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Freelancing is lancing my free time

February 19, 2013 in Blogging, Misc, On Writing, Parenting

Anyone recognise where this is from?

Anyone recognise where this is from?

You may have noticed that things have been a little slow on this blog lately. It wasn’t supposed to be. In fact, I was supposed to be posting up a storm over this recent nine-day Lunar New Year break in Taiwan. Instead, I took up a freelancing gig, and it’s been killing me. Killing me, I tell ya. As the great Tommy Wiseau would say:

Freelancing jobs are always a dilemma when you also have a full-time job. On the one hand, it’s nice to get a bit of extra cash, but on the other, you are voluntarily adding all this pressure on yourself and destroying whatever free time you might have. When you have a one-year-old baby to look after like I do, free time is more precious than diamonds, and if you’re not desperate for money it’s always tempting just to say, “No thanks, I’d rather sleep, or read, or watch The Walking Dead or a movie, or exercise, or play video games, or do whatever the hell it is that I’d rather be doing.”

This is why I’d actually been turning down quite a few freelancing opportunities as of late, though this new one that I took on was from a regular client that paid relatively well and was a good opportunity to establish more crucial contacts. Freelancing, as I learned from that ultra-successful, US$600K-a-year  freelance writer Robert W Bly (I reviewed his freelance guide here), is all about connections and getting repeat business. You can be the best freaking writer in the world, but you’re not making any money if people don’t know who you are. That’s why there are all these horrible, horrible writers and editors earning great money doing freelancing full-time, while decent or even very good writers and editors prefer to work in steady jobs and not worry about where their next paycheck will come from.

As usual, I have underestimated how difficult this current freelance gig would be. When I first saw it I estimated roughly four days — mostly during my “spare” time at work. Instead, it has killed almost all my free time from the Lunar New Year break and I’m still not finished. Part of the problem is me being slow and too meticulous and distracted with other things, but it’s incredibly frustrating nonetheless. This one gig has essentially derailed the longest holiday I’m probably going to have this year. It’s also set back my plans to start exercising regularly again by at least another week (I really need it too, after eating like a pig over the break). And don’t even get me started on the PS3 games I’m supposed to be playing. I have literally not switched on my PS3 since finishing Sleeping Dogs in late November. Meanwhile, my food and movie blog posts continue to pile up. At this rate, I’ll never get back to working on what I really want to take another stab at — my novels.

It has me wondering whether I’ll ever take on another freelance case. Well, I’m sure I will, and I’m sure I’ll be bitching about it like I am now once I do.

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New Year’s resolution 3: read more (classics and fantasy)

January 25, 2013 in Fantasy, Misc, On Writing

Man Reading Book and Sitting on Bookshelf in Library

I didn’t read nearly as much as I wanted to last year, but I blame that on the life-draining force that is parenthood, which makes sleep a priority over anything not baby-related. I blame that as well awesome TV series such as Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead. Most of all, I blame the turd that is the Fifty Shades Trilogy, which wasted a good part of my year and just about turned me off reading altogether.

This year, I am glad to say, I have already read two books (though I started one of them last year) and am halfway through a third. Reading really does help your writing in so many ways, including expanding your imagination and ability to visualize scenes, and I’m trying to learn as much as I can. I feel like I am already way behind because I didn’t read all that much once I hit high school, which I blame entirely on Sony (Playstation) and basketball.

Anyway, this year one of my resolutions is to read more. A lot more. I have already started executing my ‘no smartphone and read instead before bed’ plan, which is kind of working. I’m also trying to read whenever I can on public transport and even during lunch breaks at work.

A subset of that plan is to read more classics. I always find them daunting and often put them off in favour of trash like Fifty Shades or whatever commercial fiction is in fashion, but it’s time for me to discover why classics are classics. The last modern classic I read was probably Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (which I loved) and the last classic of any era I read was Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (which, despite being told repeatedly that it was probably the most technically perfect book ever written, bored me to death).

The good thing is that many older classics are now out of copyright and free to download. My guess is I will attempt to tackle the easier ones first, like say Frankenstein or Dracula, or perhaps some Dickens. War and Peace and James Joyce will probably have to wait a few more decades.

The other of part of the goal is to read more fantasy to prepare myself to get back on the fantasy writing wagon. I have A Game of Thrones ready to go, and if that isn’t enough I might finally (re)try the original Sword of Shannara trilogy or Feist’s Magician.

I doubt I’m going to get through anywhere near what I’ve planned for myself but I sure am going to try.

Happy reading!

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Book Review: ‘The Woman Before Me’ by Ruth Dugdall

November 1, 2012 in Book Reviews, Reviews

You know how sometimes you read a book cover and think, “This is too bleak for me,” or “I don’t think I’ll be interested in this type of story,” and then the book ends up totally blowing your mind? The Woman Before Me by Ruth Dugdall is one such book.

