Skip to main content

Hey New Year. I'm Talking to You!

Now that 2006 has packed his bags and left town, it's time we sat face to face and had a little chat. You see, 2006 was good. But he wasn't all that good. He had his good moments, yeah, but there were a lot of screw ups and disappointments which I want to lessen with you.

Yes, yes, 2007, I would like our partnership to be a good one. That means I want to have one that is without much problems. Yeah, yeah. I know it's impossible to expect no trouble at all... but it's good to set high standards and to work towards it. Set too low a standard and there won't be any challenge when we work together to further my - I mean our - goals. Trouble is good when we can learn from the lessons of our mistakes but too much of trouble might cloud our vision and lead to depression. And depression sucks when you're a teetotaller and non-smoker like me. I have to make do with Campbell's Cream of Corn and lemme tell you, that's no way to drown one's sorrows!

So here's what I'm expecting to accomplish in our collaboration:
  1. I will finish my novel (from one of two manuscripts I started with Mr. 2006)
  2. I will write at least 12 short stories, one to equal each month. It's a no-brainer that I will be sending them out, so what I want you to do is to try and steal time - I don't care where you get it, try looking where there's lots of it, like in the mountains or the ocean or something - and give it to the editors to read my stories.
  3. I will start translating stories into English (for fun and not much for profit).
  4. From the same mountains and oceans, save some of that time for me so I can read at least 54 books this year, one book for each week.
  5. Remind me to pay my Internet bills on time so I don't have to wait till I get into the office so I can start blogging.
  6. I shall contribute to that Manuscripts Don't Burn blog. *cough*
Well, that's it for now. We'll make more goals up as we go along, 2007. This looks like the start of a beautiful friendship.

And stop slouching. We've got work to do.

Comments

  1. Point two sounds like a great idea to churn out writing regularly! Hope you don't mind if I steal that idea for myself.

    Happy writing and Happy New Year!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sure, steal it and pin it up on your wall if you have to! :D

    Happy new year to you too!

    ReplyDelete
  3. You want to read a book a week? I'm not nearly so ambitious... I'm taking Sharon Bakar's one a month :P

    Good luck! Now I am dreadfully curious about your novel's plot... dying for you to finish it and publish it so I can read it! hehehe

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm blessed with lots of time during my commute on the LRT to and from work so for me it's possible.

    I'm curious where my novel's plot is heading... doesn't seem like it wants to go where I want it to go! These characters... always taking a life of their own...

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lesson: Commemorative Covers are Lame.

Well, I got the first day cover that commemorates the 35th anniversary of the establishment diplomatic relations between China and Malaysia that I mentioned a couple of posts ago. Except that it's not a first day cover, it's a commemorative cover, which is a slightly different beast. I guess I should read the news article properly next time! The difference between the two is that first day covers are specially-designed envelopes stuck on with specially-designed stamps, and marked with a specially-designed postmark. A commemorative cover is a specially-designed envelope... and that's it. All in all, it's an unremarkable affair, especially if you're used to well-designed first day covers (not that Malaysian first day covers are well-designed... but I digress). Oh sure, a commemorative cover has a stamp printed right on to it but that's just like an overglorified aerogramme. Lame. On the whole, what a disappointment. I haven't been collecting first day cover...

Review the Dark City TV Series!

According to Swifty , the Dark City TV series that Xeus mentioned some time back has apparently already started showing on Astro RIA. I don't own a TV and I certainly don't own a satellite dish to connect to the TV that I don't own, so I wouldn't know if the show is really based on the book of the same name. I highly doubt it. Seems the ratings have been low because there hasn't been any marketing to promote the show. So the filmmakers have taken things into their hands and plunged their film-making selves into the tubes of the dangerous internets to bring you the following message: NICHE FILMS present DARK CITY, a local 13-episode series playing on Astro RIA every Wednesday at 10:30pm (followed by repeats throughout the week). In the tradition of omnibus shows like ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS and THE TWILIGHT ZONE, DARK CITY brings you various tales of the macabre with a distinctly Malaysian flavor ... ranging from supernatural horror to psychological thrillers, an...

REVIEW: Confessions of an Old Boy by Kam Raslan

Kam Raslan's right. In the preface for his new book, Confessions of an Old Boy: The Dato' Hamid Adventures he writes that we've known Dato' Hamid all our lives. Seeing as my own dad is an old boy of MCKK, the people I get to meet when he drags me to an Old Boy function and the people he tells me of, reflect the characters found in Kam's book. It really does feel like I've known Dato' Hamid all my life. Dato' Hamid is a civil servant of the Tunku Abdul Rahman generation. He is the sort of person you rarely see nowadays, a fine example of the anachronistic Malay. This generation, groomed in the ways of the colonial British would be out of place not just in 21st century Malaysia, but in Britain too. And yet, Dato' Hamid, in all his snobbishness and patronising ways, is essentially a Malaysian. Without people like him, our country would probably never exist at all. At least not like we know it now. I'm glad that Kam Raslan decided to capture this ...