What if self-belonging is the key to every other kind of belonging?

A reflection on identity, relationships, and growth.
🔗 https://bit.ly/3QpjLUC

What if bridging the divide starts with listening—not reacting?
In my latest piece, Bridging the Divide, I reflect on belonging in education and the workplace.
What it means to truly “witness” others.
Read here: https://bit.ly/421sxdX

#Belonging #Witness #ListenToUnderstand

Today’s reflection: leaving Kuwait, crossing borders, and arriving in Copenhagen—exhausted, uncertain, and somehow exactly where I was meant to be.
This is also what it means for me to witness.

Read it here: https://bit.ly/4sm23if

#JourneyToBelonging #Witness #Belonging

I turned 70 this week.

In the middle of uncertainty and a difficult decision to leave Kuwait, I realized something unexpected: I’ve learned how to stay calm…even when everything around me isn’t.
A reflection on life, love, and what 70 is teaching me.

https://bit.ly/3NWugha

During Ramadan, I joined a creative challenge.
Then the sirens began.
What began as a space for creative expression became something more.
A reflection on how community helps us find our way back, even in uncertainty.
🔗 https://bit.ly/4t16oI3
#JourneyToBelonging #Creativity #Community #Belonging

In moments of crisis, the question often feels simple:
Stay or leave?

Over the past 40 years living in Kuwait, I’ve faced that decision many times—during war, pandemic, and uncertainty.
Looking back, I realized my choices were guided by something deeper: belonging.
New post: https://bit.ly/3PpPkgt

The siren blares.
Beep. Beep. Beep.

My body freezes.

Living through uncertainty reminds me how powerful community is.

In my new Substack post, I reflect on:

• fear
• co-regulation
• WhatsApp communities
• the lifeline of belonging

Read it here:
🔗 https://bit.ly/40mtcG9

The siren blares.
Beep. Beep. Beep.

My body freezes.

Living through uncertainty reminds me how powerful community is.

In my new Substack post, I reflect on:

• fear
• co-regulation
• WhatsApp communities
• the lifeline of belonging

Read it here:
🔗 https://bit.ly/40mtcG9

Witnessing isn’t passive.
It’s refusing to let fear erase our humanity.

New Substack post on mattering and belonging in times of conflict.
🔗 https://bit.ly/4cjbgDu

#MSWL Day is here!

I'm seeking more narrative nonfiction for children and adults. Think THE MONA LISA VANISHES (Day) or Candace Fleming's books for kids.

More like THE ART THIEF (Finkel) or NO HUMAN INVOLVED (Neely) for adults. Also seeking nonfiction that really brings setting to life!

Writers! 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼 (Follow @manuscriptwishlist.bsky.social, read the guidelines for #MSWL Day, & go forth and query smartly!

#kidlitchat For those who haven't heard, there will be an official #MSWL day on Thursday this week. If you're currently in the query trenches or will be soon, it's a great resource and may put some wonderful agents on your radar based on what they're looking for.

New Substack post:
Witnessing Belonging: Healing, Mattering, and Becoming in Real Life

A shift from framework to practice.
From telling to witnessing.

🔗 https://bit.ly/4aRoaq5

This week’s Substack completes my series on the heroine’s journey through the lens of my mother’s life. She lived her life with courage, contradiction, grief, joy, and ultimately, balance.

🕊️ Integration: The Final Phase of the Heroine’s Journey

🔗 Link in bio or here: https://bit.ly/4kHMtev

Some healing isn’t loud.
It arrives quietly—through movement, connection, and letting go of control.

This week’s Substack explores healing the wounded masculine through my mother’s heroine’s journey.
Read it here: https://bit.ly/4a7cRee

Hello Writing Community! We are delighted to announce our Second Official Bluesky *** #MSWL Day *** February 26, 2026. 🎉🎉🎉

Agents + editors can post what they ✨wish✨ they had in their inboxes; writers can find their next best fit for querying.

Learn more: manuscriptwishlist.com/2025/01/the-...

Wonderful news!!

“Love and large-hearted giving… can leave deep marks.”
— O. Henry

I keep returning to this line as I think about the mother–daughter split—and how love can be fierce, generous, and still wounding. If this resonates, I wrote more about this stage of the heroine’s journey on Substack.
✨ Link in bio.

New Substack post in my series The Heroine’s Journey to Belonging.

This one explores one of the hardest stages: healing the mother–daughter split, where generational wounds surface, and healing means holding complexity rather than erasing the past.

Read here: https://bit.ly/4arWXuM

Story Studio and CAIABB present Words Without Walls writing contest. What happens when a story is silenced? Who decides what we get to read? We invite writers age 12 to 18 across Canada to share their voices in defense of intellectual freedom. Whether it's fiction, poetry, or a personal essay, tell us why the freedom to read matters to you. Free to enter, one entry per person. Submissions open February 1 to February 28th, 2026. Length 500 to 1500 words. Winners and runners up will be published in an anthology. Learn more at storystudio.ca.

Words Without Walls writing contest. Open to youth (ages 12 to 18) across Canada. Deadline 1159 p.m. pst on February 28th, 2026. Length: 500 to 1500 words. What happens when a story is silenced? Who decides what we get to read? Whether it's fiction, poetry, or a personal essay, tell us why freedom to read matters to you. Submit and learn more at storystudio.ca. Read freely, write boldly.

Story Studio and Canadian Authors and Illustrators Against Book Bans are teaming up to launch a national youth writing contest on the theme of freedom to read! Please share!
@caiabb.bsky.social
y.social #FreedomToRead #ftrw2026 #writingcontest #bookbans #caiabb #bced #abed #onted

New Substack post in my series The Heroine’s Journey to Belonging.

This one explores a quieter stage—yearning for the feminine—when success no longer satisfies, and a woman begins to miss parts of herself she left behind.

Read it here: https://bit.ly/3Zx2rhH
#belonging #heroinesjourney

Friends! Thrilled to be in convo tmrw for an Instagram Live on Sat 1/24 at 2pm EST with the wonderful author educator @torreymaldonado.bsky.social to discuss his new picture book, Just Right. Join us to hear about Torrey’s process. This is one of my new faves for sure. Tune in at @nqarooni on IG.

New Substack post in my series The Heroine’s Journey to Belonging.

This one sits at the threshold—after voice and success, before the inward descent.

"There’s More to Life than Achievements"

https://bit.ly/4jNha1n

How Might We Research Our Way Out of Print Privilege? Let's get beyond airdropping articles, findings, recommendations, and curricula on schools and the kids they serve.

open.substack.com/pub/angelast...

⭐️New Substack post in my series, The Heroine’s Journey to Belonging, is live.

This one explores what happens after a woman finds her voice—when success, leadership, and visibility still don’t bring the belonging she expected.
#Belonging #LifeJourneys #Wellbeing

https://bit.ly/4qMi7Jx

Check out the latest in my series The Heroine’s Journey to Belonging! 🌟

Explore a transformative moment as a young mother finds her voice live on radio. This story challenges the idea that success guarantees belonging.

Read here: https://bit.ly/4bhzIo4
Leave a comment👇
#belonging #lifejourney

Google docs. I find it easier to make notations, keep track of drafts…

My newest Substack explores the road of trials, when women learn to belong by doing, achieving, and enduring rather than being nurtured or seen.

I write through my mother’s story, and through a question many of us hold quietly:
Is competence enough to feel whole?

Read here: https://bit.ly/4quSI79