Gloria Ng's Blog, page 2

New Moms Book - #99cents today!

Hi, I'm Gloria.

I strongly believe that motherhood is THE toughest and most important job women can ever have.

Just this morning, I met another mother at story time at my local public library. She told me about her sister-in-law, how postpartum depression had basically ruined her marriage. The quick change from independent woman to a primary caregiver mostly responsible for the life of another being that is completely dependent upon her, the lack of sleep, the lack of social support, and so forth resulted in her getting a divorce in the first year of her marriage. Although now remarried, it took her three years and intensive therapy to get out of the funk of postpartum depression and regain stability in her life.

Her sister-in-law's experience made me remember another friend's experience, who also divorced within her first year. Although her infant was one month old and her mother-in-law had come to support during the postpartum period, the two women were butting heads over infant care and she didn't feel she could say anything because she was supposed to be grateful. Plus, she wasn't supposed to make her husband choose between his mother or his wife, right?

As I meet more mothers and hear more experiences of their experiences and those that they have shared with me about other mothers, I increasingly remember why I felt so passionate about editing the new moms book I did two years ago. I wanted to gather as many mothers together to share their wisdom and practical advice as I could so that the next new mom could benefit.

I intended the book to be a compass, a rite of passage for new moms. This passion stems from my own experience with Baby #1: a home birth transfer (41 hours of labor!), poor latch (baby not getting fed), sore/cracked nipples for weeks (didn't have faith I could even continue with nursing!), no family or nannies or mama friends around, constant second-guessing (first of my immediate friendship circle to be a mom), low energy (can't go out much and meet/network with other moms) plus there's a new life (the baby) and housework (what? get out of bed?!) and of course my changing relationship (if I still had one!) with my mate . . . well, you get the picture.

Nothing around me prepared me for motherhood in the first 3 months after delivery nor the first year postpartum. I mean, I see a lot of books on pregnancy for life before delivery and then I see lots of books on parenting for life after delivery. Anything addressing the postpartum period for moms mostly talks about postpartum depression or how to get back to your pre-baby shape or weight! The lack of books addressing the delicate, quick, and often overwhelming transition into motherhood became very apparent. 

Thus, I made it my mission to create a holistic book that encompasses as much of postpartum life as I could for new moms. I hope that you feel just as passionate about such a book that exists as I do and choose to gift this book to a new mom or mom-to-be in your life to make it easier for the next new mom you see.

Below is the blurb for the book. The digital edition is on sale October 15th at the bargain price of $0.99. Please help spread the word by sharing or tweeting this blog post (see below).

Thank you in advance!

xoxo,
Gloria
New Moms, New Families: Priceless Gifts of Wisdom and Practical Advice from Mama Experts for the Fourth Trimester and First Year Postpartum  Edited by Gloria Ng, Amazon Bestselling Author
Foreword by Kristen Graser, Community Midwife

Available in ebook and paperback.

Get the ebook here:
Kindle  |  iBooks  |  Nook  |  Google  |  Kobo

HAND IN HAND, TOGETHER WE CAN 

First-time moms strive to carry babies to term and experience easy labor. Few are prepared for the immediate challenges after delivery, the "fourth trimester." Thus, this unique and holistic collection of alternative tips and practical advice for Moms by Moms was born.

Deepen your breath with essential oils and clean air. Warm your tummy with nourishing foods. Feel your center and strengthen your core with intuition. Share and rediscover with your baby the joy of nature and language. Learn to ask questions, settle anxieties, and employ strategies when you suspect developmental delays. Equip yourself with a postpartum depression-busting wellness plan as well as a process to become sensational in the face of being a single mom. Plan ahead with finances and luck cycles. Most importantly, awaken refreshed from great “mountain” feng shui. 

Let these amazing mama entrepreneurs and professionals from diverse fields of expertise hold your hand, save you time, change your life and give you more sleep! 

FOR MOMS BY MOMS ABOUT MOMS 

For the first time, new mothers can expect to find a book that is entirely devoted to smoothing out the rapid transition after delivery when creating a new family. This book, unlike many others, is focused on helping the new mom navigate all areas of care that a new arrival necessitates. 

