Planted May 2026 · Last tended August 2026
I’m a creator of things.
X number of ideas equals our success in the long run — that is, our ability to endure failure over time and become really, really resilient.
I think in blocks. I believe in simplicity. I’m a creator of things, a tinkerer, a fast & slow thinker.
I’m a storyteller based in Dubai. I’m also a tinkerer, a guinea pig, and an experimenter. I treat everything with a beginner’s mind.
That last part isn’t modesty. It’s the only working method I’ve found. Every time I’ve assumed I already knew how something was done — a scene, a business, a game loop — the work came out worse than when I started from scratch and let the thing teach me.
No fluff, straight to the point. Visual stories and page turners from the heart.
How I got here
Film came first. It taught me to think in pictures, and it’s still how I write: I see the scene before I have the sentence. Then came a run of businesses, most of which are more useful to me now as material than they ever were as companies.
Writing was always underneath all of it. It just took me longer than it should have to admit that’s the part I care about most.
What I’m doing now
- Writing Salsabil: The Blue Gold, a novel
- Revising Neanderthal, a manuscript in two parts
- Building Karkaba, the first Arabic PVP game
- Shooting short-form work in and around Dubai
I’m also building simplified reader editions of my own books, for people learning English. Rewriting your own work in short sentences is the most honest edit there is. It tells you exactly which sentences were doing something and which were just standing around looking literary.
How I work
- Scene first, explanation later, and only if it earns its place
- Finish the bad version — you can’t fix a blank page
- If I can’t say it plainly, I don’t understand it yet
- Curiosity over expertise, every time
Recently tended
- Now · Aug 2026
- Elixir 181 · Aug 2026
- Notes · Aug 2026
Get in touch
If you want to talk about a book, a film, a project, or something you’re building — email me. For press, rights, or speaking, same address.
Start here
- now — what I’m doing at the moment
- books — the novels, and where each one is
- films — Echoes of Tantura and other work
- karkaba — the board game in playtest
- writing — essays and works in progress
Newest
- now 🌿 budding
- Elixir 181 🌿 budding
- what I’m testing 🌿 budding
- scribbles 🌿 budding
Most popular
- books 9 notes link here
- karkaba 5 notes link here
- writing 4 notes link here
- notes 4 notes link here
- now 3 notes link here
How this garden grows
- 🌳 evergreen — tended often, reasonably settled
- 🌿 budding — taking shape, revised a few times
- 🌱 seedling — rough, just planted — half-formed thoughts
Get in touch
If you want to talk about a book, a film, a project, or something you’re building — email me. For press, rights, or speaking, same address.
Everything on this site is on one page: the full list. Or browse the garden index and the scribbles archive.