This month, we were delighted to interview Sana Samad, a 39 year old Canadian Pakistani mother to two young boys, who are 8 and 6 years old respectively, and whom she currently homeschools. When not being a mom, playing sports, reading, or writing, she also runs a small business called Sweet Seconds Cookies, which serves the Oshawa/Durham region in Ontario.
You can find her writing on Instagram as @sana.ess and support her business at @sweet.seconds.cookies.
You can find her writing on Instagram as @sana.ess and support her business at @sweet.seconds.cookies.
Photo by Nick Morrison on Unsplash
What was your first creative writing piece, as far as you can remember?
As far as I can recall, I believe it was when I was in grade 7...probably around the time I was about to leave Abu Dhabi to move to Canada. I think it was a poem to one of my friends in school.
Did you always feel drawn to creative writing? What got you into creative writing?
When I was younger, I liked writing rhyming poetry. I wasn’t good at it, but I enjoyed doing it. As an adult, I love reading a good rhyming book or poem, but I find it harder to rhyme now because I don’t want it to feel forced. Creative writing was my way to express my feelings for others and sort my own feelings as well. Writing in journals/diaries, and letters that I never posted, is what got me through the first few years of being in Canada.
Who were some of the major influences/supports, real or fictional, in your creative writing journey?
Honestly, I don’t know. I loved reading books and stories by Enid Blyton as a kid. My parents always encouraged us to read. I think I got my love of writing from my mother, though. Even though I don’t remember her writing creatively, I do recall her writing in her journal every day for years. Apart from my parents, one of my maternal aunts and a few friends have also been extremely supportive of my writing.