Interview with an Author - Charlene Smith

Happy March and Ramadan Mubarak to those who celebrate! This month, we're honoured to interview Charlene Smith, author of Game Changers: Stories of Hijabi Athletes from around the World. Charlene converted to Islam in 1999 when she was 19 years old. She has an identical twin sister, is married with six children (five boys and a girl), and has a 2 year old granddaughter. She loves reading, playing the daff, mountain biking, and downhill skiing. ​

Jessica Rodriguez Photography (IG: @jessicarodriguez.photos)

Here's a little more about her in her own words. 

"I loved writing when I was a child. I have vivid memories of going to the creative writing table in my first grade classroom to write stories when I finished my schoolwork early. I wrote just for fun in those days. As a teenager, I still wrote a lot, but it was mostly for school projects. ​

I didn't write for fun anymore, but Language Arts was still my favourite subject. 

​I got married young and had children right away, and for those first several years of marriage and parenting, I didn't have time (or didn't make time) for any creative work of my own. Once my children were older, I decided to write a book. I knew that many people attempted to write books, but a very small percentage were actually published, so I didn't have very high hopes that I would actually become a published author, but here I am! InshaAllah, February 1st will be the one year anniversary of my book's publication, alhamdulillah. I really enjoyed the writing and publishing process and I continue to write, always collecting and working on new ideas."

You can follow Charlene on Instagram at @charlene.r.smith. You can also download the teacher's guide to her book here for free!

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What was your first creative writing piece, as far as you can remember?

My first creative writing piece that I can remember is a story I wrote about a turkey when I was in second grade. I don't remember what happened in the story, but the last line was "'My name is Bob' said the Turkey and danced out the door." My first real creative writing piece as an adult was my book, Game Changers. I wrote several biographies of different athletes and went through several drafts, but these stories ultimately became my first book. 

Did you always feel drawn to creative writing? What got you into creative writing?

I was drawn to creative writing as a child, but as I became a teenager and then an adult, life became busy and I didn't think about creative writing very much. It was once my children were all a little bit older that I decided to start writing again. I love reading and books in general, so I thought it would be nice to try to write a book myself. ​​

Who were some of the major influences or supports, real or fictional, in your creative writing journey?

I am influenced and inspired by all the Muslim authors out there. When my children were young, there were hardly any Muslim-authored children's books available. I remember finding Muslim Child by Rukhsana Khan in our public library and being so surprised and excited. Some of the first YA books I saw by a Muslim author were books by Na'ima B. Robert, and I loved them.

​Now, alhamdulillah there are so many Muslim authored books, they take up several shelves on my bookshelf and I only own a fraction of those available! Two of my favourite authors and biggest supporters are S. K. Ali and Rahma Rodaah. The Muslim author community is very supportive and helpful and I am so grateful for all of the authors who have helped and supported me along the way!

What's your ideal writing environment like? 

My ideal writing environment is at a noisy cafe, without music. I can't concentrate if music is playing and I can't concentrate if it's too quiet—then random thoughts creep into the silence and make it hard to focus. I prefer to write at a cafe because my home is too distracting—there is always so much other stuff to do at home that pulls me away from my writing. ​

Are you interested in exploring other genres of writing? If so, which? 

Yes! I am interested in exploring many different genres. I would love to write a YA novel, an adult novel, a picture book and maybe some early reader chapter books as well. I have so many ideas and aspirations—inshaAllah at least some of them will come to fruition

Can you tell us a little more about your ideas for future projects?

I have ideas for stories about marriage, children from blended homes, and of course, hijabi athletes.

MashaAllah! So, are you working on anything currently?

I am currently sort of working on several different ideas, but not working on anything officially at the moment. ​

Awesome, tawfeeq with all your ideas! I think I know that answer, but I'm curious; what is your favourite piece of written work, currently, of your own? And why?

Game Changers is my favourite! It is the book that made me feel like I can actually call myself an author. And it's about a topic that is very important and close to my heart. ​

What are some of your favourite elements of writing/to write about?

I really enjoy writing dialogue and writing about relationships of all kinds. ​

What inspires/motivates you the most when writing?

When I write, I think about the message of my stories and how they can inspire and help other people, and that keeps me going. ​

Do you have any goals with your writing, moving forward?

My goal for my future writing is to write books that help people improve their lives, expand their horizons, or learn something new. ​

Switching gears a little: what's something you find helpful/inspiring, as a lover of creative writing?

I find a lot of inspiration from reading. I think that reading is one of the best things to do if you want to be a better writer. ​

On that note, what are some of your favourite reads?

Ooh, this is a tough question. There are so many books I have read and love. Some of my all-time favourites are: Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa, Fledgling by S.K. Ali, We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, and Huda F Cares by Huda Fahmy.

Last but not least: Do you have any advice/words of wisdom/things-you-wish-you-knew-earlier that you would tell other writers?

If you want to write a book, just do it. Even if you only write a few lines each day, if you are consistent and keep at it, it will eventually get done. But if you just keep dreaming about, thinking about, and talking about writing a book, without ever actually doing any writing, it won't ever get done. 

I also think it is very important to learn about the craft of writing. I found it very valuable to take courses about writing as well as to listen to podcasts about writing and read craft books. ​

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Thank you so much Charlene! This was both an inspiring and motivating interview, and we appreciate you sharing your time, words of wisdom, and books recs with us!​ If you, dear reader, found this as exciting an interview as we did, drop us a comment, and don't forget to support Charlene in her writing!

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Interested in being interviewed? Want to promote a writer friend? Reach out to us! The only requirements are: 

1. that you/they are an author, whether published traditionally, through self-publishing, on a blog, site, fanfiction archive, Instagram, Wattpad, etc. We are not picky! We want authors to own that they're authors!
2. the author's work is fiction, non-fiction, fanfiction, poetry, songs, or anything else that is written (we are not interviewing artists of other media at this time, but stay tuned for changes!)
3. the author's work belongs to themselves (in the case of fanfiction, transformative works are allowed) and has not been "written" by generative AI

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