I didn’t know why stopped buying KLue. It’s a pretty decent mag. It’s colourful and lists down all the very interesting things happening around KL during the whole month, unlike some mags which usually concentrate just on the nightlife. Plus, it’s dirt cheap. It’s about one fifth of the price I pay for the silly foreign mags that features a naked Jen Aniston on the cover. And Gisele Bundchen in boys underwear? Megan Fox in a pink bikini? Oh the nerve!
Anyway, I bought a copy of the January issue because, I can’t exactly remember why but I think it’s because I had one of my ‘why not?’ moments. And maybe it was because Top Gear was sold out and the thought of leaving the store empty handed is slightly annoying. Could be that. But I was glad I bought that copy of KLue because it offered me an opportunity that could pose a significant moment in my adult life. Yes, using the word ‘adult’ to define anything towards my own personal context is quite freaky.
Matahari Books and Amir Muhammad (the man behind Malaysian Politicians Say The Darndest Things series) made an open call for entries for their latest anthology project entitled Body2Body which carries the theme Alternative Sexuality. Think Will & Grace and The L Word. Or Olivia Wilde.
Naturally, I’m excited as Hammy about his. Mostly because I blew the last chance such an opportunity came along – the KL Stories project, which now available on MPH bookshelves across throughout the country and titled Urban Odysseys: KL Stories. And it hurts to think that it could have been my name among the contributing writers.
As such, the hell I’m going to let this one slip away. Although, truthfully, I almost did.
I bought the mag around mid-January and let me iterate how much it was truly a lucky break since they were the only representative from the print media to sound it out and it could have been a big possibility to have missed it. Unless you’re an avid follower of Amir’s blog.
Anyway, I bout the mag in mid-January and the deadline for submission was Feb 28. Which means I had about a month and a half to come up with a piece of my own. And, although as Hammy as I was, the theme alternative sexuality is not something that I am familiar with and hence, not much ideas going around in my head to conjure up a tantalizing story then and there. I needed help. Normally, I’d give up at this point but in this case, I am filled with determination. And when there’s a will, there’s Nieta, one of my more colourful friends which springs to mind (I thought of Kak Seri Siantan but since all of his mis-adventures usually concerns racy topics, I gave it a pass). If there’s one person who can shed light on this topic for me, it is him. Or at least I though he was.
And, just to add unnecessary drama to the creative process, my penchant for procrastination nearly come full swing again and almost costing me the same mistake twice. I had the idea of meeting up with Nieta for weeks beforehand and it was only during the last 7 days before deadline that I actually did meet him. Not really a clever move, I know. Personally, I blame it on global warming.
But, as it turned out, meeting up with Nieta became one of those moments. You know, when you sat down and try to remember those funny stories that you always tell to your friends during those get-togethers and nothing comes to mind? And that what exactly happened. Not really helpful when considering the time constraint. But he did direct me to Cik Sal in which he says a prime source for hilarious anecdotes. And Ms Sasha Fierce also helped in handing me Imah’s latest blog add (which is always good for a dose of humour).
And let me explain why I decided to go with humour. The thought brings me back to Silverfish New Writings 2 (in which I haven’t returned to Cipoi since I borrowed it nearly a year ago *hai saigok*) and it was filled with morbid stories. Technically the writings were excellent but I end up being depressed every time I finish a story. So I thought, screw that, I want to be entertained when I read something. I’m going to write comedy because, let’s face it, every body likes comedy.
So, I decided to go funny. And Imah and Cik Sal were good sources for these lighthearted tidbits. As the week dragged, I became more confident in getting a piece done and beginning to see a way.
But, my procrastinativeness was still a problem as my conversation with Cik Sal only took place by Wednesday evening and by Friday morning, I was still looking at a blank Word document. I had a few plans for the weekend but it seemed some of them had to scrapped. One of them being playing futsal with/against Ellie (I hope that’s the correct way of spelling it). If she had come, that is. (Ellie :)~). Futsal with Bonzek can wait another month.
So, it was crunch time. I worked out a draft and by 4am Saturday morning, I was a writing machine. I was in the zone. Taking breaks for only meals and baths, and the occasional stretching.
And I learnt a few things about my style of writing along the way. One of them was, since the limit was set at 3000 words (4000 if you couldn’t help yourself), I was initially worried that this can be quite a challenge and of course, I worried too much. I ended up writing more than 3500 word spanning 8 pages. No writer’s block there.
And second, it was probably I was inspired the Royale with Cheese conversation between John Travolta and Samuel L Jackson from Pulp Fiction, which forms the basis of my story, but I tend to include a lot of dialogues in my writing. So much, it almost resembles a screenplay. Which gave me the thought, maybe I should do that one day. God knows how rubbish the writing are these days on Malaysian TV and most part of the movie industry (a haunted congkak? Really?).
I finally managed to finish at around 5 pm Saturday which roughly translates how much time I had spent in front of the computer monitor. Still, some editing work was due and after going through it a couple of times, I was ready to submit and did rightfully so at around 9 pm. The earlier optimistic thought of probably submitting a second entry just so to increase my chances of getting published evaporated almost as quickly realizing the level of exhaustion I was under.
