Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Moski Shai’keem. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Moski, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
I always knew I would wind up having a creative path and career either in or around the entertainment and education field ever since I was a kid. I was the kid that utilized my library card every chance I could get to checkout both books and films, I was the kid at blockbuster every Saturday when they were still a national chainstore across the states, and I was the kid that was always in academic programs and different summer programs and community events growing up. Growing up and being involved in a variety of different settings with so many other different kids and having a great appreciation for the fine arts and education was the catalyst of who I am and what I represent today, I resonate with the philosophy “It all starts at home” because it is very true that it all starts at home. With the endless amount of love, emotional, and financial support that my single mom poured into me and my dreams was all the foundation I needed to go after what I wanted, BUT to answer your question specifically, I knew I would want to pursue a creative path and career for myself professionally when I was living in Orlando, Florida and working at the infamous Crayola Experience. Writing was always one of my favorite gifts and secret weapons, but I also have always been good and patient with kids. While working at Crayola Experience I would always be assigned to play the scientist for the scripted stage show we always performed in between attractions, and I would always be put on the schedule for every huge field trip or birthday party and the kids and parents that were regular customers always jokingly requested that I was at work every day of the week, because I was just that good at my job. While living in Florida I had these two roommates Josh and Birdo, and on this particular night I’ll never forget we were all sitting in our kitchen at the kitchen table playing Uno and drinking Malibu coconut rum with Birdo’s girlfriend Luecelle and her friend Chelsey on the same day that the solar eclipse occurred back in 2017 on August, 21 and on this night I was sitting at the table drinking rum and playing uno and in between turns I was sitting there finishing up a drawing in my sketchbook of a purple mermaid with her scales falling off her skin and Chelsey so happen to see it and decided to show the entire room what I was doing and that’s when we had a deep conversation about our dreams and what we truly wanted to seek out of this particular life and when I started speaking about my dreams of becoming one of the most prolific authors in science fiction and cyberpunk, that’s when the entire room encouraged me to break away from my shyness and pursue my literary dreams and that is the EXACT night that my science fiction character FLINT FISHER from my sci-fi and cyberpunk series FLINT FISHER: BOY OF THE 22ND CENTURY was born. I worked on Flint Fisher and the world building of his character for three years on and off again before I sat down and wrote and published the first volume of the series In 2021 and I have absolutely no regrets.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
I am a young brotha from southwest Georgia, and I am pretty much a simple well-rounded guy with many dreams inside of me ready to transcend into reality and the rest of the world. Growing up I always had a passion and a fine respect for the fine arts and education. I always loved attending book fairs, I loved talking to all the new students that came to my class, I always participated in academic clubs and programs along with community things and events as well. The moment I knew I had something special with writing and storytelling is when I was sent to in school suspension in the 5th grade and the ISS teacher at the time Mr.Hand had called and asked my mom if he could sign me up to go to a youth program over the weekend for young men that was facilitated by the divine 9 fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha. Mr.Hand told me that he seen something great in me and wanted me to attend the camp program over the weekend so that I could learn some life long skills that would take me very far in life, and by the end of that weekend I had a hunger inside of me to want better for myself that is STILL inside of me til this very day. By the end of the trip me and the rest of the young men there all had to compete by writing an essay on what we all learned during the weekend and why we should be chosen to win the grand prize of one-hundred dollar if we came in first place, and lets just say that a fifth grader beat both boys in middle and high school at the time that were on the camp trip for that grand prize of one-hundred dollars, and that moment I knew I wanted to actually invest in my writing and doing something with it, which I did fast forward to today. I am currently a middle grade science fiction, cyberpunk, and fiction author. My science fiction series FLINT FISHER: BOY OF THE 22ND CENTURY VOLUMES 1,2,&3 were published in 2021 and I have gained a lot of success from my series resulting in my main character Flint Fisher getting a tea named after him and a partnership with Herbalife, The exploration deluxe edition of the Flint Fisher book was added into the Istation learning educational program that is a extra curricular program for students who needs extra assistance in subjects such as reading, math, English, science, and more. I have several more plans for my science fiction series in the year of 2023. I also founded a virtual student/parent book club that I actively run, host and read in with middle grade students and parents, we all meet up via zoom and the bookclubz app three times a month and sometimes in one on one sessions depending on the parent and student and we go by THE ELITE READERS book club and we also operate via our instagram and twitter page where we blog, boast, and rave about other authors and books in the literary universe. I know I have endured a quite amount of success with my books, but I get the most joy from knowing that I have enlightened a student to want to pick up a book and read for themselves, and I love what I do because there is nothing more powerful than to pass on knowledge and even better knowing that I’m passing it to the next generation behind me, and I also enjoy meeting other authors and hearing their stories and experiences and reading their books. My biggest inspiration comes from me just simply experiencing the journey itself and I am definitely inspired by other authors such as N.K. Jemisin, Sophia Stewart, Isaac Asimov, Jamar Perry, B.B. Alston, Ibi Zoboi, Jason Reynolds, N.E. Davenport, Shawn Peters, Jai’Colby’E Kirvin, and many many more! My main focus is to keep publishing literary content of great quality and substance that kids, students, and even adults can appreciate and even use as an escape. My mission is to keep sustaining and spreading awareness to literacy through reading, effectively communicating, exploring new subjects in-depth, learning to see things from a different perspective, etc..
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
A lesson I truly had to unlearn is to not get in my head. Often times as a creative I can psychologically get into my head with all of the bad vibes about my work which is a dart right into the creative process. I just sit breathe calmly until the thoughts go away and all that is stemming from is the ego of me being an extreme perfectionist. I had to unlearn to not go so hard on myself.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
A long-term goal that is driving my creative journey is having my books in a specific bookstore and some magical destinations all over the earth to let the world know I was definitely here living in my purpose. Another long-term goal that is fueling me is to have my Flint Fisher series turned into a film adaptation by a major film studios and to make my directorial debut.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hollywoodstroke/
- Linkedin: https://linktr.ee/MoskiShaikeem
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/hollywoodstroke
Image Credits
Kaptured By Q Photography