The chapters in this book emerge as five sections: 
~  Mama Care , especially for the first six weeks after delivery (with yummy postpartum recipes from Traditional Chinese Medicine traditions) 
~  Self Care , to give new moms permission to care for themselves (including essential oils and cultivating one's Mother Intuition) 
~  Baby Care , to make motherhood easier for mama (e.g., cloth diapering made easy) 
~  Home Care , for peaceful havens (indoors and out) 
~  Family Care , for easing into parenthood with a significant other (including financial planning and adventures in multilingualism) Available in ebook and paperback.

Get the ebook here:
Kindle  |  iBooks  |  Nook  |  Google  |  Kobo Multi-published, Amazon bestselling author Gloria Ng is an Oakland-based mother of three who writes on Owl Time. Her work has appeared in anthologies, including YELL-Oh Girls! Emerging Voices Explore Culture, Identity, and Growing Up Asian American. (HarperCollins, 2001) Seeing the lack of bilingual books to read to her children, she created the Mama Gloria Chinese-English Bilingual Books series. 

For forthcoming book updates, sign up for her newsletter: http://eepurl.com/fSDdD

Gloria welcomes emails from readers, writers, and reviewers. 
Contact or Interact with Gloria Online:
Facebook: facebook.com/FengShuiGal
Facebook Author page: facebook.com/GloriaFanPage
Twitter: @fengshuigal
Blog/Website: GloriaNg.com

Of Words and Water 2014 - Anthology Release in Support of @WaterAid

I am so pleased to be able to host a guest post by multiple authors from the newest Of Words and Water 2014 anthology in support of WaterAid. Author photos are courtesy of profile photos posted on Goodreads. Read about the people who have contributed to this anthology, starting with editor Jay Howard! Kudos to Jay for bringing a wonderful group of authors together for such a great cause! Jay Howard, Author and Editor Author and Editor Jay Howard I live, work and write in the county of Somerset in England. I have published two novels, Never Too Late and New Beginnings , an anthology of short stories published in support of Saluki Welfare Fund, called As the Sun Goes Down, and recently published a second anthology called Similar Differences . I am currently working on my third novel, A Strong Brew, in collaboration with poet Ryan Stone. Smashwords  |  Amazon
1. What inspired you to contribute to the anthology?

In 2012, just before Christmas, we had a cake sale for WaterAid, so the global water situation was on my mind. I got a bit tipsy during the holiday and suggested to my online author friends that it wasn’t fair that we had so much to drink and others had so little, not even a glass of clean water; we should use our talents to share our good fortune. And, like Topsy, it just ‘grow’d’.

 
2. Rain, snow, or ice? Why?

Rain, after a hot spell, when I'm sitting in my garden listening to the plants drink deeply and sigh with relief.
 

3. Can you tell us a little bit about your story?

Both stories were inspired by topics set on the Goodreads Weekly Short Story group’s forum; one was ‘your favourite song’, the other was ‘red letter’. I don’t have a favourite song as such, but I’ve always like Moon River. As for red letter, the topic was meant to be ‘red letter day’, or ‘red letter’ as in correspondence or the alphabet, but my immediate response of hilarity on the forum led to a challenge to write a story that involved a red condom. I really must learn better control of my mind, or at least restrain the fingers on the keyboard!


Elizabeth Los, Author Elizabeth Los, Author Elizabeth uses writing as therapy, her release from everyday stress. At night, after work and once the children are finally tucked in bed, for the fifth time, she sits at her laptop and lets her imagination flow. Elizabeth has produced short stories, one of which will be published in an anthology. She had a blast writing a Sherlock Holmes fan fiction story entitled A Case of Need, based on the BBC’s Sherlock. By July 2011, her first novel, Second on the Right, had been completed. She spent several years polishing the story in order to provide a high quality product to the public. Second on the Right is her first professional novel.

She currently lives in Southern California with her husband, children, as well as a rambunctious Black Labrador and an enormous yet lovable Saint Bernard.
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Goodreads  |  Amazon 1. What inspired you to contribute to the anthology?

