Robert Raymer's Blog, page 14

“Neighbours” Gets Extension for SPM Literature in English through 2014!

“Neighbours” my short story from Lovers and Strangers Revisited and part of the 6th cycle for SPM Literature in English since 2008, gets another extension and will now be taught through 2014!  If you go to Bastian’s Way, Literature in English – 2008-2014 she has posted the 6th cycle, links to four of the stories, to readings of several of the poems, some plots summaries, and a lot of helpful articles on how to write literature essays.
MELTA used to have a thread on my story “Neighbours” on their SPM Literature in English forum that had over 20,500 hits and 30 pages of comments (around 290) before they archived it.  But now it has disappeared altogether, which is a shame for teachers and students since there were a lot of  insightful views posted there.  I had posted several comments of my own, the author’s perspective, plus some background into writing the story such as The Story Behind the Story and an early version of “Neighbours, A Suicide, and Making Choices” from Tropical Affairs 
In December 2011, I did come across an extensive “Neighbours” character analysis posted by Speech Bubble.  Then there is Denis Harry’s New Strait Times 2010 amusing and insightful comment “Are You Mrs. Koh?” 
In other “Neighbours” news, in January 2012, “Neighbours” appeared as one of 18 “pearls”in the pearl tree of American writers compiled by team Short Story Collection   This was the first I had heard about the content curators Pearltrees, which is worth checking out. Here is their 40 second video. If you click on the “Neighbours by Robert Raymer” pearl it’ll take you directly to the short story.  Plus you can read some of the other short stories posted too, like Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” which I used to teach in my creative writing courses.  Unlike in my short story "The Future Barrister" from the same collection, this is a lottery that you don’t want to win!

"Neighbours" Gets Extension for SPM Literature in English through 2014!

"Neighbours" my short story from Lovers and Strangers Revisited and part of the 6th cycle for SPM Literature in English since 2008, gets another extension and will now be taught through 2014!  If you go to Bastian's Way, Literature in English – 2008-2014 she has posted the 6th cycle, links to four of the stories, to readings of several of the poems, some plots summaries, and a lot of helpful articles on how to write literature essays.
MELTA used to have a thread on my story "Neighbours" on their SPM Literature in English forum that had over 20,500 hits and 30 pages of comments (around 290) before they archived it.  But now it has disappeared altogether, which is a shame for teachers and students since there were a lot of  insightful views posted there.  I had posted several comments of my own, the author's perspective, plus some background into writing the story such as The Story Behind the Story and an early version of "Neighbours, A Suicide, and Making Choices" from Tropical Affairs 
In December 2011, I did come across an extensive "Neighbours" character analysis posted by Speech Bubble.  Then there is Denis Harry's New Strait Times 2010 amusing and insightful comment "Are You Mrs. Koh?" 
In other "Neighbours" news, in January 2012, "Neighbours" appeared as one of 18 "pearls"in the pearl tree of American writers compiled by team Short Story Collection   This was the first I had heard about the content curators Pearltrees, which is worth checking out. Here is their 40 second video. If you click on the "Neighbours by Robert Raymer" pearl it'll take you directly to the short story.  Plus you can read some of the other short stories posted too, like Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" which I used to teach in my creative writing courses.  Unlike in my short story "The Future Barrister" from the same collection, this is a lottery that you don't want to win!

“Only in Malaysia” to be taught at Ohio University

“Only in Malaysia” from Lovers and Strangers Revisited will be taught at Ohio University in the USA in a class titled "Exploring Malaysia's Diversity through Film and Fiction" by Habibah Ashari PhD, Tun Abdul Razak Chair at the Center for International Studies.  “Home for Hari Raya” a second story from the collection may also be taught for the same class, though not yet confirmed.   
I’ve been invited to take part in an upcoming Skype conference with the students (my first), which should be exciting especially since it’ll take place 6:30 am Malaysia time!  This way we can coordinate with their class time at Ohio University. (If only their class time was at 8am, it'd be 8 pm here, but with the little boys it won't be so quiet!)
This will be my second Ohio University connection.  In December 2011, I was informed by Frederick Lewis, a professor of film/video at Ohio University that he and his students will be adapting my short story “Home for Hari Raya” into a film.
 “Only in Malaysia” is now the eighth story from the collection, as far as I know, that has been taught at a university or private college in Malaysia or overseas. The others are: "Neighbours", "Smooth Stones", "Waiting", "Home for Hari Raya", "Mat Salleh",  "On Fridays", "Symmetry".  Then the collection was taught at USM in a "Singaporean and Malaysian Literature English" course at University Sains Malaysia. 