It’s defined as a crime novel but The Woman Before Me unfolds more like a psychological thriller. The story centers around Rose Wilks, a plain looking woman with a neglected childhood who, after losing her own child, is convicted for burning down a house that killed the baby of her beautiful best friend, Emma Hatcher. Four years pass and Rose, who has maintained her innocence, is up for parole. Enter Cate Austin, a young probation officer assigned to write a recommendation.

The book is essentially split into two inter-meshing parts:  you have Cate in the present, told through third person narrative, investigating Rose’s life and the events that led up to the tragic night in question; and you have Rose’s “Black Book” entries, a first person confessional diary of sorts to her partner Jason which gradually peels away the layers wrapped around the novel’s core mystery — did Rose kill Emma’s baby, and if so, why?

While the book is subtitled “A Cate Austin novel” (as she is the common link in a planned series of books by Dugdall), The Woman Before Me is dominated by Wilks’s diary, which takes up more than half of its 282 pages. And just as well, because although Cate is quite an interesting character herself, Rose is simply mesmerising. She’s creepy and clearly unhinged but somehow I found myself unable to despise her. She is a tragic character driven by the two most unhealthy kinds of love — obsessive and unrequited. Her heartbreak comes across as painfully real.

It’s an uncomfortable book to read at times — any book about infant mortality is — but I found it to be a compulsive page-turner, which got more and more unputdownable as it neared its shocking climax. It’s a strange feeling being compelled to keep reading a book that is, if not quite depressing, often upsetting to get through. I suppose it’s a tribute to Dugdall’s ability to create characters readers care about and invest in emotionally.

As Dugdall’s bio says, she was in the British criminal justice system for almost a decade as a probation officer, which lends an air of credibility to the prison environment she describes with so much detail and confidence. Everything and everyone from the cells, routines, prison rules and culture to the inmates and the wardens all felt authentic to me. And although this is not mentioned anywhere in the book, I discovered through some post-reading research that the novel is actually based on true events (chills).

My idea of crime novels has always been fast-paced action and clever detective work, but The Woman Before Me is all played out in the mind and through memories. The book has been described as a “slow burn”, which is usually a turn-off for me, but I found it to a deftly paced and rather brisk read, something you could easily get through in a single sitting.

My only complaints are Dugdall’s tendency to lessen the impact of some of her minor plot twists by foreshadowing them too early, and her over-reliance on coincidences and chance encounters, some of which stretched the bounds of believability to me.

On the whole, however, I found The Woman Before Me to be a fascinating expedition into the darker side of human nature — and an enjoyable (albeit somewhat depressing) read. I’m sure it will end up as one of the more memorable books I’ve read this year.

PS: It was also fascinating to read up a little about Dugdall and her journey to becoming a published writer. Once again, her story demonstrates that successful published authors rarely come out of thin air and are usually extremely dedicated writers who have been honing their craft for years, submitting writings, entering competitions and attending workshops for a very long time before securing a crucial breakthrough. In her case, the breakthrough came when she won the Crime Writers Association Debut Dagger with her The Woman Before Me manuscript back in 2005 (though the book was not published in the UK until 2010) — showing what a long and arduous process it all is. Makes me wish I had more time and determination to work on my fiction writing.

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Not content with being content

August 13, 2012 in Blogging, On Writing

I feel like I am getting lazy because I’m in a pretty good place right now. Family has been awesome (my son brings me so much joy), I enjoy work, health has been strong and life has been kind. Not much to complain about on a day-to-day basis.

But my contentedness with things has allowed me to become complacent with my goals. I was having a conversation with a family member the other day about the dangers of not having anything to strive for in life. If you become too satisfied with how things are going you’ll never get better or motivate yourself to go for what you really want. That’s not a problem if you’re old and retired and just want to enjoy whatever time you have left, but when you are young and your best days are ahead of you it’s dangerous to be stuck in the same place without a desire to move forward in life.

My life at home is pretty jam packed, but I’ve been thinking about all the time I have at work and what I can accomplish during work hours if I put my mind to it.  My days are relatively routine nowadays. I generally write three articles a day. I used to struggle with that when I first joined, but with the experience I have now I could probably pump them out in half the time if they’re not too long and I don’t put in maximum effort into each one.

That’s a potential of 3 solid hours of “free” time a day that could be used on more meaningful endeavours. Most people in the office use that time to do freelance work, bludge, read, sleep or chat, and there is this one guy that spends most of his day typing posts on three social media platforms, writing books (which he actually gets published) and simply disappearing for several hours a day. No one knows where he goes but that’s not the point. The point is that he makes excellent use of his time.

