The featured image shows a scene from the “war zone” of a book I had a hand in recently: Discovering Langkawi with Irshad Mobarak 🙂

It reminded me of my first brush with publishing. Nine years have passed since I contributed my semi-autobiographical story about taking a leap of faith, Wellingtons over Blahniks, to Write Out Loud as a wet-behind-the-ears writer. Though short on experience, I was certainly not lacking in enthusiasm, even though I was just one of (I think) 30 or 40 contributors.

Who cares? I’m a bona fide writer at last! I thought to myself, little knowing that the journey ahead was eventful, emotional … and long, much circuitous than I expected.

Still, I am as fascinated by the book publishing process now as I was at the beginning. The difference is I realize there is much more to producing a book than just writing. From self-help books to historical memoirs to autobiographies, I’ve experienced every aspect of the publishing spectrum: I’ve proofread, edited, conceptualised and even composed advance praise for other authors 😛

books-retrospective

More than anything else, I love the limitless learning potential of the field I am in, and the passionate people I get to pick the brains of. Editing Irshad’s book, for example, opened my eyes anew to the incredible bounty of treasures that our country is home to. Even though I’d already read the love story of the great hornbills by the time I attended his book talk at AweGallery, I was still moved to tears and laughter hearing the man himself tell it in person. What a remarkable storyteller!

I’m currently working on the memoirs of a legendary lady doctor. In the very near future, I am going to be working on a personal project that is very close to my heart. It will be related to people stories, but that’s all I can divulge for now.

You’ll just have to stay tuned … Hey, am I the only one who thinks the expression sounds old school yet charming? 🙂