I met Jay when I was just starting out as an Indie author and on Goodreads. She was so kind and helpful, the way I think all of us should be towards each other. No question was too dumb for her! When I learned that she was starting Of Words and Water, I thought it was an amazing project and a worthy cause. But I wasn't yet comfortable with contributing yet. I needed to work on improving my writing some before attempting any such story for this anthology. All of the writers in both the 2013 and 2014 anthologies are quality writers. It was in 2014 that I contacted Jay privately with an idea I had for a short story. She gave me guidance that I needed so I could contribute this year. It isn't about the recognition. It's about helping support such a great cause and at the same time some great authors that I'm honored to consider friends.

2. Rain, snow, or ice? Why?

Rain! I love the gloomy weather. I've always been partial to it. I remember visiting Florida, specifically Epcot Center. My favorite part was walking around the lake and the skies opening up in an unexpected downpour. It was awesome!

3. Can you tell us a little bit about your story?

Two o’clock in the afternoon. A typical scene, an ordinary room. For hundreds of people, this would be the perfect time to rest, an intermission from the stresses of life. To Evie Frye sleep had been the enemy, and the sleep yet to come will threaten her grip on reality.

'Sleep' was inspired by my own experience with sleep paralysis, though, at the time I really didn’t know what ‘it’ was. Working in the medical field, I imagined the worst. I had recently read Michael J. Fox’s book, his experience with Parkinson’s disease. I never voiced my concern, but it was in the back of my mind, nagging me on a daily basis: What form of malignancy was taking over my body?
It wasn’t until one night, while watching television of all things, that I discovered what it was. On the show, one of the characters had casually mentioned the term ‘sleep paralysis’. Though it wasn’t important to the plot and I had never heard of it before, nevertheless a curiosity sparked within me. That’s when I began my search for information. 

I’ve found this to me true: the unknown is frightening. Not knowing why my body is acting outside the normal can be nerve-racking. And though the Internet can hold many wonderful resources, it can also be a detriment. When typing in my symptoms, I could have easily diagnosed myself with Parkinson’s, a malignant brain tumor, a viral/bacterial disease. The list is endless. 

What is sleep paralysis? Our bodies are amazingly designed. When we fall asleep, the brain releases a chemical that causes a temporary paralysis, no doubt to ensure that our bodies receive the most amount of rest possible. When the brain has had rest and it is time to wake, the release of the chemical is halted. The body gradually returns to wakefulness and the chemical is now inactive, thus allowing the body to move again. What happens in sleep paralysis victims is when the brain wakes, the chemical is still being produced and, subsequently, the body is still being paralyzed for rest. 

I’ve read articles in medical journals that speculate sleep paralysis has been experienced and documented for years. But in centuries past, the victim has felt a weight on their chest or body, as if something were sitting on them. Or, they’ve felt a “presence” in the room. It is hypothesized that these feelings or symptoms are the result of sleep paralysis. On my first experience, I had felt a presence in my room, but since coming to understand the condition, I’m no longer fearful. Kerry Dwyer, Author Kerry Dwyer, Author My life changed tremendously when I moved from the UK to south west France with my husband. This was not solely due to the cultural differences between the two countries. I also moved from a city to a country life, became a mother and later an English teacher. In London I had worked in finance and my life was one big rush. They take things a lot more slowly here in a little French village. I have now slowed down several cogs and really appreciate the way of life I have here. I love nature and walking in the countryside around my home. If you would like to find out more please visit KerryDwyer.com . 1. What inspired you to contribute to the anthology?

It is a wonderful charity, with one simple aim that everyone can relate to. Clean water to drink for everyone everywhere should be a basic human right. Many people don't know that huge numbers of people cannot access this one basic human need. Getting the word out to as many people as possible is as important as donating.


2. Rain, snow, or ice? Why?

Snow. Because people don't mind going out in the snow, unless it's a blizzard. Ice is good in a gin and tonic but not on the roads. Rain refreshes but snow does that also when it melts. Snow has the gift of amazing people, even those who have seen it before. 


3. Can you tell us a little bit about your story?

My story and poem were both inspired by modern day living. More and more people are concerned about leaving the security of their own environments. Some parts of the story are from my own experience. They are both quite personal but everyone I showed these pieces to related to them on some level. Gloria Ng, Yours Truly :-) Gloria Ng, Author Gloria Ng is an Oakland-based mother of three who writes on Owl Time. Her work has appeared in anthologies, including YELL-Oh Girls! Emerging Voices Explore Culture, Identity, and Growing Up Asian American. (HarperCollins, 2001) Seeing the lack of bilingual books to read to her children, she created the Amazon bestselling Mama Gloria Chinese-English Bilingual Books series. Well Water Woman is her first independent work for an adult audience. For forthcoming book updates, visit GloriaNg.com or sign up for her newsletter.

