Uzma Jalaluddin

Oh, thank you so much, Jacob.

I'm really happy to be here.

Such a great question.

And I'm sure my editors and agent were wondering the same thing when I approached them.

Yeah.

A few years ago.

The truth is I've always loved mysteries and I always wanted to write one.

In fact, I kind of fell into writing rom-coms.

It was a detour, a very happy detour.

And I remember when I was writing Aisha at last and

I finally managed to, you know, it was the book that helped me find an agent and helped me get my very first publishing deal.

And right when, just before the book was coming out, you know, the advice that writers are given is work on your next book.

You know, like don't ruminate over all the things that are happening in terms of your, the book that's about to be published, work on the next book.

And I started outlining a mystery.

And then I approached my agent who has since retired at the time and said,

I said, oh, but the next book is going to be a mystery.

And she's like, no, no, no, no.

You sold a rom-com.

That means you have to write a few more because in publishing, it's very important to kind of establish yourself within a genre and not confuse readers because readers don't necessarily follow you into different genres all the time.

And, and it was really good advice.