Kokab Rahman of Radeya Global On The 5 Things You Need To Be A Successful Author or Writer
An Interview With Kristin Marquet
No one can become a great writer overnight, even if they have natural talent. It requires lots of practice. That means writing a lot. A new writer should write several hundred words a day. I find using writing prompts helpful in getting inspiration to write.
Some writers and authors have a knack for using language that can really move people. Some writers and authors have been able to influence millions with their words alone. What does it take to become an effective and successful author or writer?
In this interview series, called “5 Things You Need To Be A Successful Author or Writer” we are talking to successful authors and writers who can share lessons from their experience.
As part of this series I had the pleasure of interviewing Kokab Rahman.
Kokab Rahman is an entrepreneur and author. She is the Founder of Radeya Global. Kokab writes about career, business, personal development, work life balance, and finance. Her articles have been published in major publications including Entrepreneur, ExpatWoman, the Ladders, American Writers and Artists Association, Nonfiction Authors Association, and BizBahrain. Her books include Accounting for Beginners, the Secret to a Successful Job Search, and the Handbook of Remote Work Opportunities (Skills Development Series) which are available from Amazon . Kokab travelled to more than 15 countries and 50 cities and loves the entrepreneur — digital nomad lifestyle. When she isn’t writing or working on her businesses, Kokab loves to travel.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?
Ever since the fifth grade, I’ve wanted to be a writer. Initially I wanted to be a fiction writer. I wrote stories all through my school years. Later I joined writing groups, took writing courses and read how-to-write books. At that time, I also started writing short articles and had some published in writing newsletters. The joy of creating content and becoming published is amazing. It propelled me to continue to write content and improve my writing skills. When I was in college studying business, I wrote the book Accounting for Beginners as a PowerPoint presentation. The book combined my love for writing with my love for accounting. Later I self published Accounting for Beginners book along with another book I wrote, Arabic Made Easy.
Can you share the most interesting story that occurred to you in the course of your career?
When I completed Arabic Made Easy and started looking for publishers, a publication company approached me online. Their website, salespeople, and online communication was pretty impressive and I fell for them. Unfortunately I was scammed and instead of being paid 40%-50% royalty which was common for self published writers, the company set my royalty rate at around 5%. After that happed, I searched their online reviews and saw complaints from many writers. I learned a lesson, do your research first.
What was the biggest challenge you faced in your journey to becoming a writer? How did you overcome it? Can you share a story about that that other aspiring writers can learn from?
Rejection is part of the publication process and I faced repeated rejection. I’d write articles, send them to publications and they wouldn’t get published. At first I wondered why nothing was getting published. After a while I thought “my writing must not be good enough.” So I started trying to improve. Every time an article wouldn’t get published, I’d work on it, improve it, increase the word count, and resend to another publication. Pretty soon, my articles started getting published right and left.
In your opinion, were you a “natural born writer” or did you develop that aptitude later on? Can you explain what you mean?
I think of myself as a natural born writer. I loved to write at a young age and wrote content that my primary school teachers loved. Nonetheless, I took courses and read how-to-write books to hone the skill.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?
I love to write books. Currently I am working on a “Self Help for Entrepreneurs and Other Work-From-Home Professionals.” I am excited about this project because it combines my passion for writing, consulting, and helping people.
Here is the main question of our interview. Based on your experience, what are the “5 Things You Need To Be A Successful Author or Writer”? Please share a story or example for each.
No one can become a great writer overnight, even if they have natural talent. It requires lots of practice. That means writing a lot. A new writer should write several hundred words a day. I find using writing prompts helpful in getting inspiration to write.
It’s important is to get rid of the internal editor (self doubt). The internal editor is that voice that tells you your writing isn’t good enough or the sentence structure, grammar, etc. needs fixing. When writing the first draft, don’t worry if the sentences are not correct or there are grammar or spelling errors, or what anyone will think about the piece. The time for editing is post writing.
If an outline helps you put down your ideas for the piece, try it. This is especially helpful when you have a topic idea but don’t know what to write. I usually see that in the second draft, the piece comes together better.
The fourth important thing is ensuring there is coherence in a piece. Each paragraph should talk about one main idea, with several detail sentences. If a writer is having difficulty writing coherent content, I highly recommend the book Getting the Words Right: How to Revise, Edit and Rewrite by Theodore A. Rees Cheney. This book is a must-have for any writer’s reference library.
It’s also important to avoid fancy words or difficult sentence structure. Some writers learn difficult sentence structure. Possibly it’s the academic or PHD thesis writing style, which doesn’t have a place in content for common people. The language of books and articles should be simple and easy to understand. If one trips over the sentences (or you have to read it multiple times to get the idea), it should be thrown out and rewritten. Improving your research skills and expanding your general knowledge will also be an advantage for your writing.
What is the one habit you believe contributed the most to you becoming a great writer? (i.e. perseverance, discipline, play, craft study). Can you share a story or example?
Reading is as much required to be a good writer as is writing. I used to read a lot (2–3 books a week) and it likely helped my writing ability.
Which literature do you draw inspiration from? Why?
My favorite type of literature is fiction (mystery, suspense, romance, historical fiction). I’ve read 200–300 word fiction books / novels in two days.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
I would create food kitchens in every city that provided warm meals to everyone who needed it. I feel that’s such a necessity in a world where extreme poverty is on the rise and inflation is making necessaries more expensive, making life difficult for the most vulnerable.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
I post regularly to my social media and my business blog:
www.LinkedIn.com/in/kokabrahman
www.Instagram.com/classicdisplay
Thank you so much for this. This was very inspiring!
