I'm very happy to announce that my editorial review from Readers' Favorite for "After Anderson" just came back and I am very happy to share it with all of you! This fabulous 4-star review was written by Cheryl E. Rodriguez and can be read on the Readers' Favorite website, or just keep reading below.

Jamila Mikhail pens a story of tragedy in After Anderson. Two years have passed since Aly Feldman's best friend, Anderson Massey, entered their high school and began shooting. “Twenty people paid with their lives for everyone’s collective failure.” Aly remains tormented by the massacre. She feels great remorse for all those who lost their lives, especially Anderson. Although she survived, Aly lost her life that day as well. Two years of therapy hadn’t really helped and, consumed with memories, her recovery is unrealized. The pain comes and goes, but never leaves; it has become part of her. Yet, it is time to somehow move forward, time to return to Belden High School, the place where her life changed forever. On her return to school, Aly discovers friendship and moral support from the Petrov twins. Her new found friends become instrumental in bridging the gap between Aly’s old life and a new one. Is it really possible to have a life “After Anderson?”

“After you survive Anderson Massey your life doesn’t just pick up where it left off.” After Anderson by Jamila Mikhail wrenches your heart, challenges your soul, tests your personal morality and beliefs. I totally agree with the author’s statement in her commentary, if it “doesn’t bother you there’s something wrong.” We all need to learn to listen to the spoken and unspoken, and really pay attention to those around us. There were many aspects I admired, even more that I appreciated, and a few I could have done without. The story is multi-cultural, a bit political (honestly, my patriotism was battered a bit), yet very insightful. There is no denying, “The universe, with all of its flaws and disasters, was so beautifully and intricately crafted.” This line continues to echo in my mind. In saying that, how does one enjoy a book about a mass shooting? You don’t, but you do hope to gain an understanding of the cause of such a tragedy. Jamila Mikhail reveals the trauma that lingers long after such a violent act. After Anderson is the story of a survivor.

Written in the first person, the heroine’s thoughts and emotions are explicitly described, thus felt. Page by page, her character grows and evolves beyond the tragedy. She befriends an unlikely duo, the twins who open her eyes, change her perspective and encourage her to move forward. One of the key elements within the narrative are the letters between Aly and Anderson; they create raw realness and depth of soul. The words exchanged in those passages are my favorite part of the story. As the story concludes, the denouement reveals that life truly goes on. There is life “After Anderson.”

The video trailer for "After Anderson" is officially live on YouTube and on the book page for everyone to see! Check it out below!

Good news friends and fans! My newest novel After Anderson is now available for preorder on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and a handful of other retailers! It will become available in more and more places in the coming weeks, until it's released on April 15th.

The day that Anderson brought a gun to school was the day Aly's life changed forever. Her fellow classmates were murdered right before her eyes as her former best friend embarked on the deadliest high school massacre since Columbine. Now, nearly two years later, Aly sets foot in the halls that nearly cost her her life for the first time since the shooting, ready to face her demons.
Unanswered questions linger, anxiety abounds and flashbacks are frequent as Aly struggles to understand how Anderson could've mercilessly gunned down her friends and classmates and how she's not only going to forgive him, but herself as well, for the role she might have played in influencing his actions.
Was she to blame? Did she have blood on her hands? Could she have done something more? Could anyone have done anything more? Aly sets out to find the elusive answers to just that as she also attepmts to rebuild the life that was shattered by gunfire that otherwise quiet Friday morning nearly two years prior.

 Stay tuned for future updates about this project. The search for a suitable audiobook narrator will begin soon and the book trailer should be online sometime in March. For now though, click on the book cover above to read the first two chapters as a free preview!

If you have a profile on Google+ then you've already received the email saying that the social network will be discontinued. That means that my page will disappear from the web too. The good news is that there was nothing on there that you can't find on my other social networks or this website so nothing has really changed.

I've removed the Google+ button from the social media page and a few other social networks that I've either shut down or no longer use. Anyone who knows me personally knows just how much I hate social media, and that I only use it because I'm a writer and all authors need social media exposure.

If you have any comments or questions don't hesitate to reach out to me by email. Happy reading!

Since my most recent novel came out I've had many audiobook listeners ask me for download codes to listen to it, and I've finally exhausted all of them! These codes are for Audible USA only. I still have Audible UK codes available so if you're in that region and you'd like to have a listen, drop me a line!

