Back

Just a quickie to say that I'm back. Not from the dead, but perhaps, from the dead of night. Mwahaha. 

Okay, so I'm probably a little unhinged from having stayed up late or woken up early one too many days in recent weeks. 

There was that copyedit I needed to complete for work. And then all those pesky chores I couldn't somehow keep under control. There was also a certain significant birthday that I needed to make celebratory preparations for. 

And all those three things are all done now!

So here I am, ready to delve back into crafting (or maybe more like rescuplturing) this novel once more. 

Not much has changed. It's still about what it's been about all along: Memories. But perhaps with a slightly different point of view. 

Alsooo... there's this fairly positive development too... which is that I've been in touch with an acquisition editor lately, and hopefully, maybe, somehow... someone out there might be interested to review my manuscript. If I can only finally whip it into shape, that is. 

Nevertheless, it is an opportunity. And one I hope to seize, hold my breath for and hope for the best. More on this one later. 

It's still early in the AM and there is much that can be done in the Land of the Living. So hey, let's talk more once I get back in the groove of things, shall we? 

Identity

Got a bit of good news to share. 

Several poems of mine will be featured in an upcoming anthology called Malaysian Places and Spaces. It's scheduled to be published by Maya Press around November this year (assuming all goes as planned).  

Meanwhile, I'm still plodding along for my current freelance job which will only reach its conclusion in early September. 

But not to worry, I've not forgotten about working on Intersection. In fact, as often as I've been able to, I've been drafting new scenes to add to the existing story. 

The one I'm halfway writing right now is a sombre lunchtime conversation between two characters which involves the consumption of nasi kerabu. It's one of my favourite local dishes and that's as good a reason as any for it to be featured as part of my novel, I believe. Haha.  

Well, if there's one thing I hope to bring out in this novel, it's a sense of Malaysian-ness. I've spent so much of my life being hindered in my writing because I was always thinking up stories with characters and settings that are very different from my life here in my homeland. 

In recent times, I've come to realise that it shouldn't be this way at all. Instead, I should proudly infuse my cultural heritage into whatever tales I decide to spin. After all, my readers should be given the chance to see the world through my eyes. That's partly what makes this whole fiction writing exercise worthwhile after all.  

I sincerely hope, that somehow, through the things that I write, some reader out there who would not otherwise have had the chance to experience Malaysian culture might gain that opportunity. And maybe, just maybe, they'll come to treasure my corner of the world in the same way that I do.  

Pause

 Hello there! It's been a little quiet around here, hasn't it? 

Well, I've been occupied in the past week or so working out an upcoming freelance gig. So while that was going on, I was unfortunately unable to focus on writing Intersection. But I will get back round to things soon, I hope. 

I'm pretty stoked for this latest job I've landed though. I'll be editing a work of fiction in the fantasy genre. Sincerely hope that will go well. Wish me luck! 

Meanwhile, I've been doing some thinking about one of my so-called main characters. I'm actually considering whether to take this particular character out of the story altogether. She doesn't seem to be completely necessary to the plot and also is in some ways the odd one out in comparison to the other main characters. I haven't entirely decided on this one, but I guess I'll update you on that one should it ever come to that. 

Another background thing that I've been doing for Intersection is I've been reading a book about dealing with the death of a sibling. Not sure if I've mentioned it before, but there is quite a prominent sub-theme of death in this story and more than one character has experienced the loss of a sibling. So I've been trying to figure out how to describe the challenges they face in an authentic way and also to see how it's possible for the characters who had a similar experience to comfort each other. 

It's hard to write about things you haven't experienced yourself, yet I don't want to avoid addressing it in my writing just because of that. So hopefully having input from friends about their personal  experiences (I have an old uni friend I met with lately to thank for that perspective) and reading about how others deal with these things will help. 

That's all the updates I have to offer you for now. Toodle-oo!