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1. What inspired you to contribute to the anthology?

I saw the call for submissions and immediately felt drawn to contribute, even though the prior anthology had little to no nonfiction represented. Having hauled water from a well in China in my early teens, I remembered how heavy it was. To think of people who didn't have access to clean drinkable water spurred me to action. 

In fact, it was because I saw the call for submissions around the same time I was thinking about my grandmother that my book Well Water Woman  came to be. That book wrote itself within days and by New Year's Eve 2013, the book was out.


2. Rain, snow, or ice? Why?

Ice. I love how it cools my drinks, especially agua fresca . I can drink those any day, any time. Plus, if you have a high-powered blender, you can make your own "vanilla ice cream" by adding 4 cups of ice with 1 cup milk and a dash of vanilla extract. If you want an extra rich taste, use coconut milk instead or some other high-fat milk such as buttermilk... 

Hey, I live in California, so coconut milk wins hands down as a dairy alternative... (The vanilla ice cream recipe is not from the book linked to the word agua fresca above. The recipe actually came right out of my blender's complimentary recipe binder.)


3. Can you tell us a little bit about your story?

"Roots to Water" is about my first trip with my family to mainland China, where my father is from. The village was a stark contrast to the urban areas to which I grew accustomed. 

However, not everything is so nicely separated into dualities of urban and country, male/masculine and female/feminine, and so forth with growing up in the Chinese diaspora. In fact, I'm still excavating for more to further elaborate upon my other grandmother. That book will write itself as well when the time arrives... Download the new FREE eBook of short stories and poems from an international group of authors:
Of Words and Water 2014
No gift too small: no thought insignificant

Hilarious! #Amazon listed my book without an Author's byline

Isn't that a strange paradox to have a book listed on Amazon without an author byline to it? I find it strangely paradoxical. Anyway, looking after three children under five during the day and squeezing time to either get my writing or self-publishing done, I somehow let some of these same habits of putting others first bleed into the writing I do for me and what I believe in! LOL

The snapshot I took above was in the delicate time window between twelve midnight and twelve noon on Sunday, June 29, 2014, since Amazon informed me that it would be a twelve-hour window before the updates to the book were available to load. So go ahead and enjoy a laugh on me. :-)

Busy Bees Library

I love my local public libraries. They kicked off the summer reading program with a husband-and-wife traveling bee show for kids. I brought all my little ones there. Only the littlest one did not get a sample of the honey sticks. Between wildflower honey and blackberry honey, I definitely liked the blackberry more! Blackberry tasted lighter and sweeter, a bit more pure--it melted in my mouth faster and cleaner than the wildflower.

Wildflower honey has pollen from different kinds of wildflowers. If you're a pollen person and you like variety, then wildflower honey is for you. I learned so much in this show that I learned to look for raw or natural honey. Doesn't matter if the container says USDA organic, if the container doesn't sport the raw or natural label. Why?

Apparently, even "pure" honey can be diluted with 10% water and heated up to destroy its natural recurring enzymes and tunneled through to be bottled up really quickly in assembly line format. How modern for a process so ancient that it dates back to at least 80 million years old, according to carbon dating of a bee trapped in fossilized resin (amber).

Then of course I went to another event hosted by the library to kick off their summer reading program--West African drumming by someone born and raised in Ghana. Isn't a library supposed to be quiet for books? Well, for the rare occasion of such a guest, we welcome the rhythms and beats that are closest to our ancestral DNA. I bet you that drums, clave, or some other rhythmic instrument was the first to be "discovered" or used by our ancestors! 

What a delight it was to see all the children playing drums, learning dance moves, and some in costume--including my oldest two children! The event was educational and entertaining enough for me to capture a few snippets via video, which is rare for me since I usually opt for still pictures. No, I won't be posting the videos. However, you can go to the drummer's website for more information. One more thing I love about drums is being able to drum my applause instead of clapping it. I can "clap" much faster on a drum than I can with only hands! :-)

"Hear" the applause? It's for the libraries, the first lending library in America apparently dating back to Benjamin Franklin...  So glad that between him and Carnegie we have more public libraries.