"Neighbours" has also been taught in SPM Literature in Malaysia—and it just got another extension to 2014!  A ninth story "Teh-O in KL" has been taught in high school in Canada, which I found out by accident years after it was already being taught. If you happen to know of others, please let me know.  Thanks!   —Borneo Expat Writer
*Skyping with Ohio University 
**Here's the link to my website, to MPH online for orders for all three of my books, including my latest, Spirit of Malaysia and to the French translation of Lovers and Strangers Revisited, Trois autres Malaisie.  Thanks!

"Only in Malaysia" to be taught at Ohio University

"Only in Malaysia" from Lovers and Strangers Revisited will be taught at Ohio University in the USA in a class titled "Exploring Malaysia's Diversity through Film and Fiction" by Habibah Ashari PhD, Tun Abdul Razak Chair at the Center for International Studies.  "Home for Hari Raya" a second story from the collection may also be taught for the same class, though not yet confirmed.   
I've been invited to take part in an upcoming Skype conference with the students (my first), which should be exciting especially since it'll take place 6:30 am Malaysia time!  This way we can coordinate with their class time at Ohio University. (If only their class time was at 8am, it'd be 8 pm here, but with the little boys it won't be so quiet!)
This will be my second Ohio University connection.  In December 2011, I was informed by Frederick Lewis, a professor of film/video at Ohio University that he and his students will be adapting my short story "Home for Hari Raya" into a film.
 "Only in Malaysia" is now the eighth story from the collection, as far as I know, that has been taught at a university or private college in Malaysia or overseas. The others are: "Neighbours", "Smooth Stones", "Waiting", "Home for Hari Raya", "Mat Salleh",  "On Fridays", "Symmetry".  Then the collection was taught at USM in a "Singaporean and Malaysian Literature English" course at University Sains Malaysia. 

"Neighbours" has also been taught in SPM Literature in Malaysia—and it just got a three year extension to 2014!  A ninth story "Teh-O in KL" has been taught in high school in Canada, which I found out by accident years after it was already being taught. If you happen to know of others, please let me know.  Thanks!   —Borneo Expat Writer
 *Here's the link to my website, to MPH online for orders for all three of my books, including my latest, Spirit of Malaysia and to the French translation of Lovers and Strangers Revisited, Trois autres Malaisie.  Thanks!

Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Quarterfinals 2012—The Resurrection of Jonathan Brady!

The Resurrection of Jonathan Brady beat out 95% of the competition to make it through to the Quarterfinals of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award 2012!
While Round One (5000 entries) was based solely on the 300-word pitch,  Round Two was judged by Amazon top customer reviewers from ratings of a 5,000 word excerpt, about 16 pages.   

For the Quarterfinals, Publishers Weekly reviewers will read the full manuscript of each quarter finalist (250), and based on their review scores, the top 50 in each category (General Fiction and Young Adults Fiction) will move on to the semifinals, to be announced on 24 April.   

That's when Penguin USA editors will read the full manuscript and review all accompanying data for each semifinalist and will then select three finalists in each category.  The Amazon customers will then vote on the three finalists resulting in the grand prize winner (one for each category) being offered a $15,000 publishing contract with Penguin USA and distribution of your novel on Amazon.com.
In 2010, an earlier version of The Resurrection of Jonathan Brady made it to Round Two (another novel made it in 2011). Then last year, after a major overhaul of the novel, and changing the title from The Lonely Affair of Jonathan Brady to The Resurrection of Jonathan Brady, it was shortlisted for 2011 Faulkner-Wisdom Award.  I knew I was on the right track, so I revised the novel last July/August 2011 and again January/February 2012 for this year's competition.
So with 95% of the competition down, there's 5% more to go (the best of the best)!  To reach the semi-finals, the odds are one out of five.  I like those odds.  At this point, all the hard work has been done, and for the rest of us left in the competition, all we can do is keep our fingers crossed and wait.   

For me, I'll be spending that time advancing another novel, The Girl in the Bathtub, which was a shortlisted for the 2011 Faulkner-Wisdom Award for Novel-in-Progress, a follow up to my Penang novel, A Perfect Day for an Expat Exit, a semi-finalist in the 2011 Faulkner-Wisdom.
I'm getting closer to breaking out, and with Lovers and Strangers Revisited already translated into French, who knows what's in store for this 2012 Leap Year.  All the best!          —Borneo Expat Writer
 **Here's the link to my website, to MPH online for orders for all three of my books, including my latest, Spirit of Malaysia and to the French translation of Lovers and Strangers Revisited, Trois autres Malaisie.  Thanks!