As for me, I don’t know where a lot of that time goes. Often I decide I want to write a really good article (which is pointless) and spend way too much time researching and writing. Sometimes I just want to chill out and watch YouTube videos (like this one):

or this one:

I once set myself a goal of writing one blog post a day at work  just to keep the creative juices flowing and so I don’t go nuts writing set articles for work everyday. That lasted about a day (as evident by the dearth of recent posts). Consequently, my backlog of posts continues to pile up. My food posts are backed up by about 7 to 8 months.

I may have also set a goal of finishing at least one of my novels this year, but of course, I haven’t touched jack all since last…October. It’s unacceptable!

That’s why I am writing this post at work right now — to signal that I am no longer content with being content. I need to get a move on. As I read somewhere recently (you can see how sharp I am feeling), you can’t simply sit around and wait for opportunities to come knocking; if you really want something you need to go out and make it happen. I intend to do that, except for the going out part. What I need to do requires staying indoors, in front of a computer.

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Book Review: ‘Mockingjay’ by Suzanne Collins

July 18, 2012 in Book Reviews, Reviews

A post-apocalyptic world where two children from each of the nation’s 12 districts are thrust into a televised battle to the death – where there can only be one winner. That was the premise of Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games. Not entirely original (you know, Battle Royale, etc) but with enough originality and differences to be an enticing and exciting hit in its own right.

The second book in the series, Catching Fire, amazed me by taking the story to another level when I thought it had nowhere to go. Catching Fire widened the intensity and scope of the games, provided more context and upped the characters and action. Save for a disappointing ending, it was all fans could have hoped for.

Now I’ll admit I was initially sceptical about Mockingjay, the third and final instalment in the trilogy. Collins had already milked the “reality TV goes too far/totalitarian rule” concept for all it was worth, and now faced the daunting challenge of bringing the story to a satisfying conclusion. But how was she going to do it without getting repetitive?

Well, I’m glad to say that Mockingjay is a fitting finale to the Hunger Games trilogy. It might not have the freshness and creativity of the first book or the excitement and innovation of the second, but what Mockingjay does is wrap up the story extremely well and in a way that I certainly did not expect.

For starters, the tone of Mockingjay is very dark. It’s a brutal world Katniss Everdeen lives in and Collins does not sugar coat it. Think of the darkness of the final Harry Potter books and multiply it by…a lot. There’s blood and guts and the horrors of war. There’s military strategy and politics and propaganda. There are a lot of serious themes here, and at times I had to remind myself that I was reading a young adult novel. And if you’re expecting a wonderfully gift-wrapped ending with cream and cherries on top then you’ll likely be shocked. Mockingjay is a stark reminder that the “real” world rarely turns out the way we envisage.

Without giving away too much, the story picks up from the cliffhanger ending of Catching Fire. The Hunger Games are over and this one is all about the final battle with the Capitol that ensues. Katniss finds herself thrust into the spotlight again as the rebels want her to be the symbol of the rebellion against the evil President Snow, but is she really saving the world or is she merely another pawn in their game? And what about the two boys in her life, Peeta and Gale? Who will she choose? And what kind of world will she find herself in when it’s all said and done?

So as you can see, there’s lots to ponder in Mockingjay. This third book reinvents itself by stepping back from the Hunger Games to provide the bigger picture, including why the games were necessary in the first place. The focus here is no longer on reality TV but on the nature of war and power and the politics that go on behind it. The concepts and structure are arguably more intelligent and thought-provoking than the first two books in the series, and that’s saying a lot.

Collins continues to handle the action scenes with great skill, and there’s even a clever link back to the Hunger Games as the story nears its conclusion. I was also unexpectedly drawn to the ongoing love triangle between Katniss, Peeta and Gale, which never forms the centerpiece of the narrative but is always there and itching to be dealt with. For the record, I think it was resolved brilliantly.

My main problem with Mockingjay is a feeling of inevitability. You know things will end with a bang and you’re forced to wait patiently through the book for it to happen. While there are twists and turns and highs and lows, I got the feeling that Collins was to some extent padding the pages in the lead up to the big finale. In that sense, Mockingjay lacked the compulsive page-turning capabilities of The Hunger Games and in particular Catching Fire. Not to say it wasn’t still a brisk and exciting read, but let’s just say I would have gotten less paper cuts turning the pages (had been reading a real book instead of an e-book).

Ultimately, I guess you could call Mockingjay a satisfying conclusion of sorts. It might not be the perfect Hollywood ending some had hoped for but I for one preferred it this way. Some may gripe that the various loose ends in the book are not tied up very well – I personally thought an extra chapter or two was warranted – though the epilogue has a haunting quality that totally kills JK Rowling’s abomination from Harry Potter 7 (and do I even need to mention the vomit in Twilight: Breaking Dawn?).

So there you have it. Mockingjay is a flawed but strong conclusion to the Hunger Games trilogy, one of the rare literary phenomena these days that actually deserve much of its praise and success. I don’t think I have ever devoured a book series as quickly as I did this one.

3.75 out of 5

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