kicking off august with a bang

Been crazy busy at work last week with the setting up of our magazine community, so here's a quick update of what August has been like so far:

 Saw the derp lord, who was in town promoting his new movie:

Dove headlong into a book sale:

Met up with old friends:

 Got into the mood for the nation's 50th anniversary:

Then joined 200,000 people around the bay area to watch the National Day Parade:

The weather was breezy and cool - perfect for a parade.

The grounds were hella muddy where we were, but who cared really?

A nation built with love becomes a home. Happy 50th, Singapore. Thank you for everything you have given us. #sg50 #happybirthdaysingapore #recordturnout #broughtmetotears

A photo posted by Joyce Chua (@jcxw2590) on Aug 9, 2015 at 5:53am PDT

  

The Black Knights - or, as my friend Melissa put it, the lead guitarists of the Singapore Armed Forces.

The crowd was definitely left gaping in awe.

What's a parade without some fireworks to top it off?

It was one of those you-had-to-be-there kind of moments. Having so many people around you singing along to the National Day songs you learned (way back) in school, the camaraderie and feeling of togetherness was so palpable I couldn't help but tear up. I had already gotten emotional at this video tribute to the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew earlier on:


But when everyone sang along to the NDP classic, Home, in unison the floodgates broke loose. I sang with tears streaming down my face, and found that I wasn't the only one. This girl my age next to me was in the same state. It's funny how emotional you become, standing in the midst of such an outpouring of love and pride and gratitude for a country.



 How has YOUR August been so far? :0)

on rejections letters and class gatherings

Another rejection letter, this time straight from the publisher itself. But gutting as it is, it's a PERSONALISED rejection letter. Which means FEEDBACK.

It's hard to get feedback as a writer. Aside from the handful of earnest and objective critics (LOVE YOU GUYS!), most people are either too busy to read your book, or they're too afraid to critique it in case they offend you, or they don't give the type of feedback you're looking for.

For instance:

Me: So what did you think?

Reader: It was pretty good.

Me: What did you like or dislike about it? Any bits where the story dragged on or didn't make sense?

Reader: It was exciting enough to make me read on.

Me: What about the characters? Could you relate to them or empathise with them? 

Reader: I liked xxx. He needs his own spinoff.

And so on.

So even if it's a rejection letter, I'm thankful for the feedback.


Joyce,

Thank you for your interest in BookFish Books! Unfortunately, we cannot move forward with UNTIL MORNING at this time. It's hard to know where to start without feedback, so here is some of ours:

We loved the portions with Night, but the portions with Lexi did not capture our attention. Some of the dialogue felt too formal for the YA genre, particularly in the Lexi sections. Also, for YA, the traditionally accepted length is 40-60K words, with a bit of flexibility on either end. 

I personally am sad to be passing on this one because I really wanted to know more about Night.

If you want to do a revise and resubmit on the changes we suggested, we'd be happy to take a fresh look at in the future.

All the best,

Erin

Of course, this is still my general response to it:









But, you know, after YEARS of receiving rejection letters, you sort of heal faster and soon you're just like,



And that was what I did for the entire afternoon before going for my class gathering on Saturday. For Blood Promise, that is.

MORE CHANGES:

1. Changed Ian's parentage and identity

2. Killed off a character

3. Changed the speech style of one character

4. Tweaked the history of the island and took a deeper look at its customs and language (thanks to the suggestions my Super Critic Partner, Jenna, gave)

With that done, I psyched myself up for the class gathering.

Is it just me or do you get gripped by social anxiety before every gathering? It doesn't matter that you know those people are nice, or that this isn't the first time you've met up with them, but before every meeting with someone other than your family members, you just seize up with panic and worry. It's like a reflex reaction to the word "social" or "gathering" or "meetup" or "human interaction".

...

No? Just me? Okay then.

I mean, at first you're like, This might be fun! I need some human contact.



Because, you know,



But then you start wondering if you annoyed them with your incessant Facebook and Twitter updates, and if they're like all





And pretty soon you're like, I'm never going to be normal. They'll hate me.

But then you try to convince yourself you're worrying about nothing and you've known those people for ages and hello, they're NICE.

So you SHOW THE HELL UP and start working those rusty people skills.



But then you sort of get the hang of this human interaction thing after a while and you're like

So here's us (13 years on!) in a terribly grainy photo thanks to my phone:

Yes, I survived human interaction and I actually enjoyed it loads. Till the next gathering, guys!


