Hello there. My name is Alec Mustafayev (pictured.) I am 20 years old, and I live in Providence, Rhode Island, ‘the Creative Capital.’
This is my page where you can learn more about me and my work. You can contact me at:
- alecmustafayev2002@gmail.com | Email
- @alec_mustafaev | Instagram
- (401) 484-7750 | Phone
Please refer to the column on the right (bottom for mobile) for all of the book projects I have been a part of.
I graduated from Classical High School in 2020. I’ve worked with Nickantony Quach as part of QMG for three years as of November 2022. He does nonfiction; I do fiction. In our informal team, the Quach & Mustafayev Group (QMG), I play the role of a Chief Editor, an Illustration Lead, and a Business Representative.
About me
I started being a writer in my first year of high school, when I began a solo video game development project, which turned into a writing project, which would turn into my first novel, Rebellious. I worked on it in my spare time, which I had in excess. I did not get out much. It was like the Covid shutdown in 2020, except it was only 2016 and that was my life. No friends to hang out with or places to go, aside from school.
On the upside, just about every day, I would have a few hours to work on my novel. Given that, typically, my first, third, or fourth-period teachers, for example, wouldn’t pay much attention to me writing in a notebook for the entire class, I aimed to get at least one notebook page filled by hand every day. Because a side-effect of the ADHD medication I took was a lack of hunger, I started spending lunchtime in the library. It was hard to eat, even by choice, so it was the best option. That gave me half an hour of mostly quiet time to write my story.
A year later, nothing had changed but my age, grade, and the progress of my story. I had filled one notebook by hand from front-to-back. That was only two-thirds of the entire story, though, so I was halfway through another.
One day, I was unexpectedly called down to the main office. At this point, years away from scheming to sneak out of school with friends, pulling off juvenile pranks, and coming up with ways to upset school Administrators without technically violating the rules, I nervously headed to the front of the building. My guidance counselor, who I, a sophomore (second year in high school), had probably spoken to twice by this point, began by telling me that I was not in trouble for anything, a common misconception with students who come to see him.
“Are you taking any electives?”
“Physical Education in the first half of the year, and Music in the second.”
“Are you taking any foreign languages?”
“I’m taking Spanish 3. After that, I want to learn something other than a foreign language.”
“Are you taking any advanced placement courses?”
“No.”
“Are you on any sports teams?”
“No.”
“Are you in any clubs?”
“No.”
“Have you been a part of one before? Last year?”
“No.”
He looked at me like I had two heads. I had not chosen or even looked very much for a single club to join in almost two years of going to this school.
“Should I… have been… looking…” I slowly asked.
“I think we should find you a club,” he said.
Naturally, I brought up my book, Rebellious. Writing very quickly became a subject of interest. Conveniently, there was a Writing Club at my school.
I could write an entire book about my school experiences from this point. None of us saw it coming, but the people I met due to that club are among my life’s most essential and sentimental. None of us are related by blood, yet, over the years, we have become a family.
“Unfortunately, we did more of the talking and less of the writing in our Writing Club,” I answered when Mr. Quach asked me about the club’s activities.
Skipping forward a few years, I had published my first book and had little success in sales. I had all the creativity in the world but knew nothing about business or marketing. I did not understand why I had no income from my first novel except for a few dollars. That did not stop me from writing a new story, The Dog’s Day.
Half a month before our senior year (the last year in high school), my friend Nathaniel forwarded me a job offer from a knife-selling company where he had started working. Seeing the pay rate, I sprang at the opportunity, hoping to be able to save enough money to afford an apartment a year from then when I graduated. One of the workers introduced me to a YouTube channel called Ri4CTV (Rhode Island Foresight TV), created and operated by Mr. Quach.
During the pandemic, I helped Mr. Quach create an Instagram channel by the same name: @ri4ctv. Within a few months after our mutual friend Norman Baker (pictured above, center) joined us, he created our group’s website Ri4CTV Studio, our business face. During the summer of 2022, we conducted a social program, sponsored by the Providence Parks Department, called Footbridge 184, formally known as the Ri4CTV Chess & Storytelling Program on the Van Leesten Memorial Bridge; see the YouTube miniseries Footbridge 184 Season 1.
Mr. Baker and I are two of the very first speakers of Thumoslang. Think of it as a collection of operating terms people use to have a matching collective understanding while maintaining their individuality. As a result, they become more mature and sophisticated in social life. Thumoslang was created in 2017 by Mr. Quach and his coauthor Mark Canny (pictured above, left) for the rest of us, all the nonspecialists occupying the bulk of our humanity. Mr. Canny graduated from the University of Rhode Island a few months after publishing their book, THUMOS: Adulthood Love Collaboration, also known as the original Thumos textbook.
Having used Thumoslang as a tool for my life since high school, I believe its widespread use can solve many problems in our society today.
Thumoslang 