Then, the day after we went to see a comedy show hosted--guess where?--at the library. My kids came home saying the cheer, "Go Goofball!" Imagine a room full of kids, tiny tots to toddler age and all the way up to middle school ages all screaming those "magic words" for the clown show. 

Yes, I love libraries... and so do the kids. Where else could I escape to--any place and anywhere around the world--but still be in the same spot, in the comfort of a chair sheltered from the elements encompassed by shelves upon shelves of books all in one building? Don't even get me started on Overdrive, the electronic book database accessible to library patrons!

Birthing Art: A Process Post

I've been writing the first draft of a book to honor home births and was in the midst of writing about a lesson I learned from Pam England's book, Birthing from Within . Then I thought why not write a blog post about it?

So here I am writing this up.

As you know, art is powerful beyond measure. Art stirs our imaginations and go beyond three dimensions. How art touches each individual is deeper than sight, sound, taste, touch, etc. 

Yes, I appreciate art. However, I appreciate art that comes from within even more. Each of us has art within us that is only up to us to bring forth. Yes, each of us has many masterpieces to actualize into being. How sacred that within space is in each of us. That within space is beyond three dimensions. That within space is exactly what art can touch that nothing else seems to be able to touch. 

So I appreciate art that I can draw. I also appreciate learning from this process and applying it to other processes within my life. Now that I have successfully given birth to three children through vaginal birth, I am certain I can apply the lessons I have learned to my writing career. So the first thing I want to do is to create a piece of art for my writing career. 

So I send this intention out to my Dream Fairies and await the perfect vision to arise.  On another note, I was contacted by one of my fellow co-authors about formatting a chapter from the New Moms, New Families book I edited in 2012, so that the pdf file could be distributed to other new families.

What a joy to go through the information again and be able to contribute to the welfare of a new mother! Looking back, I can't believe how much work I put into putting the anthology together and how fast everything fell into place to make it exist!

Enjoying a mellow Father's Day weekend, I am once again immensely grateful for all the co-authors who contributed their wisdom to the anthology. I hope that one day, more families will benefit from our collective knowledge!

My third and final celebration goes to the existence of cloud servers, particularly document organizers such as Microsoft OneNote. I may be an absolute beginner in using such technology, but at least now I can use something else besides my Google Calendar to input notes that inspire me all in one day. With a document organizer app, instead of filing everything into one day, I can now input notes in specific and separate tabs/files of info! Yay!

The World of VCDs and More and . . . a #Giveaway #Bestseller

Being a mother of three young ones, I really appreciate the constructive feedback I get from other adults who care about my child as much as I do. I really appreciate the people who are passionate about their jobs and passionate about the people whose lives they touch. I am humbled by their generosity and willingness to work with parents. 

One other thing my child gave me on that last day of pre-K before summer break began was a piece of paper about the summer reading program. He handed the paper to me, saying that the teachers told him that it was for me. Looking at the brochure, I am also grateful for the amount of fun educational programming the local libraries invest upon to keep children entertained while school is out. 
My kids also had their first exposure to the game Uno. I have not played that game in over twenty years! To be honest, it's close to thirty years ago. I couldn't believe that I had forgotten so many rules! 

Then again, I haven't read the rules that came in the box. Why read the small print when I could rely upon the reporting of a seven-year-old to reinforce the rules? 

Apparently, the rules shift between two players and three-plus players...
Over the weekend, I was also very pleased to take a rare trip to a Chinese language bookstore and have my eldest child pick up a VCD, pictured at left. Although the store insisted upon no refunds or exchanges and I had no clue if I could play the VCD on my computer, I decided to purchase it. 

Well, impulse buys rarely work out! I went online to find a picture of this VCD set and found the list price (shipping included) at about half the price I paid for at the store! I could say that I made a mistake not to check resources online. However, I think the trip was a good thing, though, because I exposed all of my kids to the bookstore environment--one that has a lot of Chinese language books, games, CDs, VCDs, and more. 

