The Difference Between Good and Bad

The Difference Between Good and Bad

The difference between a good book and a bad book is the number of rewriting. I tasted what great writers have been talking about. The same page is edited many many times until each word is soaked with sweat. Writing a good book is like a labour pain. There is no short cut. Actually, the short cut is to have another womb to bear your works (a ghostwriter). There is no pleasure to have someone do your works.

I have 2 draft with me and I can't wait to deliver it. But it is just not good enough for the world to read. Will it ever be good enough? There's a 101 things to take care - more examples, getting permission for quotations, rewriting the back cover, rewrite this and that, getting distinguished people to provide some testimonies, and a few more experts to interview. It never ends.

Goh KC said one should never promise the people that writing a book is easy. It is not. A author must shared his interpretation of the principles, his experience and insight.

There is a local writer who wrote about public speaking. I could not sense his personal contribution, I could not feel his personality nor his soul in the book. All he probably did was to compile 2nd hand knowledge. I could not hear his own voice.

Writing a book is very easy. But writing a good book - prepare to write a dozen times and fill up the dustbin with your precious masterpiece.

I am in labour pain now. Only I alone bears my baby. When can I deliver it?

Money Money

Where to Get Money

Sarah and Marie occasionally see me draw money from the ATM.
When I tell them I don't have the money to buy them their wishes, they have a simple answer.

"Go to the ATM lah!"

"Just put the card inside, press the buttons and the money will come out"

My Friend is Dying

My Friend is Dying

I met Francis, my ex-colleague at his office.
"Are you in touch with our old birds especially Annie and Agnes?" I asked
"Annie is dying" he said, without breaking a smile.
"Are you serious or joking?"

Annie was admitted to the hospice since Jan this year. She had a relapse of cancer. Now she is all bones covered with a mere flesh. She cannot open her eyes and she cannot talk. She is born in 1960. She is younger than me.

Annie and I were colleagues in the Army for 12 years. It's painful to think that we were young, happy and beautiful in our youth once, but now in our old age, there is no resemblance to that beauty.

And now she is lying in her bed, waiting for God's angel to claim her to end her pain. It is painful to lose a dear friend like her. The last time I spoke to her was when I spoke to her at the car park as she waited for the transport to take her home.

She was always the secretive one. When she dated my buddy, she kept it a secret until the day she got married. In her sickness, she kept this dark secret from me.

We grew up together. Now, all that's left is the sweet memory of our yesteryears.

ps: She has left the day after.

Do Brain and Beauty Go Together?

Do Brain and Beauty Go Together?

Comedian Michael Hui don't think so.

He said, "How can beauty and intelligence be in the same woman? Intelligence is just God's compensation to ugly women."

Taiwan mourned the death of popular TV comedian Ni Min-jan. He committed suicide. Ni was said to have been suffering from depression.

See, even comedians and clowns can feel depressed enough to die.
Maybe they forgot to laugh at their own jokes.
Maybe it is just an act.
Whatever, depression is not a joke. Depression kills.

When I was at the deepest valley of depression, I went for a music and laughter therapy, such as watching comedy movies and laugh as much as I can.

Someone tried that and it was said that his terminal cancer disappeared in the sea of laughter.

Depression the disease, laughter the cure.
Go ahead...and laugh. If you think it is funny.

Start with Yourself

Start with Yourself

The Bible says 'Don't throw pearls before swine.' Cos they don't know how to appreciate it. Sometimes you dispense wisdom but they cannot digest it. Wisdom cannot be taught. It has to be experienced.

Sometimes it is fruitless to give pearls of truth cos their mind are not ready to receive it.

Now I have learnt to keep my mouth shut...especially to critics and skeptics.
Now I have learnt not to tell about future plans too readily. Get it done quietly and then announce it.


John C Maxwel said something so simple yet so profound.
How do you become a leader if you have no people to lead? He say, starts with yourself. When you can lead yourself, then you can lead others. Start with yourself. When you have been there, you can tell others to follow you. If you master yourself, you become a tour guide rather than a tour agent. A tour agent says, "Go there". A tour guide says, "Follow me"

He say to me that "you may have trouble finding another leader to mentor you but you can't use that excuse...so don't sit around waiting for someone else to help you - start learning and growing yourself!"

He said, "You can't teach what you haven't learned."

Words of Encouragement

Words of Encouragement

I had a number of manuscripts waiting to touch the finishing line.

One of my manuscripts, the WITS book, was hibernation for 2 months. KC finally found the time and send me these encouraging words. He said that it can be a best seller.

He said, "Your manuscript is like a pretty lady who don't know how to dress and wear
makeup to win her suitors."

He suggested a change of title and change of target readers. I saw the light. He suggested two versions of the book for different audience - the civil servants and the corporate employees.

So near, yet so far to my dreams. A lot of obstacles along the way. One of the obstacles is money. Cost a few thousand dollars to publish. A lot of sweat..from writing to publishing to marketing. To publish a book is easy but to publish one that's worth reading is very hard work.

Wee Kim Wee

Wee Kim Wee

Wee Kim Wee passed away yesterday.

"We come into this world with nothing on our backs and we will leave with nothing...Before we leave, we return to society what it has given us. We try to treat every person as a human being" ~ The former president (1915 - 2005)

You are Unique

You are Unique

You are unique. So is everyone.

Wink and Grow Rich

Wink and Grow Rich

I went to the Times Book Warehouse Sale at the Expo Yesterday.
Bought the book 'Wink and Grow Rich' for only $4.
Just wonder why it has become so cheap.
Wonder how come we wink a million times and we don't grow rich.

Ps: Actually it is a parable on wealth. A good read. Like a modern version of "The Richest Man in Babylon".

If You Know the Answer, Why are You Not Rich?

If You Know the Answer, Why are You Not Rich?
We read books on the Strategies of Millionaires.
We know their strategies. We know how they become rich.
Yet few people got rich.
Why?
We do not lack the knowledge. We lack the will.
Knowledge is only potential power.
But when apply, it is true power.

I have the gut feeling that only desperate people will succeed.

You know what to do. But will you do what you know?