On March 7th, Southern Connecticut Alumna, Xhenet Aliu, shared her experience as a writer and also gave a reading from the first chapter of her book ‘Brass’. She explained that while getting her master’s degree in library science, she used any spare minute to work on her book. This process was by no means an easy task! She discussed how a publication took ten years to achieve. Also, in order to make her dreams a reality, she had to work every odd job in the book. Xhenet placed major emphasis on the amount of hard work, dedication, and grit it takes to allow for her words to come to life.
After reading from ‘Brass’, she explained how details from your everyday life can be used as inspiration for a story. For example, the city of Waterbury, Connecticut was used as the location in her book due to its diverse ethnic background. Anything around you can be used as content, which is why it is important to pay attention to your surroundings.
In the final portion of the presentation, Xhenet explained her writing process and specifically the importance of outlining. She says that outlining not only helps you to organize your thought process but also helps you to form new content.