The Cheap Author’s Media Gallery

I’ve got to be more proactive in promoting myself as an author.

I’m not a best-selling author, unless you count selling 1,000 copies/year of Life’s Like That as best-selling. My first book, Congratulations! You have won kinda bombed. Now I know people who enter competitions are a stingy bunch. They won’t buy a book to learn some tips on how to win, that’s why Congratulations! is still languishing in my publisher’s warehouse. Unfortunately too, that first publisher who gave me my break, sweet Angela Milo, succumbed to cancer about a year after my book came out.

So now my third book, Honk! If You’re Malaysian will be out in a few months’ time. I really really hope it will sell well. If not, I may just pack up pen and paper and call it quits.

For a start, I’ve put up a media gallery page on the top right hand side of the blog. Click on the link to access it. Whatever has been written about me is there. I don’t have the moolah to splurge on a nice professionally designed website, so this is my next best alternative. Call me the cheap author if you want to. I am of the Hokkien Eng Choon dialect and we are known for our skinflint ways.

I couldn’t get the media gallery up earlier because I didn’t have a scanner.  My brother has just donated a scanner to me, that’s why I’m able to get it done now.  Though the resolution is not that sharp, it doesn’t matter as long as the clippings are readable. That is the price to pay for being cheap.

Suki the Millionaire

I KNEW all along that Suki would win. Haha, it’s always easier to make reverse-predictions. But seriously, I had a hunch that she would win. She had been consistently getting top votes.

But you know what, it could just as well have been Faizal. Up to the last song – Faizal wrapped up the competition by belting out a medley of three songs – I thought Suki would win. Then I saw Faizal’s blast of a performance which gave him a flicker of hope, or so I thought. I had sent in one vote for Suki (yeah-lah I’m very stingy when it comes to SMS voting for reality contests). While watching Faizal jump around the stage, I sent in one for him too. By the time his rendition of We Will Rock You ended, I sent in two more votes for him but they bounced with a ‘MESSAGE NOT SENT THIS TIME.” The judges praised that last song of his to high heavens.

Who is Carolyn Keene?

She doesn’t exist. So who wrote the popular Nancy Drew mystery books?  According to Wikipedia, Carolyn Keene is the pseudonym of the authors of the Nancy Drew mystery series, published by the Stratemeyer Syndicate.

Phone in Bra

At dinner last night, I told No. 2 to bring her handphone to school as I’ll be picking her up late and will need to call her.

No.1  : Form 5 having exams, got spot check ah?

I : Hide the phone-lah.  Mmm… you can put it in your shorts pocket.

No. 2 : Can still see the phone!   Maybe can hide in underwear.

I : Yeah, tuck it into your bra.

No. 2 : No time lah. When they come in, where got time to put it in.

I : Just leave the phone there.  Yours is quite small.

No. 2 : So uncomfortable.  You’re talking about the phone right?

I : Yeah!  (Though her phone is small, she’s still growing.) Maybe I should lend you my bra.  Got more space to stash the phone.

No. 2 walks away.

No. 1 : This is the first time I feel so disgusted when eating. (Pretends to look embarrassed.)

Dognapped!

Yesterday my sister-in-law brought her chihuaha to my mum’s place. She asked mum to dog-sit Chi Chi while she took her boys out for breakfast. Unfortunately Chi Chi broke loose from her leash and ran out to the road. The neighbours saw the dognapping but didn’t know it was SIL’s dog as it was the first time that Chi Chi had come visiting. It was stolen by a young couple driving an expensive car.

Oops!

Did anyone say mummies can’t make mistakes?

Did anyone say mummies should be know-it-alls?

Nope.

Conversation with the boys

Waiting for no. 1 to wash my car. The skies opened up and unleashed a torrent of rain.

I : Why don’t you go and wash the car in the rain now. The rain will help you rinse off the suds. At the same time you can take a shower too.

No. 1 : No.

I : Why not? You’re still so young. You must be more adventurous.

No. 1 : Cos I’m not stupid.

I : That’s not being stupid. You must learn to enjoy life.

——————
No. 3 : Can pilot sometimes go to sleep?

I : What do you mean?

No. 3 : Can they fall asleep when they are driving the aeroplane?

I : Of course not. They can never fall asleep when they’re flying the plane. Even a small mistake can cause the plane to crash and many hundreds of people will die.

No. 3 : Then they cannot sleep? Do they always fly?

I : They don’t fly all the time. They need to rest too. But they can’t sleep when they’re flying the plane.

For the sake of air passengers, I hope he never becomes a pilot. (I suppose for long haul flights there are co-pilots to take over so that they can take a snooze to refresh themselves.)

1 in a million

ONE-IN-A-MILLION is down to five finalists. I predict Suki, Dayang and Faizal to be in the top three. Farah and Alif will be the next two to go.

It’s not easy being in a reality singing show. You’ve got to take the judges’ criticisms in public, on national TV. Live. And the criticisms can be harsh at times. A few weeks ago, Paul Moss threw down his pencil and pronounced Suki’s performance as “crap” or something equally hurtful. Though I usually agree with Paul’s assessment, I think he was being overly critical. The poor girl was reduced to tears.

Goodbye Crocodile Hunter

Steve Irwin the Crocodile Hunter is gone. Yesterday he was killed by a fish that often ends up on our dinner table as ikan bakar : the sting ray. Here’s the news report from ABC Online.

Marine experts say television personality and naturalist Steve Irwin had little chance of surviving after being struck in the chest by a stingray’s barb.

Bib the Book Blogging Babe

Bib is the new nickname of Sharon Bakar. Today she celebrates her 2nd Blogiversary.  Head over to her blog to wish her well.  Exciting things are happening to Bib, all thanks to her blog.  I read her blog religiously every time I log on.   Hers was one of those which made me jump onto the blogging bandwagon.

Though Bib is Mat Salleh, she’s wonderfully Malaysian. I first got to know her during a writer’s seminar aeons ago.  We exchanged cards and though we didn’t keep in touch, years later when our paths cross again, she still remembers me.  Of course I’d been reading about her in the news and remember her friendliness.  This woman absolutely has no airs about her.  She can relate to anyone, whether he’s a nobody or a somebody.

Though Bib is a self-confessed literary snob, that doesn’t mean she doesn’t appreciate a well written story that is anything but literary.  And did I tell you she’s a wonderful teacher too?  She doesn’t put people down but encourages and gently prods. I know because I attended one of her writing classes.  If there’s ever a Friend of Writers award, she’ll win it hands down.

Note : I think Argus first started calling Sharon Bib and Sharon likes it so much she has adopted the name.