In this edition of our A to Z, Ayisha Malik, managing editor of the Cornerstones Literary Consultancy and author of the recently published romantic comedy, Sofia Khan is Not Obliged, explores patience as a vehicle to cope with everyday life.

As a writer, Ayisha often finds her patience tested – both during the process of writing itself, and after she has submitted her manuscript and it is out of her hands. The way she finds the patience she needs, she explains, is through her Islamic faith – the idea that God sees the bigger picture and knows what is best for you, even when things go wrong.

Yet as a first-world woman, she says, she still has to learn a lot about patience – not least from children living in poverty in places like Uganda and Morocco.

For Ayisha, the ultimate test of patience comes in grappling with life’s biggest question: what is the meaning of life?

The A-Z of Things Unseen explores a mix of spiritual and secular concepts through the eyes of 26 people from a range of different faiths – as well as some doubters.

To find out more about Ayisha and Cornerstones, you can follow these links:

Goodreads author page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14082906.Ayisha_Malik
Cornerstones: http://cornerstones.co.uk/