I am presently working on a collection of heartwarming poetry. These draw upon the introspective and mischevious episodes connected to water, ice and snow, with a particular penchant for the severe winter of last November and December which I was thrown into with relish, while in Dublin, Ireland. It was a time when my subconscious spirit bowed in ecstasy to inspiration.
While stranded for days in my apartment, I enthusiastically produced a series of prolific musings and rhymes, for hours in a row. I love Nature and landscapes speak to me so well through sedate pastoral reflections. I have always stayed reverential to the subject of water…the oceans…rivers, brooks, streams, a running tap…a working well… So many of my glorious childhood memories are infused by the distant rhythms of cold and noisy splashings on skin, from the nostalgic recollections of old-fashioned bathrooms in Malaysia. My mind’s eye still journals the forgotten mirrored puddles from where my plastic pink fishes eagerly sought their temporary getaway after a thunderstorm. I still remember the hazy, scenic views of faraway ships at the nearby Morib seaside also. Here, my father would gaily drive me to the coast at a time close to departing sunsets, from when I was as young as four.
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Due to an unfortunate circumstance with someone last Christmas and the start of the year, I halted promotions for my first little book of alternative verse and prose although I could have attempted a buoyant start. Still, several months have now passed and that disappointing episode together with its accompanying memory, have been thankfully banished, into an obscure time-frame of the past, complete with its vague, murky space.
Thus, I was heartily encouraged the other day, to view without any probing on Google; the number of international online booksellers that continue to pop up, to faithfully market Call the Ships of Dar-es-Salaam. I am quite surprised as a result. I was also thrilled to see my title on Amazon’s brand-new Spanish site.
I am fortunate that my book is displayed in every country so far that hosts an Amazon site. I have observed that this isn’t always the case for every author and especially not all Malaysian authors who may have been either published by a Kuala Lumpur publisher or self-published. I may not be in worldwide bookstores but wait for me with eventual traditional publishing and I shall get there. Still, on the worldwide web, I am in several continents and countries. I am at a bookstore in Dublin just across the road from Trinity College and my title can be ordered at the Customer Services section of any bookstore from the UK. The most important thing is that the book stays available to the public-at-large and thanks to a marvellous print-on-demand feature, can be swiftly printed and packaged, for any urgent call.
Since this paperback with its excellent quality was produced by a small English publisher in England and is considered hardly conventional for mainstream publishing, I am responsible as a result, for any dismal sales in question. But at least the exposure and promising global markets with their aptitude to distribution, both continue with willingness, to tempt me to begin promotions anytime I want. I think that in all earnestness, I have reached a new chapter in my life where I am now keen to perform this venture with refreshed vigour and without looking back to past events. I have become superbly self-contained with books, travel and films luring me with cheerful bullying tendency into a futuristic era and transforming my vast perceptions on life and human character, while diligently serving as endearing teachers.