Hope you're having a good start to the week! :0)

of gatherings, saggy middles and a crush on an author (and yes, pretty faces)

Monday! 

I like to start off the week catching up on blogs. Laini Taylor's blog is always a mood-lifter: she writes about her travels to exotic places like Morocco and takes beautiful shots of France, and her daughter Clementine is soooooo adorable and happy, and her husband is as creative and fun-loving and sweet as her and they all seem like such Shiny Happy People. 

Is it possible to be entirely in love with someone you've never met and only know through her writing? Because I am head over heels in love with Laini Taylor and her fabulous, creative, artistic, whimsical life and family.

How I see Laini and her family

And oh, just a little piece of news: SHE'S FINALLY COMPLETED DREAMS OF GODS AND MONSTERS!!!!! 






APRIL 2014, COME QUICK!!!!!! I need to devour that book now!!!!!!




Okay. I'm done spazzing.

*

Literary agent Victoria Marini has some timely advice for this writer struggling with her first draft, the one so raw you can hear it moo or caw or whatever sounds animals make when they're alive and kicking and not ready to be served on a dish. (It's also what I like to call Draft Zero - capitalisation for dramatic effect - so raw it's not even entirely in prose form, just scattered prose and mostly dialogue and stage directions.)

"I suspect the main reason that people who wish to write, but fail to write, do so because they want write well. You must, first, be willing to write terribly.  If you want to write a book, your goal should be to write a book. Not a good book. Just a book. Worry about the "good" part later. Ms. (Annie) Lamott is a huge believer in "the shitty first draft." She argues, rightly if you ask me, that a first draft is just for getting it out of your head an onto the paper. It's sort of meant to be bad. Just get it out; word vomit! You don't even need to show anyone (certainly don't show your agent ;). It's just getting the bones of your story on paper. Once you have that version done (and most people don't get THAT far)  you can start to worry about being good." 

I hate to say this, but it's become increasingly undeniable that I AM STUCK for Neverland. Ugh. Ugh ugh ugh. The pace is flagging, and I can't think of a dramatic or emotionally-gratifying way to weave my characters and their dreams and fears and motivations together. Every idea I have just falls flat like the way tepid tea sits on your tongue. Completely disappointing.

Still, I shall take the above advice and plow through the crap. Hopefully, I'll have made some headway the next time I blog.

*

So last weekend, I managed to extricate myself from my computer, on which I've been watching the old episodes of We Got Married, a Korean "reality TV" show  that brings celebrities together in a make-belief marriage and then chronicles their lives as they do couple-y things that make us sad single people even sadder. I've watched the Leeteuk (from Super Junior) and Kang Sora episodes, and now I'm watching the Nichkhun (from 2pm) and Victoria (from f(x)) ones. 

Fine. You caught me. I only decided to watch this for the pretty faces. Whatever. Nichkhun is CUUUUTE.

Seriously, who can resist that face? Plus, he's such a sweetheart to Victoria even when she's being difficult. 

ANYWAY. That wasn't my point. My point is that I went out and socialised! Broke out of my isolation! Stuck my head out of my hermit cave! (And other annoying cliches.) And I attended not just one class gathering, but two! So yes, break out the champagne.

There was no champagne at the class barbecue last Saturday at my primary school gathering, but booze was definitely aplenty. Plus, seafood. And chicken. (Oh god, that chicken. It could be the most divine thing I've ever tasted.) 



 


It's funny, but I used to get so nervous about attending these class gatherings. After all, these are the people who have known you since you were a kid, and they are the ones who bear witness to the crazy stupid shit you did then. But we do crazy stupid shit now anyway, so I guess  craziness and stupidity isn't something you leave behind once you cross a certain age threshold.

Here's a fairly normal shot of us

Before we decided normal is over-rated.

Last Friday night rolled out in a similar fashion, despite the drizzle.

Socialising is like running - for me, at least. You have to drag yourself to gatherings/events and convince yourself it'll be fun, but then it turns out to be really rewarding, just like you have to tow your ass to the track (although I don't run anymore since swimming is my cardio drug of choice) but then you experience runner's high and it becomes all worth the effort.  

Still, that's enough human interaction for one week. I shall retreat into my cave now. Merry Christmas!