Watch your language!

I hate curse words and vulgarity. They're demeaning and indicative of ignorance.

When my oldest son was four he repeated everything he heard. I was elated to find an Islamic school to send him to. One of the reasons I sent him to Islamic school was because I didn't want him to be exposed to bad language.

I did my best. We don't use bad words in our home. I was careful of the TV programs and movies my kids could watch. He attended Islamic school from pre-K through 12th grade. But he still manages to come out with the occasional word. I learned that it is impossible to totally protect our children from undesirable influences. We just need to do the best we can.

Keep this in mind. I don't use bad language. Except in my stories.

I don't write a steady stream of curse words. In fact, there are only four words I will use--all of which can be heard on network television, even in prime time. But I do allow the occasional word, judiciously used.

My recently-published novel, Rebounding, includes some scenes in a federal prison. I've never been in prison, but I think I can safely say they don't use 'please' and 'thank you' in regular speech. I sprinkled a few words into the dialogue of the prisoners to make the scenes authentic. Again, fairly tame compared to what is actually used because there are many words I refuse to speak or write. Ever. But I think it would have been ridiculous to completely ban rough language in those scenes.

My main characters don't curse. Well, almost never. One character inserts 'hell' and 'damn' into his conversation, though not on a regular basis. His father cursed, and he never broke the habit. And I allow two characters to curse a little when their situations become nearly unbearable. People do.

I believe language should be polite and sophisticated. But that's not always the way people talk. Muslim writers must make that choice. To use occasional language in an effort to make our stories more realistic. Or to sugarcoat everything.

We need to think of my son's generation. The ones who grew up with rough language in the media, the schools--just about everywhere. Do we want them to read our works? Or do we want to turn them away with a Pollyannish approach?

We have to be Islamic. And we have to be real.