In the meantime here are the US codes. Since I have no way of knowing who claimed the code without attempting to claim it myself, I always post them here just in case someone can find an unused one and get a free audiobook for themselves! Good luck and happy listening!

I am two weeks away from my final exams and the end of this little hiatus but Canada Post seems to have other plans for those of you who may want to submit a book for review in the next couple of months. I only have one book left to review (and one to finish writing) as of now and while submissions have still been accepted during my hiatus, y'all are going to have to wait a long time until your books make it here...

That is because Canada Post has been doing rotating strikes in different cities around the country since October 22nd and despite the government forcing them back to work, many have continued to strike. Irrespective of this, parcel backlogs are expected to last up until March of 2019 so I won't be reading and reviewing for a while.

I am still alive and well! I've only had to take a break because of the tornado cleanup and my schoolwork. My exams are coming up in less than three weeks so I've been as busy as I could possibly be but that doesn't mean that I've forgotten that November is National Novel Writing Month, better known as NaNoWriMo!

I've indeed been writing away and I'm almost at the 70 000 word mark of my 100 000 word goal for my newest project, After Anderson that I plan on releasing in April of 2019. And no, I haven't written all of that in the first two weeks of NaNoWriMo! I've been working on this for a long time and it's been on the homepage of this website for a while too, but the project had stalled and NaNoWriMo is just what I needed to revive it.

Until next time, wish me luck with my studies and I look forward to being back in 2019 with a hard-hitting brand new book about... well, you'll have to wait for my next announcement for that!

Hello everyone! Life has returned to normal since the last time I posted on here and it's good to be back! As you know, I've been giving away free Audible.com download codes for my book Innermost for a while now and had a great turnout. In fact, I've given away all the codes but I have no way of knowing who redeemed them and who didn't so I'm posting them here just in case some are still good and you'd like to snatch a free audiobook for yourself.

You'll have to try them one by one and if you find one that's still good, good for you! Enjoy a Halloween treat on me! Please note that these codes only work for the US Audible site and will not work on any international site. Good luck!

1.    GRCYM73NFLF9N
2.    RD52DX4LL44C2
3.    UWC8YD8BXN87E
4.    JLBAHWMD5FSRE
5.    KRLR6FGJGKAGM
6.    G6BTQK9Q8GKML
7.    Z7XPX27MQBHKT
8.    XGLRJKUS43EBF
9.    UWL2RJZCGJMMT
10.    KFEWFDBFXGP5K
11.    TRS4NJT4QMKWR
12.    U5ESYDQ7JCPY5
13.    EXSK2NC5JQNU8
14.    6NCXHGT6ZHZAQ
15.    GRRCCS5YWQ3QG
16.    BEHMZLYF7FGTD
17.    C6T4FBZ62LW8A
18.    KRL8DSRANGWP2
19.    JM3FBAYWFW72Y
20.    EM4HDSWBAWHLH
21.    RJXXDPCC3WT5W
22.    BXFXX4TWFC5LR
23.    5QMC8KWR8N4YL
24.    ZN6GMHW5AQ3K2
25.    T8X9LKR9KH7TQ

Hello friends and fans! Haven't heard from me lately? Don't worry, I'm not dead and I haven't quit writing, but life has been a little insane and I had no other choice but to put this on the backburner for the time being. The first of these reasons is that the Ottawa region was hit with six tornadoes just over a week ago, including an EF2 that wrecked havoc in my area. Life is slowly getting back to normal but I have a lot to catch up on, including missed classes and whatnot, so I'll have no choice but to lay low until everything gets sorted out.

Despite everything that's happened, the book review service remains open to requests as usual but expect delays with my classes and my backlog of other tasks to finish, on top of Canada Post threatening yet another strike, but if you're in no hurry please don't hesitate to send your books my way! I am always happy to help out other indie authors!

Everything is also still on track for After Anderson to come out in April 2019. I'm actually really looking forward to participating in NaNoWriMo next month and hopefully have the first draft finished by the end of the year. Until we cross paths again, don't hesitate to hit the email button on this website if you want to get in touch. It might take me a while to reply but I always do!

