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On Kedai Fixi's Bestsellers List.

That strange moment when not only are two books with my stories in them are on a bestsellers list, they are on it together with a book by Haruki Murakami!
CRAZY.

It's not much compared to other people's success, I know, but this is at least one of the few things that can make me smile when it comes to the painful writing journey I've had this past nine years.

After all the painful rejections I've had, after all the horrible things people have said about my writing, I now know at least there are some people out there who can appreciate it.

Thank you to those who've been there along the way, always encouraging and supporting me, (John Ling, Shark, Sharon Bakar, Elizabeth Tai) even the worst moments when I almost quit writing for good. Thank you to the editors (Zen Cho for Cyberpunk: Malaysia, Hadi M. Nor for Hungry in Ipoh, Jane Camens for Griffith Review) who loved my work enough to want to include my stories in their anthologies, and thank you to Fixi for giving genre writers a space in Malaysian literature.

I suppose the next thing I should be pushing towards would be a book that's solely my own work. A novel perhaps. Or even a short story anthology. We will see. It took me ten years to get where I wanted to be ten years ago, it might take another ten years to get where I want to be now.
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Comments

  1. Lydia Teh26/10/15 11:10 pm

    Hi, Ted. Congratulations! It's okay if you take longer than expected. You're young and time is on your side. But 10 years is a tad too long, eh?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ted Mahsun27/10/15 6:56 am

      Thanks Lydia! Well... I don't want to rush things. We'll see how things turn out.

      Delete
  2. shandye.27/10/15 1:19 pm

    Well deserved... *slow clap*

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ted Mahsun27/10/15 1:25 pm

      hahaha malulah! tentu la kau lagi hebat... ada trilogi. gua ada dua kerat cerita je

      Delete
    2. shandye.28/10/15 8:34 pm

      tapi saya tak reti tulis cerpen dalam bahasa inggeris. huhu... :/

      Delete
  3. John Ling3/11/15 5:39 pm

    You're a fantastic writer, Ted, and I'm thrilled that you're getting your stories out there.

    I'm still waiting to read that novel of yours. I'm sure it will be an incredible read.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ted Mahsun3/11/15 5:55 pm

      John Ling putting on the pressure! hahaha! I'm planning on finishing the revision of it by the end of November. Will keep you posted. You're definitely on my first readers list, don't worry ;)

      Delete

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