Amazon Breakthrough Quarterfinals 2012—The Resurrection of Jonathan Brady!

The Resurrection of Jonathan Brady beat out 95% of the competition to make it through to the Quarterfinals of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award 2012!
While Round One (5000 entries) was based solely on the 300-word pitch,  Round Two was judged by Amazon top customer reviewers from ratings of a 5,000 word excerpt, about 16 pages.   

For the Quarterfinals, Publishers Weekly reviewers will read the full manuscript of each quarter finalist (250), and based on their review scores, the top 50 in each category (General Fiction and Young Adults Fiction) will move on to the semifinals, to be announced on 24 April.   

That's when Penguin USA editors will read the full manuscript and review all accompanying data for each semifinalist and will then select three finalists in each category.  The Amazon customers will then vote on the three finalists resulting in the grand prize winner (one for each category) being offered a $15,000 publishing contract with Penguin USA and distribution of your novel on Amazon.com.
In 2010, an earlier version of The Resurrection of Jonathan Brady made it to Round Two (another novel made it in 2011). Then last year, after a major overhaul of the novel, and changing the title from The Lonely Affair of Jonathan Brady to The Resurrection of Jonathan Brady, it was shortlisted for 2011 Faulkner-Wisdom Award.  I knew I was on the right track, so I revised the novel last July/August 2011 and again January/February 2012 for this year's competition.
So with 95% of the competition down, there's 5% more to go (the best of the best)!  To reach the semi-finals, the odds are one out of five.  I like those odds.  At this point, all the hard work has been done, and for the rest of us left in the competition, all we can do is keep our fingers crossed and wait.   

For me, I'll be spending that time advancing another novel, The Girl in the Bathtub, which was a shortlisted for the 2011 Faulkner-Wisdom Award for Novel-in-Progress, a follow up to my Penang novel, A Perfect Day for an Expat Exit, a semi-finalist in the 2011 Faulkner-Wisdom.
I'm getting closer to breaking out, and with Lovers and Strangers Revisited already translated into French, who knows what's in store for this 2012 Leap Year.  All the best!          p—Borneo Expat Writer
 **Here's the link to my website, to MPH online for orders for all three of my books, including my latest, Spirit of Malaysia and to the French translation of Lovers and Strangers Revisited, Trois autres Malaisie.  Thanks!

Going French—Via Borneo: The Serpentine Publishing Road of Lovers and Strangers Revisited

