who was sleep-deprived and had a bucket load of papers to grade with a looming deadline, this was the best news. No more morning alarm – at least until further notice.
The closure of institutions soon extended to other aspects of daily life and soon we were in total lockdown. With nowhere to go, everyone was looking for an outlet for all the pent-up energy. My mother took the energy to the kitchen. My father finally downloaded Facebook on his phone. My siblings and I decided to do a collaborative project called “Color Me Quarantined” that combined all of our skills – writing, illustration, and photography. It’s still on our Instagrams.
As we were wrapping that up, I received a message from a school friend who also wrote for fun.
“Let’s write something together,” the message read.
“Like what?” I replied.
“Anything. Let’s just do something together.”
Within half an hour I had a rough plan, I’d roped in my sister to do the graphics for us, I’d called a couple of other writer friends and gotten them on board. I’d drafted a document detailing the whole idea and created a WhatsApp group to get everyone together. And that’s how we started MicroTales – a group of friends writing flash fiction just for the fun of it.
Not everyone saw it through till the end. There were, as there always will be, creative differences. But it is a project I will always be proud of. All of us brought our unique voices and writing styles and created some amazing stories. We gave each other tons of feedback, helped each other be better writers. And as someone who’d restarted writing fiction after a long spell, I found my spirits uplifted and I looked forward to writing each new story and getting new feedback. We completed two seasons together, and were poised to begin a third but it’s still pending as most of the group went back to post-Covid normality.
Covid-19 took so much from so many of us. Two years ahead and we still haven’t put it completely behind us. But the amount of creative expression that came to the fore during those lockdown months, from all across the globe, is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and how we can find joy even in the smallest moments.
Here’s to all of us who find joy even in the midst of utter chaos!
P.S. If you’d like to check out the stories we wrote, you can find them on the MicroTales website. The Color Me Quarantined project is on my public Instagram.
The Book Dragon 
Saba, I loved reading about your quarantine project. Writing also sustained me, here in this community and in my monthly poetry group, which resulted in an oral history project culminating in an anthology of pandemic poetry (I have three poems in the book), and inclusion in an anthology of sports poems for YA. It’s that one I’m most proud of. And if you write poetry, please consider joining our group, which is hosted by Sarah Donovan on her website, EthicalELA.com.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh wow, that sounds amazing! I haven’t written poetry in such a LONG time but I’ll definitely check it out. Thank you for sharing this with me!
LikeLike
Finding ways to nurture our creative juices tends to be worth the effort – doing it in collaboration is even better!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Collaborative projects are amazing for morale, especially when the community is supportive – like this one! 😀
LikeLike
Saba, quarantine did indeed form us and reform us. It was actually fun to skim through your project. It is interesting to see how each one of us came up with some coping mechanism to survive with the new normal. Rather ABNORMAL!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for reading and for checking out the project. And yes, the ‘new normal’ brought out so many hidden talents, that’s what the history books should remember.
LikeLike
Woohoo, that’s wonderful and fun. I would like to read it someday.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for reading. Do check it out when you have the chance. Who knows – you might want to join me for Season 03! 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
First, welcome to the SOL community!
Your quarantine project, with your siblings, was WAAAAAAY better than mine. (I had foot surgery two weeks prior so I was at home trying to recuperate. I had to start PT on my own at home due to Covid.) How wonderful that you AND your siblings were able to connect on this project. I will check it out!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for the welcome, Stacey. I’m loving SOL.
Lockdown was a tough time, but it made us stronger.
LikeLike
Saba, what a great post, and I am so happy you left links to your Micro Tales and Instagram. Wow, you made that happen, amazing! I could so relate to your description of when we went into lockdown. I was so exhausted, buried in papers to grade and file, and so much more of crazy-over-extended living. (Fun fact: I was working in Bahrain in March 2020 when our lockdown started.) And, yes, I second Glenda’s invitation to write with Ethical ELA. (She invited me back in March 2020, and I’ve been writing with that lovely community ever since.)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for reading and for the invite. I subscribed to EthicalELA this morning and I’m looking forward to April’s #VerseLove.
LikeLike
Saba, what great projects. Maybe you could turn these into books, even if self-published. I will check out your microfictions.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve never considered self-publishing before. Thank you for the idea, I’ll look into it! 🙂
LikeLike
What an amazing project to dive into during quarantine. And to tackle it with your sibling is just cool. I followed you and your sister. I was sad to see that it looks like your brother has deactivated. I could only see the de pieces you and your sister had posted. I loved everything about this.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It really gave us something to connect over during those lockdown months, made the physical distance seem insubstantial. (They’re in a different country.) My brother posts on a different account now, but he’s never really liked Instagram.
Thank you for reading and for checking out our work!
LikeLike