On top of that, I came home inspired to complete minor edits for my short memoir, Well Water Woman. Rereading certain portions of the text, I'm still blown away by it at times and found myself reading it again just for the heck of it. Also, as I revised, plans for the next short memoir in the Grandmothers series started trickling. Although I already knew that this next book would be about my maternal grandmother, I didn't realize exactly what I would put into it until later. The title just came to me today and so I will be working on it very soon...

For now, I am looking forward to the day when I complete the current work I am writing on home births. Check out my Goodreads exclusive giveaway for a signed paperback copy of my bestselling ebook, Mama Gloria's Sunflower Garden. Click below to enter! .goodreadsGiveawayWidget { color: #555; font-family: georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; background: white; } .goodreadsGiveawayWidget img { padding: 0 !important; margin: 0 !important; } .goodreadsGiveawayWidget a { padding: 0 !important; margin: 0; color: #660; text-decoration: none; } .goodreadsGiveawayWidget a:visted { color: #660; text-decoration: none; } .goodreadsGiveawayWidget a:hover { color: #660; text-decoration: underline !important; } .goodreadsGiveawayWidget p { margin: 0 0 .5em !important; padding: 0; } .goodreadsGiveawayWidgetEnterLink { display: block; width: 150px; margin: 10px auto 0 !important; padding: 0px 5px !important; text-align: center; line-height: 1.8em; color: #222; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; border: 1px solid #6A6454; border-radius: 5px; font-family:arial,verdana,helvetica,sans-serif; background-image:url(https://www.goodreads.com/images/layo... background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color:#BBB596; outline: 0; white-space: nowrap; } .goodreadsGiveawayWidgetEnterLink:hover { background-image:url(https://www.goodreads.com/images/layo... color: black; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; } Goodreads Book Giveaway Mama Gloria's Sunflower Garden by Gloria Ng

Giveaway ends September 08, 2014.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Ratings

This week, I'd like to celebrate ratings--both good and "bad."

On the good side, I got my first five-star review on my first independent book that isn't a children's book on  Well Water Woman . In fact, it is on the Kobo Top 100 at #83 in Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, New Age, Reincarnation! .*

Another thing I'd like to celebrate is receiving the lowest review on one of the books I've written under one of my pen names. Having received an average of four-star ratings under another pen name, receiving such a low-star rating for this one pen name allowed me to feel immunity. If I hadn't received the higher ratings I did from the prior pen name, then I'd for certain feel crushed. However, reading the low-star reviews made me see that these fellow writers had little experience with the genre I was writing. One author said it this way: If you got a one-star rating, that means your book found the wrong reader. I'm inclined to agree, because a fellow author in my pen name's genre raved about my book and said it was some of the best stuff she's read in our genre.

The contrast tells me I'm on track toward growth in skill, readership and eventual sales numbers. If you run, you feel the wind--you feel resistance. So of course, I'd see the other end of a five-star review. I'm glad I can see that now--both the up side and the down side and feel equanimity instead of the roller coaster of emotions I used to feel before. 

Plus, what also helps is being proud of my own work. I got awesome feedback from an editor about a piece I adapted from Well Water Woman for a WaterAid anthology that is coming out in December. The creative process excites me, and I'm so glad that I have finally learned that life is about moving forward, beating to your own drum and making a mark unique to you. We each come with our own mission to accomplish and I am in the midst of doing so. I'm on the path, and that's what I'm most grateful for.

*Note to aspiring authors: One thing I learned early on from my Amazon Kindle bestseller, Mama Gloria's Sunflower Garden , is that just because our works earn the title credit of "bestseller" that it does not necessarily translate to amount of sales in that particular category. In other words, some categories sell faster or more than others. So even though I can rightfully claim "bestselling author of" on the front covers of any books I henceforth publish, the credit does not feel legitimate until I've actually achieved the sales numbers to match the title credit. In the meantime, this categorical spin makes a nice twist to the adage "fake it until you make it."


Find Me Here:
Website: GloriaNg.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GloriaFanPage
Twitter: https://twitter.com/fengshuigal
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+GloriaNgAuthor
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6562436.Gloria_Ng

Celebration Time: Summoning Joy to Everyday Life

Today, I attended my last celebration call with two awesome women. Together our experiences spanned several decades, the rural-urban divide, healing arts, motherhood, life and death, and so much more. Our ties--our calls--first began in 2011. 