"You're revising it?  I thought you just send them the book?" a fellow American writer in Borneo replied a year ago, when I mentioned that I would be busy the next two weeks revising all the stories for Lovers and Strangers Revisited.  I had just told him that it was confirmed that Éditions GOPE will be translating my collection of Malaysian-set stories into French.         "Yeah, you could do that," I could've replied, but instead, I told him that I saw this as an opportunity to improve the stories for future markets.  I want the best French translation out there and the best English version, too.  Now that I'm getting the book into Europe, other readers might recommend it to other foreign-language publishers in nearby countries, especially those with an interest in or ties to Malaysia or Southeast Asia.          Writing from Borneo (or anywhere) is never a straight path to publication; it's more serpen­tine like a meandering river through the lush tropical jungle, often invisible at times and then there it is.  Just as quickly it's gone, elusive as a pesky mosquito that you have in your sights just as it's about to draw blood.  You strike, positive you got it, but then, how in the world did you let that opportunity get away?  When it comes to writing, I'd rather not miss those opportunities, so I keep revising those stories.           Twenty-five years ago, I took my writing itch from Madison, Wisconsin to the tropical island of Penang, off the west coast of Malaysia.  "Mat Salleh", a short story about meeting my non-English-speaking-in-laws in Malaysia that I wrote for a correspon­dence course quickly found a home in the New Straits Times.  I sold it again a few months later to My Weekly in the UK, for my second short story sale and second overseas publication.  I knew I was onto something.            In addition to selling more short stories in Malaysia, I sold stories to literary journals and magazines in Singapore, Japan, France, Denmark, India, Australia and United States.  In 1993 I compiled 15 of my Malaysian-set short stories into a collection, Lovers and Strangers for a Singapore based publisher Heinemann Asia.  A few years later the publisher was bought out and then another publisher bought that one out and my collection was orphaned.  I con­tinued to revise my stories, selling them locally in Malaysia/Singapore as well as overseas, mostly in Australia and the UK.            In 2005 a Malaysian professor contacted me about including the collection in his course on postcolonial writing, so I convinced Silverfish, a Malaysian publisher whom I had pre­vious­ly worked with as an editor for an anthology, to republish the stories—but first I wanted to overhaul them.  I knew I could make the stories better than merely revising them as I had been doing all along over the years. 
So I hired an American editor living in Malaysia to rip them apart, even though all but one had been published.  Many of the stories had been published several times in several countries.  It was a humbling process.  I then revisited each story—from the initial inspiration to some of the original settings—and renamed the collec­tion Lovers and Strangers Revisited.
After moving to Sarawak, the Malaysian part of Borneo, I encountered some distribu­tion problems getting the books to the Borneo bookstores, so I agreed to buy out the last of the old stock and switched publishers.  Thus began another round of self-editing before submit­ting the collection with an additional two more stories written around the same time to be published for the third time by MPH in 2008.          When someone blogged about the fact that I revised my published stories, several writers seemed to take offense.  One author from Australia said she would never do that with her collection, but after I clarified my reasons, she added that she sort of wished she had done the same because she knew she could've improved them.          For me, that first collection back in 1993 was the best version—at the time.  But after teaching creating writing and grammar for over a decade, plus revising all of my students work (and my own), I became a better writer.  Now it was merely applying what I was teach­ing and being honest with myself.  Is that the best you can do?  I felt vindicated when the collec­tion went on to win the 2009 Popular-Reader's Choice Award for Fiction.          To help publicize the latest collection, I wrote a blog series The Story Behind the Story for all 17 stories, separating fact from fiction and noting the significant changes that led to their various publications.  While making comparisons between the first collection and the latest collec­tion, I was surprised by how much the stories had truly evolved.  It's not just the details, the preciseness of language, but significant changes in the beginnings and endings; changes in points of view; and changes in verb tenses from past to present . . . . Some of the stories doubled in length; they had whole new scenes added on at the end, or back-stories weaved throughout the story to make them more complete.          The first blog on the story "On Fridays" has been even accepted for publication by The Writer (USA) as a future Writer-at-Work piece.  The revisited stories (and even the accompanying blogs) have been taught in secondary schools, universities and private colleges throughout Malaysia.  Several stories have since been published in online literary journals in Hong Kong and Turkey; and in the Literary Review, Thema, and Aim in the US and Descant in Canada—twenty years after I first wrote them.          So far those 17 short stories have now been published 81 times in twelve countries.          Then in 2011 the French publisher GOPE contacted me; after reading two of my stories online, the collection has now been translated into French as Trois autres Malaisie, which literally translates as "Three Other Malaysia".  Reviews are just starting to come in. 
This may never have happened had I not left the wintry (and freezing) Wisconsin for the tropical (and humid) Malaysia.  I figured, even if I never published a story, I wouldn't be shoveling any snow.  Writing from the tropics does have its benefits, though I won't mention the mosquitoes . . . . And who knows where my stories—after having gone French via Borneo—will end up next?

Now it's just been confirmed, MPH is turning Lovers and Strangers Revisited into an e-book! That means another round of editing (plus adding those French revisions back into the MPH book). Already Ohio University has contacted me about filming "Home for Hari Raya". They came across that old 1993 collection in their library and were initially interested in "Mat Salleh", but after talking on the phone and sending them a copy of the latest collection, they settled on "Home for Hari Raya."  A couple of those stories may be taught by another professor in their Southeast Asia Studies program.          Ultimately this could lead the whole collection on a homeward journey to the US, which is why I keep revising those stories. . . . I want them to be more than ready.  I'm also hoping this serpentine road from Borneo never ends . . .   
                        —Borneo Expat Writer
**Update: Here's an update to the French blog about Trois autres Malaisie and links to the first two reviews of Trois Autres Malaisie. 

**Here's the link to my website, to MPH online for orders for all three of my books, including my latest, Spirit of Malaysia, and to the French translation of Lovers and Strangers Revisited Trois autres Malaisie.  Thanks for your interest!

