It’s been almost eight months since I ventured back into freelance journalism, and I have to believe that it’s what I was meant to do. Not in a la-la I wanna be Anne Sexton when I grow up kind of way, but based on how things have been going, the things God has sent my way and those He hasn’t. Before I decided to close Light of Islam (the educational center and bookstore I ran for three years), I said the istikhara prayer, the second part of which is:
Oh Allah! If in Your knowledge, [the decision I’m facing] is good for my religion, my livelihood and my affairs, immediate and in the future, then ordain it for me, make it easy for me, and bless it for me. And if in Your knowledge, [the decision I’m facing] is bad for my religion, my livelihood and my affairs, immediate and in the future, then turn it away from me, and turn me away from it. And ordain for me the good wherever it may be, and make me content with it.
And He has made writing easy for me, and entering Goucher’s program (despite what I consider a poor application essay and a late recommendation). None of my magazine pitches has been rejected, and in musing on this I realized that I have been writing solely for magazines. I’m becoming more aware of freelancers’ bylines in the Chronicle, and I have thought about trying to do paid writing for them in addition to the blogging. It’s a good goal, but the more magazine writing I do the more I’m sure that what I want to do is feature writing. Even when I think a topic isn’t interesting, I end up learning so much. And the CNF contest essay is totally a brave new world for me, and I am enjoying the challenge of both the reporting and the writing of it.
Bottom line is when an editor tells me:
You do a really nice job with your reporting and writing, and we definitely want to use you again.
I have to feel I’m doing the right thing, and probably in the right genre.
Ruth Nasrullah 