Funny thing is, looking back, it was the first short story I have ever written, more so to be considered for publication. And while I am proud of it, and the glorious prospect of getting published, there were a lot of things I wished I could have improved. The too much dialogue is one thing but the flow as well. It’s not as smooth as I would have liked it. And there’s too much characters. And some of the character’s name, oh you wouldn’t believe how hard it is to create a fake name, was so troublesome. You just can’t create a common name off the fly. It has to be unique so it will stand out and remembered. And it has to fit with the personality of the character. And since ambiguity is a strong notion in my story, that made it much more of a challenge.
However, in the end, as Amir Muhammad declared, a total of 59 submissions were received and 20 will be selected to be compiled into what will become Malaysia’s first queer anthology. So it seems I have a pretty good chance. Although, mathematically speaking I only have a 33.8% probability. Not exactly favorable but I’ll take it as it is.
So, fingers and toes crossed, come August 2009, if things go well, I’ll achieve my 2008 resolution (or was it 2007?).
Which brings me to my 2009 resolution. Apart from the trip to Ko Pha Ngan which now seems more difficult to be realized since more and more of my friends are tying the knot (3 in the last month alone), I want to add another for this year. That is, to curb my laziness. From now on I just want to do things. I used to think a lot before committing myself to something but I want to skip that part now. This can also be linked to my newfound ‘why not?’ mentality because that is always the more interesting question. Needless to say I was inspired by the Yes Man trailer and more so by the movie. Red Bull!
But I have to warn myself and maybe to some of my friends, this is a resolution. Don’t expect a miracle. Laziness has a very strong relapse tendency. It’s not like quitting alcohol addiction when you have to go to a pub (or in some cases the nearby 7-E) to slip back. Or sex addiction when, well, that really takes a lot of work. But while we are on the subject, at what point does sex become an addiction? It’s not exactly abusing the body like Heroin or cigarettes. And, honestly, is three times a week really that much to ask for?
Anyway, nothing ever comes close to laziness when it comes to overcome it. Because, you know how easy it is to relapse into laziness? You can do that by just doing nothing. And men are big fans of doing nothing. In fact it’s one of our favorite things to do. Which explains a lot to why we love watching sports on TV and take long toilet breaks at the office.
So, curbing my laziness is, at this point, quite an ambitious project. And one of the first things I’ll be doing to mark this new vigorous me, is take up Italian lessons. Mainly because it was always one of those things that I want to do but never got around actually doing it. Plus, I watch too much mobster movies and never got tired of Marisa Tomei in Only You. That’s right. Il destino. It is written in the stars. Capische?
‘Til next time, folks. More on the ‘why not’ mentality. Cheers.
Anyway, I bought a copy of the January issue because, I can’t exactly remember why but I think it’s because I had one of my ‘why not?’ moments. And maybe it was because Top Gear was sold out and the thought of leaving the store empty handed is slightly annoying. Could be that. But I was glad I bought that copy of KLue because it offered me an opportunity that could pose a significant moment in my adult life. Yes, using the word ‘adult’ to define anything towards my own personal context is quite freaky.
Matahari Books and Amir Muhammad (the man behind Malaysian Politicians Say The Darndest Things series) made an open call for entries for their latest anthology project entitled Body2Body which carries the theme Alternative Sexuality. Think Will & Grace and The L Word. Or Olivia Wilde.
Naturally, I’m excited as Hammy about his. Mostly because I blew the last chance such an opportunity came along – the KL Stories project, which now available on MPH bookshelves across throughout the country and titled Urban Odysseys: KL Stories. And it hurts to think that it could have been my name among the contributing writers.
As such, the hell I’m going to let this one slip away. Although, truthfully, I almost did.
I bought the mag around mid-January and let me iterate how much it was truly a lucky break since they were the only representative from the print media to sound it out and it could have been a big possibility to have missed it. Unless you’re an avid follower of Amir’s blog.
Anyway, I bout the mag in mid-January and the deadline for submission was Feb 28. Which means I had about a month and a half to come up with a piece of my own. And, although as Hammy as I was, the theme alternative sexuality is not something that I am familiar with and hence, not much ideas going around in my head to conjure up a tantalizing story then and there. I needed help. Normally, I’d give up at this point but in this case, I am filled with determination. And when there’s a will, there’s Nieta, one of my more colourful friends which springs to mind (I thought of Kak Seri Siantan but since all of his mis-adventures usually concerns racy topics, I gave it a pass). If there’s one person who can shed light on this topic for me, it is him. Or at least I though he was.
And, just to add unnecessary drama to the creative process, my penchant for procrastination nearly come full swing again and almost costing me the same mistake twice. I had the idea of meeting up with Nieta for weeks beforehand and it was only during the last 7 days before deadline that I actually did meet him. Not really a clever move, I know. Personally, I blame it on global warming.