In 2010, I participated in a self-paced online entrepreneurial coaching program designed to help other entrepreneurs launch a similar kind of program. The facilitator of the program often led calls that were upbeat and inspiring. Homework was clear and exciting. Participating in the Q&A calls helped me stay connected with my peers who were also moving forward with upgrading their services, making them web-friendly. So it was easy to stay motivated and hear about their successes. I often looked forward to those calls.

At the time, as a first-time stay-at-home mother of an infant who hadn't quite let go of the concept of working, I was interested in creating an online consultation adaptation of my on-site feng shui consultations. I thought I would create a video series, conduct Q&A group calls, and also have one-on-one clients. 

The factors I did not consider were related to the background noise. I realized soon enough that I could not successfully record my videos without interruption. Nor could I conduct any calls without disruption due to my child's unpredictable needs. Neither were my one-on-one client sessions professional in that the receiving party would have to cope with my child on the line. 

Because I could not progress fast enough (or quantitatively so) with crafting my own online program, I eventually abandoned offering the online version of my feng shui services and even offered a heavily discounted on-site consultation for a fellow mother just to test out how it would be if I brought and wore my infant for the session. Although the mother was very grateful and understanding and even reportedly benefited from my session, out of integrity for the professional provider-client relationship, I chose to close the door on offering any more feng shui services--online and on-site--for an indefinite amount of time.

Needless to say, I was feeling pretty depressed that somehow I was now limited to only my role of mother. Plus, I was already "behind" in my self-imposed, self-paced studies. I felt stuck and isolated, suffering from undiagnosed postpartum depression. Because I was also the first generation to ever stay at home as a mother, I had a huge learning curve. I was so used to being a Type A personality, constantly doing something, that I suddenly didn't know what to do with myself. Caring for a baby required a whole set of other skills, ones I had very little prior transferrable skills. Everything I had in my life prior to motherhood, everything that fed me or refreshed me, everything that was uniquely for me--everything was gone. 

Stripped to the bone was how I felt. No, I felt stripped to the bone marrow, recalibrating every cell of my existence in this journey forward in motherhood. 

As the weeks turned into months of stagnation and no one else seemed to be able to relate to my situation, I realized I was quickly spiraling into a nameless state of ever-mounting angst.
Celebration Call About a year into my self-paced studies, the facilitator of the program mentioned an opportunity--a weekly 30-minute celebration call that was optional for participants to sign up for. Each call would have four people present, each person to share their celebrations for five minutes. After each person shares their celebrations, other people on the call take about two minutes total to acknowledge the celebration. The premise of the call was to presence the importance of celebrating our accomplishments--no matter how small. When we celebrate, we raise our vibration. When we celebrate in a group, we raise our vibration by quantum. So I jumped at the chance to participate in this extracurricular activity.

I looked at the list of people who had already signed up to moderate a group and quickly entered my name in one of the groups. Several things kept changing before the first call as the sign-up dust soon settled. When it came down to it, two people dropped and only the moderator and I were left in the group. So the moderator called a friend of hers, who was willing to join, and we proceeded as a group of three. Although another woman joined and participated in our group infrequently for awhile, she transitioned out when the year ended and another began. Then a man joined our calls infrequently as well. Throughout most of our calls, I made it to celebrate with the moderator and her friend.

At the beginning of our calls, I learned that the three of us shared our passion in the healing arts. Beyond that, I was uncertain how much I could contribute. I found the task of celebrating kind of like a muscle. Every week, I went to my celebration gym. Early on during the calls, I was unsure about just want to mention. I was also quite unsure about myself being in the group given that I was just over thirty and the two women on the call were going through menopause. As I grappled out of postpartum depression, each week I struggled to find one or two things to mention for our call.

As our calls moved forward though, we found many ways to connect with each other and many things to celebrate. We learned so much from each other. Every call required an unspoken commitment to make the call and celebrate our lives. Every call started with celebration--of both "good" things and "bad"--and ended with so much appreciation. The experience was profound and beyond words. 

