Broken Shell makes its way to Jeddah book fair

By Shahd Alhamdan JEDDAH — Many people are both skeptical and bewildered about their life's journey, but in the middle of it only a few decide that they should change course to have harmony between themselves and their present. Khuloud Juma Almaazmi is one of those people who decided to break the shell and lead a better, positive life. An Emirati in her 20s, Almaazmi, after making the inevitable twist in her life, wrote down her experiences and shared them with the public. She called the book, "Broken Shell", which was published first in November 2016 during Sharjah International Book Fair. The book found its way to the Second Jeddah International Book Fair, which is set to conclude on Sunday. Saudi Gazette sat with Almaazmi, who is in her last year of university studying Architecture in the United Arab Emirates to talk about "Broken Shell". Almaazmi said she started writing the book two years ago. She wrote most of the work while shuttling between the university and her home. The couple of hours she spent in the bus let her think a thousands times about her life. She noted down every single thought that came to her mind using her smart phone. Sentences came down spontaneously, and she wrote them in paragraphs and then arranged them subject wise. The notes grew day by day until it became a book. Almaazmi said, “The book is about every person who thinks they are weak and not sure about their life. It's about my experience, my feelings in situations that I have come face to face with, and what options I had to choose from, and how I dealt with them according to my age and my thinking. "I was almost shut down after some problems that I faced in my life when I was young, but I decided to break the shell that I lived inside and become confident and brave to face the world. No matter how others think, I wanted to prove that all of us have something special to do and develop. So don't say 'no, I can't', or 'no, they are better or smarter and I am not.' No, I am smart in different way or in a different thing.” When Almaazmi was asked about the message of the book, she said she was sure that the "feeling of loss, failure and pain in our hearts one day will be the new beginning, the positive energy to transform our future if we decide correctly." Talking about some of the struggles she had faced trying to get her book published, Almaazmi said the toughest task was to reorder the sentences to make them look reasonable, smooth and easy to understand. Trying to introduce new ideas and write them in a new, different and better style than others was a real challenge," she said. "For the publishing part, I am really thankful to Dar Molhimon Publishing even though I had very little time to do the reorganizing, correct spelling errors and for pre-publication publicity. The distribution was also encouraging, so it was really a great effort from their side," Almaazmi said. "Broken Shell" is available in bookstores all over the Arabian Gulf region. Jarir Bookstores, Virgin, WH Smith, Kinokuniya, Dubai Mall, Aafaq Bookstore in Kuwait, That Al-Salasil and Hamad International Airport in Qatar have them in their shelves. Almaazmi is currently planning to write the second part of "Broken Shell".