Reem Faruqi: Writing Everything
Did you think of yourself as a creative kid? What did you do for fun?
Yes! Each birthday of ours, we would get to invite our class over for an epic party. The caveat was that my mother would only let us choose three birthday gifts, the rest would get put in a cupboard and would be kept for giving away. On my 9th birthday, I chose a bubble gum scented diary with pastel colored pages. I wrote in it almost daily and when I finished that diary, my parents got me another one. I now have a box of journals, and I still have that old diary of mine, and the pages still smell like bubblegum! I am so glad my parents kept buying me more journals and let me take all my diaries with me when we moved continents from Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates to Peachtree City, Georgia. I always encourage students to keep their diaries; they’re a great reference for when I want to get into the head of a younger child, and it helps with the voice.
I used to love to make cards, write letters, and emails (once we had it!) to friends and family and sign them with Reem the Great. My mother also wouldn’t let us spend money on greeting cards, because she said we could make our own, so whenever I would go to the grocery store, I would run to the greeting card aisle and open the cards and memorize the greetings and then go home and make my own copies of the cards. I remember drawing a toad on a card and writing to my little brother Being Ten is Toadally Cool! Even now, I have the hardest time buying greeting cards because I hear my mother’s voice in my head, Why buy a card when you can make one?
How much time do you get to work on creative projects?
Not enough! I got a lot more work during an amazing year when ALL my children were in school. Now with a new baby-turned-toddler at home, I have to get used to working in teeny tiny increments, or staying up later at night to get work done. I am NOT a morning person at all, so that’s not an option for me. I used to teach 2nd grade and we had to show up at 7:15 am on the dot or your name would get highlighted. Needless to say, I dreaded that horrible highlighter!
An excerpt from Zarina Divided…
When do you feel most creative?
This was such a great question because I really had to think about what makes the creative gears in my brain tick. I think when I get good quality uninterrupted sleep and have a schedule that doesn’t require too much of me, my mind gets that quieter time and starts to wander and ideas begin to emerge. With that being said, it is HARD to always get good quality uninterrupted sleep because I have a 21 month old toddler and three other school aged children (my children range from age 1 to 14!) with busy school schedules. On weeks when we have dentist or doctor appointments or visitors, my mind doesn’t get that quiet and stillness it needs to really produce much. I’m in go-go-go-survival mode at that point!
Also, when I had my last baby, I found it harder to bounce back and do much, let alone write. It took a few months for me to feel like myself again, but I remember waking up one day, four months after having my baby, and it felt like a creative whoooosh. My mind was back! I just wanted to write and write and write and I was gravitating to and producing microessays and poetry. I love waking up feeling a creative burst, but it doesn't always last. I don’t know when it will happen, or how long it will last for. So in those times, a quick walk may help, turning off my phone, not listening to a podcast while driving so I can really let my mind wander.
What’s inspiring you outside of your own genre?
Writing for adults! Poems! Microessays/Essayettes! Creative nonfiction! Memoirs! I have always loved writing for children, but lately, I find writing for adults so freeing. I would love to get my latest collection of microessays and poems and nonfiction published and am working diligently behind the scenes. I want to see if I can thrive in the world of adults, not just kidlit. I want to do both.
What do you do when you feel burnt out or filled with doubt?
Try not to read reviews! Go check the actual mail, step outside and look at the clouds, anything except writing!
If you could give everyone a small treat, what would it be?
I would give everyone an uninterrupted weekday 2 hour nap!
Reem Faruqi is the award-winning children’s book author of Lailah’s Lunchbox, a book based on her own experiences as a young Muslim girl immigrating to the United States. She’s also the author of Amira’s Picture Day, I Can Help, Milloo’s Mind, Anisa’s International Day, and three middle-grade novels in verse, Unsettled, Golden Girl, and Call Me Adnan, many of which received starred reviews. Her newest book Zarina Divided releases in May 2025. After surviving Atlanta traffic and the school drop off, Reem spends her days trying to write, but instead gets distracted easily by her toddler, camera, and buttery sunlight. Reem Faruqi lives in Atlanta with her husband and four daughters, currently aged 1, 7, 12, and 14. You can find her at www.ReemFaruqi.com, on Instagram, Twitter, or here on Substack:
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This was my favorite interview!! Thank you!!!