Today, we welcome author Farah Naz Rishi to the blog. We’re excited to discuss her latest release SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE. Let’s begin with learning a bit about you. Where you’re from, where you live? Is writing your full-time job?
I was born in Washington, D.C., but I now live in Philadelphia. I’m very lucky that writing is my fulltime job—which means most days, I’m camped out in my little office, typing away.
How long have you been writing?
I’ve been writing professionally since 2016.
What does your typical writing day look like?
It’s not unlike Ursula le Guin’s writing schedule. I wake up around 9AM, eat breakfast and get ready for the day. By 10:30AM, I’m at my desk, writing. I stop around 4 PM to eat something, and for the rest of the day, I “tend to be very stupid and we won’t talk about this.”
Tell us about your latest release? Where the idea came from? Perhaps some fun moments, or not so fun moments?
I’d shared snippets of my life story, of what would become my memoir, on TikTok. To my surprise, I received several supportive comments urging me to write it all down. I didn’t think it would ever actually be published—I’m certainly not a big name, and while I believed my life was perhaps uniquely tumultuous at times, I didn’t think it was particularly remarkable. Only important people write memoirs, I’d told myself. But I wrote it, if only to help me process the events of my life and to better appreciate the incredible people in it. Except my agent believed in it, and now here we are.
My favorite moment in the book is when my brother rescued a mouse and set it free. I daresay it’s my favorite memory.
Could you share one detail from your current release with readers that they might not find in the book?
I didn’t have time or room to include this, but between my last year of law school and working on my first novel, I worked as a video game journalist. One of my favorite moments was interviewing a game developer, Eric Barone—the creator of Stardew Valley. He was incredible kind and humble.
Who has been the most difficult character for you to write? Why?
Writing Stephen, my husband, was the most difficult for me. I’d have to ask him to read and re-read all the scenes that included him, just to make sure I was staying true to his thoughts. I was worried I couldn’t do him justice.
If you could be one of your characters for a day which character would it be?
Kaya.
If you could spend the day with your character, what would you do? What would that day look like?
I would love to hang out with my dog, Stella. We would sit in the park and play fetch all day. That would be therapeutic (and a great way to avoid writing).
What’s your take on research and how do you do it?
I love doing research. I could spend hours on Jstor every day. It’s a problem. But thankfully, for this memoir, I didn’t have to do much research (just a lot of remembering).
Are there any particular authors that have influenced how you write?
Tamora Pierce and Jonathan Stroud. Those are my comfort authors.
Do you have a secret talent readers would be surprised by?
My husband calls me the cat-whisperer because I have the ability to calm down any cat. We foster a lot of cats and kittens, so this comes in handy.
Your favorite go to drink or food when the world goes crazy!
I can down a good chocolate cake like nobody’s business.
What is your writing kryptonite?
As soon as the sun goes down, I swear my brain shuts down. I struggle to write at night! But I also have difficulty moving forward in my writing; I’m always fighting the temptation to go back and rewrite what I’ve already written, and just keep tweaking.
What is the one question you never get ask at interviews, but wish you did? Ask and answer it.
If you could fistfight another author, who would it be and why?
It’s a tie between HP Lovecraft and Orson Scott Card. 😊
I’d pay to watch that!! LOL Thank you so much for joining us today. Readers, here’s a quick look at SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE:
From a Pakistani American author comes a bracing memoir about tradition, upending expectations, and the volatility of family, friendship, and, inevitably, love.
Pakistani American Farah Naz Rishi’s first year of college was perfectly, thankfully, uneventful. After all, she was in college to learn and forge a path of self-sufficiency, especially after her last relationship fell apart—dashing her mother’s aspirations for an early marriage. What could Farah expect, anyway? For the ideal guy to just conveniently waltz into her life? Life isn’t a love story.
Enter Stephen, a Jamaican student with an open smile and a disarmingly laid-back attitude. It’s not love at first sight. And there’s no way Farah’s mother would approve of him as marriage material. But they have something better: an inexplicable connection. Through a series of impossible tragedies, grief, and trying to find her place in the world, Stephen is always there as Farah’s confidant, champion, and, most of all, best friend. Anything more could ruin a perfectly good thing…Right?
Spanning thirteen years of complex family dynamics and a surprising kinship, Farah Naz Rishi’s story explores the unpredictability of love—familial, platonic, and romantic, but never truly instant.
ABOUT FARAH NAZ RISHI (pronounced FUR-uh)
Farah Naz Rishi is a Pakistani American Muslim writer and voice actor, but in another life, she’s worked stints as a lawyer, a video game journalist, and an editorial assistant. She received her B.A. in English from Bryn Mawr College, her J.D. from Lewis & Clark Law School, and her love of weaving stories from the Odyssey Writing Workshop. When she’s not writing, she’s probably hanging out with video game characters. You can find her at home in Philadelphia.
Website: www.farahnazrishi.com
TikTok: @farahnazrishi
