OK, I'll admit this. I am desperate to get published! No-lah, not me being published but all those stories that I have in my head, all those half-written stuff that I abandoned. Some of them are good, some suck to high heaven. I want to get them one by one, published.
I recently published a short-short story via amazon's self-publishing engine and I gotta say that although it's bloody expensive to order a proof of the book, the quality is pretty good. And it's just too neat to see your name in print....only thing is that I signed it off as 'marshamaung' (as in my username) instead of my name, albeit Marsha Maung. If you're looking to publish something for your own enjoyment or stroke your own ego, you can go this way. So, here I am, addicted.
I have this one book that I managed to drag to about 77,000 words now, right? So, I am thinking that this should be something that I finish because 77,000 words is not easy to come by, you know!! So, I start sending out emails to publishers to ask if they would take a look at my work. I expect many 'no replies' so I press 'submit' a lot of times, write, submit, write, submit. I have heard many horror stories about how authors have to go through many rejection letters and no-replies before one would say 'Let me see the stuff'.
Then suddenly Silverfish replied me and told me, "Show me your stuff" and I totally went ka-blank! What? NOW???
Then I went back to the first chapter and found that I have diverted so much toward the middle the end that the beginning no longer made sense. So, I edit it, edit it, mulling over each and every word because I used a lot of swear words in there and is...erm...ahem, not so nice and a bit ham-sap? I don't know if a Malaysian publisher would consider publishing a fiction story when in there contains stuff like men checking women's ass out and all that.
Hey, it's normal stuff lah, rite? This happens all over the place....yes, believe it or not, even in Malaysia.
So, a bit kan-cheong (anxious) about the whole story. Can or not ah? This one don't make sense? Wah, this one damn kwa-cheong. Eh, this one sure kena tendang balik (kicked back).
But hell, if there's nothing else good about me, persistence is one of my better points. When I have my heart on it, I will bloody get it done, by hook or by crook...except when it requires me to sleep with someone I don't know lah. Or rob a bank. Or push something off a building.
But you get my point.
77,000 words. I ain't giving up on that one. This one, by hook or by crook, if I have to take out scenes, then be it. But it loses the taste lah, how? I don't want it to be like...stuck in the Malaysiana genre. I want it to be global taste wan.
I ain't stepping back. That's for sure.
I. WILL. GET. PUBLISHED.
When asked what’s my one single favorite thing to do in the world, I would usually name a whole list of things that I love to do when my work is not screaming at me. Something that takes my mind COMPLETELY off of everyday tasks and relaxes me. Take a guess what it is…. If you say ‘ reading ’, yes, I love reading (especially soppy love stories with lots of sex scenes, please. Hee hee hee ….) and I also love mystery novels but it’s not the first on the list. If you say ‘ playing the piano ’; yes, I love playing the piano. Creating forms a huge part of my life and whenever I play the piano (as inept at it as I am), there’s this tiny little girl inside of me jumping up and down with glee, clapping her hands. It’s my childhood dream to be able to play the piano! And thumping on the keys gives me a sense of satisfaction when I hear the music. If you say ‘ writing ’; You’ve got to be kidding me! You mean I don’t write enough as it is? Case closed. If you say ‘ playing with my kids ’; Yea...
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