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

I don’t think there was a single moment where I actually realized I wanted to be a writer, it was more of a lengthy process over the last seven years. In 2011 it was actually the therapist I was seeing for PTSD that suggested that I begin writing on a serious basis since I’d always enjoyed it as a little hobby on the side. Since then I wrote several full length manuscripts that remained dormant on my computer for years until I decided I wanted to publish my works in 2017. After studying the publishing industry for several months, my first book finally came out in January 2018!

What, in your opinion, is the hardest thing about writing?

For me, the hardest thing is keeping things consistent. If I don’t write for a long time I’ll probably become disinterested in the story, but my creative juices flow whenever they want and I don’t try to alter that, so that inconsistency can definitely cause big bumps in the road despite that it doesn’t usually take me very long to complete a story. In the entire publishing process though, writing is the easy part!
Did the thought of giving up writing ever occur to you?
Giving up writing? Never! Giving up publishing? Definitely. It’s so much work! The work also doesn’t stop once the book is polished and published. You also have to dish out a lot of money without knowing that you’ll ever make a dime back, so it’s a gamble in itself but I think that the magnitude of the job is only measured by the depths of the rewards, and it’s definitely a rewarding business!

What works best for you when writing: pen and paper or computer? How so?

I usually only write on the computer in order to avoid having to type up whatever I wrote on paper because I’ve learned my lesson about doing that. Typing up a 10 000 word short story is brutality so I wouldn’t want to try it with a 100 000 word novel! Aside from schoolwork, I also only use the computer for writing. In general I have quite a distain for technology and the internet, and if it weren’t for my writing career I would probably unplug completely. I’m old-fashioned, like still into snail mail old-fashioned!

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

You’ll usually find me reading when I’m not writing, playing with my two cats, dabbling in old-fashioned instant photography, collecting postcards and making action figures with recycled parts. It’s actually my passion for creating little soldiers that inspired my most recent published book. In it, the main character Joanie also passes the time by making action figures and is extremely surprised when one of them comes to life. Now, I just hope that nothing like that happens in real life!

Are you currently working on a story?

Indeed I am! I’ve just started (under duress from one of my best friends!) working on my third novel that will be called After Anderson. It’s actually a rewrite of something I wrote in 2014 but never published. It’s about the aftermath of a school shooting and the students who must pick up the pieces. It was inspired by a real life incident of school violence (though thankfully nothing to the scale depicted in the book) when I was in my last year of high school. A 14-year-old boy was arrested because somebody tipped off the authorities that he was “plotting a Columbine” as it was described and that disturbed me greatly because the environment at school was absolutely terrible and that was the only thing that hadn’t happened yet. Just a few months ago there was another incident of a kid actually having a real gun at school and the administration tried to cover it up. “After Anderson” is the story of what could’ve been had someone not done anything.

What or who inspires you to write?

Life in general, and life as a whole really, inspires me to write. This includes people, events and places that I come across. Social issues particularly motivate me to write, and all of my writings incorporate social issues in some way, from domestic violence, to suicide, to poverty and beyond, there’s an element of that in there. I don’t write to get away from reality, I write about reality, and it’s also my way to cope with reality. My own life experiences also motivate my writing, particularly my encounters with the social issues I write about.

What is your work schedule like when you’re writing?

It’s basically non-existent really. I write when I write and don’t when I don’t. It doesn’t really matter what else is going on, when I get that desire to write I act on it irrespective of what else is going on. My life isn’t interesting enough to interrupt me writing when I start. This is in fact quite a big problem because as a human rights student, even a part-time student, I have a large workload that I’m constantly falling behind on because I much prefer to write a story!

Do you aim to complete a set number of words per day?

No, I don’t. The creative process just happens spontaneously and I don’t try to change that. I can write anywhere from a single sentence all the way up to 8000 in a single writing session. In general I like to write when I am stressed out because that’s the way I cope with life. In the week after my grandmother who raised me since birth passed away I wrote almost the entire manuscript for “Don’t Let Me Go” in just a few days. It’s what kept me sane at that time, it’s probably what saved my own life.

When did you write your first book?

My first manuscript was actually completed in late 2011, but it was never published. In 2017 I rewrote it and released it as a free download called The Distant Factory on my website, but my first actually published book Innermost was written over the last six and a half years. It’s a collection of poems that I’ve gathered in notebooks ever since I began writing poetry in 2011. I finished fully compiling it in 2017 and then published it a few months later. The reception was much better and bigger than I ever could have anticipated because in the book world poetry usually gets the short end of the stick.