Over the three years of our calls together, I have given birth to two children at home and travelled overseas to two other countries with young children under three. I awakened to my mission to take my writing seriously and proceeded to change my focus from entrepreneurship to indie authorship. Embracing my mission I expanded my writing portfolio, previously limited to personal narratives in several traditionally published nonfiction anthologies, to include indie published editorship, short memoir and novellas. I transformed from wayward soul to anchored citadel with the fortitude to forge onward with my vision to fill the world with my words and someday make a livelihood from sharing them.

I wrote this blog post in honor of these two women and the other two participants who were able to celebrate with us for a short while. Even writing love letters would be insufficient to describe the gratitude I have in participating in these calls. So I realize the best way to continue to honor our connection is to carry on the celebration at least on my end. 

Thus, I will do my best to celebrate and/or post a celebration every week. When my alarm goes off for the time that we shared for our call, I'll take that moment to think of a few things I would like to celebrate. For now, for this post, I will share my first online celebration in honor of our calls. Celebrations What I'd like to celebrate right now is having more writing projects than time to fulfill them. As I write every word, I feel as if I am accomplishing more and more of what I have been set here on earth to do. That feeling of single-minded devotion to one's unique mission is so rich that I desire every person to be able to experience that in his or her lifetime. 

I'd also like to celebrate that in one of my genres of fiction, which I write under a pen name (yes, I have more than one pen name for each genre I write), I received praise from a peer who said that as a reader and an author that my writing was the best she's seen in our genre. She wanted to know who edited my work, which I admitted I did because at this time I earn nothing under that pen name and couldn't afford a professional editor. Now if only praise like that actually translates into sales . . .  and no, I will not be sharing any of my pen names with anybody. (Even my husband does not know them.) I look forward to the day when each pen name earns its own deserved reputation. :-)

That being said, the final thing I want to celebrate is that in the past two months, I have been averaging ten dollars a month on my writing--most of which stems from my nonfiction. Prior to that, I have only earned about ten bucks for the entire quarter. I am very pleased with this result because I have done no little to no book promotions or advertising other than infrequent (biweekly/monthly) tweets about my work. I'd much rather be writing when I have time. So ten dollars per month is a good thing. Readers, if you are reading this post, I thank you for supporting my occasional delights. I was able to purchase grapes today and hope that one day my income from books will support my family's groceries. About the Author Multi-published author Gloria Ng is an Oakland-based mother of three who writes on Owl Time. Her work has appeared in anthologies, including YELL-Oh Girls! Emerging  Voices Explore Culture, Identity, and Growing Up Asian American. (HarperCollins, 2001)

The lack of bilingual books to read to her children propelled her to create the Amazon bestselling Mama Gloria Chinese-English Bilingual Books series.

Gloria enjoys hearing from readers, writers, and reviewers at GloriaNg.com. 
Find her at:
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Haiku and Bilingual Book Updates

Photo Courtesy of La Grande Farmers' Market Market Manager As much as I disliked my first ever postpartum period in 2009, I have to say that this time around (my third postpartum period) has been full of inspiration. 

Poetry, a constant companion in my high school hey days, returned in full force. One night I generated perhaps five haiku in one sitting. 

I love haiku because it is a form of poetry where each syllable counts. You can only pack that much meaning in there. Each haiku is a challenge to do just that: pack as much meaning into 17 syllables as possible. 

On another note, I am creating a Chinese-English bilingual book for newborns and infants. Because healthy eating, green parenting, and holistic living are all part of my passions, guess what? The photo above, of course, will star as one of the pages in my forthcoming release. I don't even know the title of this to-be-released work. I'll update you as soon as I can. Later! :-)

Cloth Diapering Made Easy

This book chapter on cloth diapering appears in "New Moms, New Families: Priceless Gifts of Wisdom and Practical Advice from Mama Experts for the Fourth Trimester and First Year Postpartum." 

Includes: 
Elimination Communication (a form of diaper-free potty-training)
Easy cloth diaper laundering.
Day, night, and travel diaper systems
Creative reuse

***Bonus Material*** 
Meconium (1st week after)

Goodreads: http://bit.ly/1fXWXmF
Smashwords: http://bit.ly/LQJ7pc

Available at other major online booksellers in the coming weeks!