Interview with an author

By age 7, Salma was an avid reader and natural storyteller, with aspirations to become a novelist. After Salma was diagnosed with cancer during her first year of high school, she received a wish and had the opportunity to make her dream a reality. With the support of Make-A-Wish and drawing from her hundreds of pages of personal journal entries, she started writing her first book about her last year in middle school, Final Year: A Teen’s Memoir. She’s since completed the draft and is currently in the editing process. We caught up with her for this author’s Q&A as we await the book’s release. 

Why did you choose to be an author for your wish?

I always wanted to be an author. I loved to read and write stories ever since I was little. Before the age of seven, I even tried to write a version of the first book I read, Angelina Ballerina, and called it Salma Ballerina, which never got published. 

The biggest roadblock for me to become an author was that I had no idea where to start. I would write short stories or write to my local paper, but I never got the chance to write a book. And I didn't know how. I didn't know if I could even do it, but I always wanted to. I just didn't feel like it was possible. So, it just made total sense to me to choose this as my wish. I felt this was finally my chance, and I’d have all this help.  

What do you enjoy most about writing? 

The appeal of stories to me is being able to dive into another world. And so, just as much as I liked reading about other people's worlds, I wanted to create my own world and have people experience my universe. 

What was the inspiration for your book? 

My book is about my life and is based on my middle school experience. A lot went on during my eighth-grade year, and I had the classic school experience where I was losing friends and making new friends and had to find my way in the world. 

What do you hope people gain from reading your book? 

I wrote my book to help others who are going through hard situations and feel alone because I felt very alone at times. This book is my own perspective on life. I hope it can help other teens who relate, but I also wrote this book for myself to process and help heal from all of these things that happened to me.  

How has this experience been for you so far? 

The whole wish experience has been really helpful for me. After cancer or any life-changing event, we sometimes tend to move on too quickly and go back to our normal lives. As a younger person, I immediately went from something so big like cancer straight to only worrying about prom and school and friend groups. So, writing this book had a big impact on me and how I see the world and experience the last couple of years getting back to my life. It also helped me remember and process these things that happened to me. 

The writing process has been really awesome too. I felt like everything was driven by me but having the support and connections from Make-A-Wish really helped make it possible. With all this help, I finally felt like, 'Oh, this is something I can do,' or 'Oh, this is something I now have the tools and resources for.' Make-A-Wish connected me with a lovely woman named Ruthanne, who is also an author and has helped me throughout the whole process. And now we are in the final stages of editing and completion, and I'm just so excited.