Power of Five Your Way to Success with Passion, Patience, Perseverance

The Writer, after accepting my "Power of Five" article in Quill, asked me to cut down the original from 1100 words to 700 words so it'd fit on one page, initially a chore but once I started chopping, the article vastly improved.  It's punchier, to the point and a timely "action" reminder for Leap Year.  This idea came out of another Quill article "Small Increments, Big Results" that I wrote back in 2009, a good example of how one article can lead to another and then lead to another.
More importantly, the moment I sent this revised article off, I sent out five other articles/ideas to other editors and I plan to submit five more today after this blog.  As I wrote in the article "Enthusiasm . . . breeds discipline, and discipline—results."   For me, as a writer, results are publications and paychecks.  But even a non-writer can benefit from the advice.  Just apply it to your own needs.  Good luck.   
Power of Five Your Way to Success with Passion, Patience, Perseverance    "I'd rather be a failure at something I enjoy," George Burns once said, "than be a success at something I hate."  This most definitely applies to writing.  To increase my chances of success, I've been putting into practice what I call The Power of Five, adapted from Jack Canfield's Rule of Five, whereby each workday, I try to send out at least five submissions—short stories, articles, or query letters to editors and agents.

I'm creating a new habit of marketing what I've written on a consistent, persistent basis.  Five is all I ask.  By thinking small, those Power of Five submis­sions have been adding up to 100 per month (or 40 if you work weekends).  This is a far cry from my previous marketing habit of "whenever I get around to it", whereby months, years would go by and hardly anything would be sent out.  Now I'm excited about the Power of Five, excited by the possibilities.
Enthusiasm, by the way, breeds discipline, and discipline—results.  What you sow, you reap.  I try to squeeze in a few before breaking for lunch . . . or before calling it a day, especially at the end of the month.  When I'm on a roll those numbers escalate.  Other days can be a struggle.
Once I made the Power of Five a habit, I committed myself to doing a daily double, by also advancing a major backburner project, even if only for an hour before going to bed.  By doing this day in, day out, for an entire month, every month, those months will add up to a highly produc­tive year.  That's the goal.
The real reason I'm doing this is to face my fears (of writing and marketing) so I can tame it.  You can never truly eliminate fear, but you can keep it under control (a whip and chair also helps).  There's a fine line between success and failure and that difference is often fear.  We fear, on a subconscious level, both success (all that hard work to get there and the pressure to stay there) and failure (being called a loser or a washed up writer).  That explains why we sometimes "drop the ball".  Why we suddenly misplace important information that's critical to our success (a document, an email contact), or procrastinate until the last moment, thus guaran­teeing a rush job, assuming we even complete it.  Or we make our­selves "too busy" to get around to the important career-defining stuff.
"Look at all that work piling up—I'm way too busy to write a book!"
Busy doing what?
These are self-sabotaging actions caused by our unconscious belief system that we "don't deserve success", or "that we're not good enough" or we're afraid we'll be "exposed as a fraud".  Who me?  A best-selling, award willing writer?  Ha!   Writing can be scary, but the only way to overcome fear is to face it, acknowledge it, and do what you fear—write that book, contact that agent, market your work—and have faith in your own ability.
It all begins with passion!  If you don't have passion in what you do, you won't have the patience to complete it, nor the perseverance to see it through to its ultimate success.  This stuff is not easy, but it is doable.  For many writers it's routine.  It's all about your attitude, isn't it?
Besides, on the other side of that fear, on the other side of that self-imposed brick wall, is what you really want, right?  Fear never gets you anywhere.  It merely holds you back, paralyzes you into inaction.  So now I focus on what I want to achieve and give myself deadlines to accom­plish it.  I have faith that my passion, my patience, and my perseverance will see me through.
So what five submissions can you make today (or this weekend) that will take you a step closer to achieving your goals?  Write it down and take immediate action.  The longer you delay, the more you guarantee it won't get done.  Again, it's that underlying fear of success/failure that's holding you back.  Do it now while the thought is there and Power of Five your way to success.      —Borneo Expat Writer 

Link to my website, to MPH online for orders for all three of my books, including my latest, Spirit of Malaysia and to the French translation of Lovers and Strangers Revisited, Trois autres Malaisie. Thanks!

Creative Writing Workshop—Torture or Fun? Quill Jan-Mar 2012

 
*December 2011 workshop in Kuching
Link to my website, to MPH online for orders for all three of my books, including my latest, Spirit of Malaysia and to the French translation of Lovers and Strangers Revisited, Trois autres Malaisie. Thanks!

Trois Autres Malaisie—Another Review in Malaisie.org

Trois autres Malaisie, the French translation of Lovers and Strangers Revisited, not only has a second review in Malaisie.org but my Wikipedia page  is now in French Wikipedia!

*Here's the first review on eurasie.net 
**Links to the intro and excerpts, and also to order as well as my meeting the French translator Jerome Bouchaud in Kuching.

***Link to my website, to MPH online for orders for all three of my books, including my latest, Spirit of Malaysia and to the French translation of Lovers and Strangers Revisited, Trois autres Malaisie.  Thanks!