"It doesn't really matter if your house is that dirty. Go ahead and do your thing. Don't pay too much attention to housekeeping." - A centarian thinking woman's mother

Ann sent me this link recently: A Centenarian's Advice to Young Women: Figure Out What You Want

Marian Cannon Schlesinger is a thinking, intellectual woman who's been living for a hundred years. Her advice to young thinking women was:

“Just go ahead and do your thing no matter what...my mother had said, 'It doesn't really matter if your house is that dirty. Go ahead and do your thing. Don't pay too much attention to housekeeping.'"

On not housekeeping

I would have liked to hang a cross-stitched version of the quote up in my house. or have it printed on a girly, flowery piece of paper. But in the interest of time, i only printed the quote from MSwords in the most girly font installed on my computer, and have it stuck on the fridge.

It reminds me that, no matter how i may sometimes feel like reacting towards piles of dust or clothes or dishes in some corner of my sloppy home, I must be strong and not be distracted from my writing, my thing. OK?  =/

A response to a response - my first review!

The review printed out and pasted on my wall!

The review printed out and pasted on my wall!

My good friend, Vanessa wrote a review on All the people imagine and other short short stories a few days ago.

I didn't mention it here immediately because I felt too excited and thought I should spend some time to think about it first.

For quite a few times in the past weeks, I've explained my motivation to get my work out there to friends, that it is really about the inexplicable joy I feel when my writing gets read, interpreted, and translated into an idea or any other reaction by the reader. I get a kick out of it.

I write most of my pieces through “automatic writing”, that is, writing whatever comes to my mind, without planning ahead, in perhaps a semi-meditative state. So, I am sometimes led to believe that my stories are gifts presented to me so that I can write it down for whoever else is meant to read it. In fact, I sometimes read my own writing and surprise myself with the content, because I wasn't entirely conscious of what I had written before. On some levels I feel like a Chinese letter writer from colonial times, helping illiterate migrant workers write letters to their family back home, or someone working in the post-office, sorting out mail.

Feedback on my writing is precious to me, because hearing from readers “closes the loop” and lets me know that something worked and responses were provoked, and knowing these things, in turn, encourage me to continue doing what I'm doing. It's like a post-office mail-sorter hearing from the recipient of a letter that he helped to pass along that the recipient “got it”. It helps the mail-sorter feel that the things he does go beyond the seemingly mundane pointlessness of mail-room work. And so, I get a kick out of it.

Reading Vanessa's piece about my collection is one of the most important and significant milestones of my writing career. While I've gotten many valued feedback and encouragement along the way, V's essay is by far the most tangible and immediate record of a reader's reaction to my work.

You may think, "Yeah, she's your good friend, so she'll write nice things about your work, so it doesn't mean too much." But the piece is all the more valuable to me because I know her very well and I trust that she wouldn't write what she didn’t mean.

And yeah... so V, I agree with you. "When you know the writer, the knowledge transforms your act of reading."

Thank you very, very much.

Working from home? Thoughts on an Oatmeal poster

G bought a book from the Oatmeal. And it came with a poster about working from home. We thought it's funny to just put it up just outside my study/office/writing-room, because I've been receiving questions about working from home quite a bit.

Tangent thoughts:

  • Maybe it's more sensible to stick it outside my front door... like as a warning sign to my neighbours and visitors?
  • I actually think one reason working from home is made harder is because it's so different from the norm. I'll just have to explain to why "i have to go back home to work". because no "boss" is waiting for me in my office, monitoring my movement. And I have to explain to myself too. the multiple roles can get very confusing. :$
  • The poster is more motivational than it is at face value. Because the Oatmeal and poster is a successful blog-to-print thing. Maybe one day, i'll also have a poster. ;)
  • Friends, please warn me if my social skills degradation gets too severe. If, er, you're still there by then...

A worthy accomplishment? Thoughts on a Charles Bukowski letter

V sent me this link sometime back.

It's a letter from Charles Bukowski (American writer) to his friend and publisher about how he felt about regular employment.

I usually feel like I can't quite find the right thing to say about a good piece of writing, because it kinda already says all the right things there are to say about it.

But I guess I shouldn't just put up links without sharing a bit of my perspective. (Since it's important to "value-add".) So, I'll just put down some of my notes along some tangent ideas.

  • I am, and have always been, really envious of Bukowski for having Black Sparrow Press.
  • I wasn't conscious of this when I started this post, but just this morning, I was writing a story on a similar theme. I didn't like how it was going so I didn't complete it. I hope I will be more successful with it next time.
  • If I'm writing a reply to him, what will I say? Maybe things like:
    • Not everyone working in those positions are emptying out. Because some may like their work. Or the money that comes with it. I know many people who are like that, and who won't even come close to understanding what he is writing about.
    • But yes, there are people who understand. And I think they might be better off getting out of the system.
    • And I think we don't need to worry about those who don't understand because they're fine. And they'll be fine.
  • The people who are laid off and don't know what to do can read my book, "Reflections on career transition", that I wrote for my Ministry of Defence. It'll be out soon. haha.
  • He only "got out of the system" at 49 and I'm getting out at 31? I hope I'm good or old enough.
  • What is a worthy accomplishment? To others and to myself?

How are you doing, this Monday morning?
Are you thinking about what to eat for lunch?
I tried spending the morning writing,
But I didn't accomplish much.

People launch books, I launch website

I am pleased to announce the official launch of my new website!

*Drum the table for fanfare.
Cut the ribbon in my hair.
Slap my ears for thunderous applause.
Flutter my fingers in front of my eyes for confetti chaos.*  
(Don't you think launching a website is a strange affair?)

Millie, when will you come home?

Yesterday, two people separately asked me about Millie. Millie is a novella that I've been working on since 2010. 

"When will it be ready? I'm waiting."

I'm also waiting for it to be ready. I've concluded that it's a complicated book and I need to work it out carefully. Maybe I bit off more than I can chew.

"Complicated?"

The symbology in Millie is complicated. So, so complicated. 

Those who write know that writing a convoluted sentence, e.g. one with repeating words and double, triple layers of underlying meaning might require multiple revisions. Even after all that, the sentence might not work still. Well, okay,

Millie is like that. I wish it doesn't have to be this way, but that's how the story came to be. I'll be trying my best to hurry up, of course.

Thanks to Hans (yo-yo champ) and Mayo, anyway, for your encouragement.

“Now, I’m crawlin on the floor...
Starin at the wall...
And waitin for your call...
When, when will you come home?”
— Galaxie 500