But, as it turned out, meeting up with Nieta became one of those moments. You know, when you sat down and try to remember those funny stories that you always tell to your friends during those get-togethers and nothing comes to mind? And that what exactly happened. Not really helpful when considering the time constraint. But he did direct me to Cik Sal in which he says a prime source for hilarious anecdotes. And Ms Sasha Fierce also helped in handing me Imah’s latest blog add (which is always good for a dose of humour).
And let me explain why I decided to go with humour. The thought brings me back to Silverfish New Writings 2 (in which I haven’t returned to Cipoi since I borrowed it nearly a year ago *hai saigok*) and it was filled with morbid stories. Technically the writings were excellent but I end up being depressed every time I finish a story. So I thought, screw that, I want to be entertained when I read something. I’m going to write comedy because, let’s face it, every body likes comedy.
So, I decided to go funny. And Imah and Cik Sal were good sources for these lighthearted tidbits. As the week dragged, I became more confident in getting a piece done and beginning to see a way.
But, my procrastinativeness was still a problem as my conversation with Cik Sal only took place by Wednesday evening and by Friday morning, I was still looking at a blank Word document. I had a few plans for the weekend but it seemed some of them had to scrapped. One of them being playing futsal with/against Ellie (I hope that’s the correct way of spelling it). If she had come, that is. (Ellie :)~). Futsal with Bonzek can wait another month.
So, it was crunch time. I worked out a draft and by 4am Saturday morning, I was a writing machine. I was in the zone. Taking breaks for only meals and baths, and the occasional stretching.
And I learnt a few things about my style of writing along the way. One of them was, since the limit was set at 3000 words (4000 if you couldn’t help yourself), I was initially worried that this can be quite a challenge and of course, I worried too much. I ended up writing more than 3500 word spanning 8 pages. No writer’s block there.
And second, it was probably I was inspired the Royale with Cheese conversation between John Travolta and Samuel L Jackson from Pulp Fiction, which forms the basis of my story, but I tend to include a lot of dialogues in my writing. So much, it almost resembles a screenplay. Which gave me the thought, maybe I should do that one day. God knows how rubbish the writing are these days on Malaysian TV and most part of the movie industry (a haunted congkak? Really?).
I finally managed to finish at around 5 pm Saturday which roughly translates how much time I had spent in front of the computer monitor. Still, some editing work was due and after going through it a couple of times, I was ready to submit and did rightfully so at around 9 pm. The earlier optimistic thought of probably submitting a second entry just so to increase my chances of getting published evaporated almost as quickly realizing the level of exhaustion I was under.
Funny thing is, looking back, it was the first short story I have ever written, more so to be considered for publication. And while I am proud of it, and the glorious prospect of getting published, there were a lot of things I wished I could have improved. The too much dialogue is one thing but the flow as well. It’s not as smooth as I would have liked it. And there’s too much characters. And some of the character’s name, oh you wouldn’t believe how hard it is to create a fake name, was so troublesome. You just can’t create a common name off the fly. It has to be unique so it will stand out and remembered. And it has to fit with the personality of the character. And since ambiguity is a strong notion in my story, that made it much more of a challenge.
However, in the end, as Amir Muhammad declared, a total of 59 submissions were received and 20 will be selected to be compiled into what will become Malaysia’s first queer anthology. So it seems I have a pretty good chance. Although, mathematically speaking I only have a 33.8% probability. Not exactly favorable but I’ll take it as it is.
So, fingers and toes crossed, come August 2009, if things go well, I’ll achieve my 2008 resolution (or was it 2007?).
Which brings me to my 2009 resolution. Apart from the trip to Ko Pha Ngan which now seems more difficult to be realized since more and more of my friends are tying the knot (3 in the last month alone), I want to add another for this year. That is, to curb my laziness. From now on I just want to do things. I used to think a lot before committing myself to something but I want to skip that part now. This can also be linked to my newfound ‘why not?’ mentality because that is always the more interesting question. Needless to say I was inspired by the Yes Man trailer and more so by the movie. Red Bull!
But I have to warn myself and maybe to some of my friends, this is a resolution. Don’t expect a miracle. Laziness has a very strong relapse tendency. It’s not like quitting alcohol addiction when you have to go to a pub (or in some cases the nearby 7-E) to slip back. Or sex addiction when, well, that really takes a lot of work. But while we are on the subject, at what point does sex become an addiction? It’s not exactly abusing the body like Heroin or cigarettes. And, honestly, is three times a week really that much to ask for?
Anyway, nothing ever comes close to laziness when it comes to overcome it. Because, you know how easy it is to relapse into laziness? You can do that by just doing nothing. And men are big fans of doing nothing. In fact it’s one of our favorite things to do. Which explains a lot to why we love watching sports on TV and take long toilet breaks at the office.
So, curbing my laziness is, at this point, quite an ambitious project. And one of the first things I’ll be doing to mark this new vigorous me, is take up Italian lessons. Mainly because it was always one of those things that I want to do but never got around actually doing it. Plus, I watch too much mobster movies and never got tired of Marisa Tomei in Only You. That’s right. Il destino. It is written in the stars. Capische?
‘Til next time, folks. More on the ‘why not’ mentality. Cheers.
No comments:
Post a Comment