Life & Work with Mustafa Abubaker of Boston

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mustafa Abubaker

Hi Mustafa, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I started off expressing myself through writing from a young age, working on poetry, short stories, novels, music blog entries.

I remember typing up a 2005-2006 NBA Season Preview for all 30 teams and e-mailing it to the editor of the Atlanta Journal Constitution and getting a response back.

I started a music blog highlighting up and coming artists called The Right Kind Of Brownies in the summer of 2008.

I released my first novel in the fall of 2009.

I started contributing to music blogs outside of my own following a successful interview with rapper Gunplay on the heels of his feature on Kendrick Lamar’s track “Cartoon & Cereal” such as Mass Appeal, Pigeons & Planes, and Complex itself.

I wrote my first Rolling Stone article in October 2013 at nineteen years old.

Year after year, I continued writing, networking, and putting content out there.

I think consistency got me to where I am today.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The typical Pakistani-American struggle.

The whole doctor, lawyer, engineer thing.

Both of my parents are doctors.

I have cousins that are doctors and I have cousins interested in becoming doctors.

My aunt on my mom’s side is a surgeon.

Not to mention all the family friends that were all seemingly in the medical field.

The crazy thing is I knew I wanted to be a writer before I even realized there were doctors all around me and how that might have been a career choice for me as well.

When I was coming up, there was nobody doing what I did that I knew personally well enough to count on as a mentor.

I had to seek out professional role models online or via friends of friends.

Lack of personal mentorship / lack of Pakistani-American representation in the writing field was a struggle.

Another one was juggling family time, the social time, the dating time, and pretty much everything else that comes with life along with chasing my dreams and goals as a writer.

I definitely struggled with balancing everything while trying to become who I am today…

I also struggled with imposter syndrome.

Am I only a writer because I could afford it?

Am I only a writer because I grew up in a well-off household and thus was granted the liberty to pursue what I really wanted to do, not what I had to do to survive?

How do I even compare to the successful writer that grew up in poverty, let alone middle class America?

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I write and edit novels, poetry, short stories, technical publications, and music journalism.

I specialize in writing novels.

I’m most known for just being a kid from Atlanta who had a plan and made it happen.

I’m most proud of staying the course.

I don’t think anything sets me apart from others… I just work hard and am kind to people.

What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Resilience, patience, and ambition.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musabubaker
• Other: https://www.amazon.com/Cloud-Summer-Shivers-Mustafa-Abubaker/dp/B0CH22PG7L/