Weekend Madness

Since the start of this year, my weekends have been filled with one activity after another. This month, it gets slightly busier.

Sure, it’s nice to have things to do during the weekends instead of staying home playing games… but who am I kidding? I’m an introvert… I want some time to read books and do things alone!

Here’s what goes down during the weekend:

On Saturdays, I catch up with sleep and wake up around 10.30.

Then I have 2 hours to have brunch and surf the Internet before heading to the gym at 12.30.

I do some workout, join my mum’s Pilates class and then leave the gym at 3 to have late lunch with my family.

Lunch ends around 4, and if there are no errands to run in the mall, I reach home around 4.30.

At 5, I crank up my high intensity interval-training program for about 40 minutes.

After that, I take a break and by 6 I have to take a bath.

After my bath, I either have a meeting (for an upcoming camp) or a session with my church friends at 6.30.

I usually come home after that around 8 for meetings, and 10 plus for sessions with friends.

My Saturday is gone.

On Sundays, I go to church in the morning at 11.30, and then I spend the whole day with my family. No complains there. Sundays are more relaxed, but still less time spent at home.

What I wish is for more time on Saturday to read and work on some of my personal writings. This month and the next will probably not give me that chance.

You can ask me to make time, but working out is important to me and being sociable is a must. Of course… I don’t need to be sociable but then I would be called anti-social by some of the people I know a.k.a the non-introverts.

You can also tell me to get up earlier, but no. I wont. I need to enjoy my sleep.

And if you tell me to not spend time with family on Sunday, you can go kick yourself in the butt.

I really can’t sacrifice one for the other, so the next time I tell you I’m busy on the weekends, I really am. When I have a freer Saturday, my priority is to spend some quiet time alone. I cherish those moments and a couple of free hours make me a very happy person.  

A Skeptic

I wrote my first novel in 2011. That was 3 years ago. I am pretty sure my style of writing has improved and I probably write much better than I did before. That being said, I am not sure if my first novel stands a chance in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.

Why do I say that?

Because that novel was not written by the current me, the me that has 3 years of daily practice and the me that has grown in skill. It was written by the ‘lousier’ me.

I am still submitting my novel for the award, but I have a feeling I would not go far in their qualifying rounds. Does this mean my first novel sucks? No… I don’t think it sucks.

Those who have read it said it was a good first novel, one said it inspired them to chase their dreams, a few parents of younger readers said their children devoured the book in one sitting, one stayed up all night to finish it, and the comments on Authonomy were positive. Still… I doubt. I’m skeptical.

I guess it’s a good thing to be skeptical; I won’t feel sad if I don’t qualify. No expectations, no disappointments. But then there’s this little voice in my head that says doubting myself is not good. I should put an expectation on it because I should be proud of my work. 

I was 20 when I wrote it, I did not receive warm hugs and encouragements when I was writing it, and lets be honest here, there were only a small number of people who believed I was a good enough writer back then. So finishing a novel, self-publishing it, and selling about 250 copies, should amount to something… right?

Well, I don’t know. I’m just not confident but I’ll wait and see. I’m still hoping my newer works would place in the finals for the Scholastic Asian Book Awards and the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. Maybe I could win a placing in the StoneThread SpecFic Short Story Contest too?

With all that’s being said, do check out my first novel here. It doesn’t suck, trust me. How I feel about my novel is how a lot of authors feel about theirs. We all lose confidence from time to time, but we never stop loving our works and believing it is worth your reading time!  

Organizing My Writing Plans

I’m only writing this to organize my thoughts. It’s not really interesting to read, unless you want to know my writing plans for this year.

So here it goes, my 2014 writing plans:

#1 Publish Raindrops novella in March

#2 Publish The Battle For Oz: Book 1 novelette in June/July

#3 Release The Battle For Oz: Book 2 to beta readers in August

#4 Run edits for The Slave Prince novel from May to October

#5 Write Bonfire, either a novella or a novelette, in August

#6 If all goes well, publish The Slave Prince in December

I wrote The Slave Prince in January 2013 and I’m really hoping to get it out. The only problem I have is having other works to look at and edit, and I tend to pay attention to the shorter works first. 

Let me just say that self-publishing is not easy. I thank God for giving me designer friends who would freely design covers for me, and beta readers who give good feedback and spot errors, but everything else I have to do myself. Copy editing and proofreading is the worst! And lets not forget marketing... though I rarely do that. Haha!

So wish me all the best! I need it.

Reason For Science Fiction

I normally do not review books and I’m not going to in this post, but what I’m going to write about has to do with a book and why I love it.

That very book… is Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card.

I first picked up the book after watching the film because I was curious to know more about Ender himself. And let me just say, I have no regrets. Ender’s story was better in the books with more internal conflicts, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. After finishing the book, I went on a hunt for the other books in the Ender Saga just to read more of him (he’s now my new fictional crush).

That being said, I did not pick up Earth Unaware (a spin off in the same universe) because of Ender… I picked up Earth Unaware because of the author.

You see, the moment I started reading Ender’s Game, something stuck on me. What seemed like glue was actually the fluidity of words that told Ender’s story. Orson Card has this seamless style of writing that connects word to word like water particles invisible to the eye. His sentences are so smooth, it reads like a shiny glaze on top of a cake. The moment you read the first line, you find yourself gliding down a slippery slope, flipping one page after another effortlessly. His style is amazing, and I know others think highly of it too, as he has won awards to prove his impressive skill and talent.

Honestly, I have never bragged about an author's style in my years as a reader… maybe because none before has impressed me this way. But I brag where bragging is needed, and I wish I could write as seamlessly as him.

Orson Scott Card is the only reason I’m reading sci-fi, a genre I am generally not fond off, and I find it hard to believe that I’m actually enjoying it. Hats off to Orson Card for his undeniable talent and ability to change my taste for sci-fi novels.

What I Look For In A Valentine

I'm at that age where I'm old enough to enter courtship and young enough to stay single for a few more years. 

This year, I decided to stay single and pursue God. I've been in relationships before and I learned that without God in the centre of my relationships, they crumble. So before I jump into a relationship with a guy, I want to have a tight relationship with God.

That being said, what kind of men do I look for? (Since it's Valentines.)

#1 He must love God more than he loves me. Enough said.

#2 He must have dreams and goals in life. A man that does not settle for mediocrity but strives to be better as a person and in his career. 

#3 He must be older but not more than 5 years.  

#4 He must be honest, faithful, and the head our family. 

#5 Bonus: A gamer. Because if we don't have an activity we enjoy doing together, we can game!

I didn't set his physicality because.. well, obviously he has to be taller than me and has an active lifestyle.

All these criteria I set knowing I'm doing the same. I'm learning to love God more, I have dreams and goals in life, I'm bettering myself as a person to be more honest and faithful, and I am getting into a healthy and active lifestyle. I won't ask something out of someone if I cannot achieve it myself. 

Getting into a relationship is not a game for me, and when I find a man, I intend to marry him. Call me old school, but that keeps me from flings and unwanted heartbreaks. 

So yea, now that this is out in the open, the next time I meet someone and attempt to compromise my stated points, I would remember that it's out in public and I should not go back on my written words.

Happy Valentines day everyone! Have a lovely day :)