random thoughts

I was cleaning my pad last weekend and was happy to find out that I only have 14 books left unread! Not bad.  It used to be 32!

And what’s more exciting was the fact that I have more than 50 books ready to be given away for Christmas.  I know some friends will be elated to receive them.

But the most exciting part of my weekend cleaning engagement was the rediscovery of my high school journals which were just sleeping inside a green box. I browsed through the pages and couldn’t help but laugh at my entries.

I’ve been writing journals since I was eight and I once dreamed of being a published book author on detective stories when I was still reading Nancy Drew  and Hardy Boys.  I became more imaginative when in 6th grade, I started reading Robert Ludlum and Agatha Christie (thanks to my best friend who owns a whole library of novels written by authors of different genres).

But will I ever get to publish a book?  That still remains a million-dollar question.  Publishing entails more than just dreaming of having a book displayed in bookstores.  It takes dedication, discipline and a firm decision to finish the manuscript.  Not only that, when published, the writer must be ready to face all kinds of critics and must be willing to take the risk of succeeding or failing.  I will expound this in another post.

As I was randomly musing on all these things about publishing, I stumbled upon a succinctly written article on how to publish.  It’s very helpful especially to those who are seriously working on a manuscript for publishing.

It’s very helpful to me, at least.

health is wealth

I had a quick chat with my life coach early this morning about wellness and how food intake is associated with diseases like cancer, which now attacks younger people. I thought of our conversation when I stumbled upon this published book about how boosting the immune system causes cancer to regress. Kindly click on this link to read the story: book author on cancer regression.

I lost a very close friend of mine to lung cancer. She was only 29 years old and never had a cigarette all her life. Just a few months ago, another very close friend died of breast and brain cancer after more than a year of battling with it and going through chemo and radiation treatments.

Cancer still sounds scary despite available advanced treatments. It’s even scarier to think when we read stories about the more dangerous side effects of these treatments.

The old adage that health is wealth holds true. Nothing can beat wellness and being good stewards of our health.

moments of emptiness

Last night, I finished reading the six books I studied in the last 3 weeks or so. Now, I’m finally re-reading Against the Gods with full attention!

This published book gives me so much insight especially when Peter L. Bernstein, the book author, pointed out how ZERO revolutionized the old numbering system.

It first caught my attention in December 2006. I was re-reading this book (I first read it in 2002) when out of the blue, my then four-year old niece asked, “Do you know that zero means empty?”

The question was very condescending but since it’s coming from a little child, anyone could be forgiving.

Of course I said “yes” and immediately she beamed with so much delight knowing that an adult actually understands something she does.

I simply shook my head and thought that I was probably like her as a kid.

Nevertheless, her question connects with what Bernstein described in the book I was re-reading then and am re-reading now. The book author explained that ZERO makes the whole structure of the numbering system immediately visible and clear – 0 to 9, and makes calculation a whole lot easier compared to the Roman Numerals – I, II, III, IV, etc.

WAIT! Don’t worry, this blog is not about mathematics. It’s about this thing I call ZERO moments – the times in our lives when we feel empty and useless.

It’s not easy when we are going through these moments. When we feel that it’s too much, we always want to give up. But we need these moments because they shape us and make us better persons.

I dunno what the world would have been if ZERO wasn’t discovered.   I dunno what my life would have been without the empty moments that break me and shape me up into a new whole.

There’s so much to write about ZERO moments.  It can be a whole blog site.

In the meantime, I’ve got to finish re-reading Against the Gods.

slowing down

In my recent post titled busy with the lamppost, I wrote my insights on the importance of slowing down.

This morning, as I was taking time to read the sites on my Blogroll, I stumbled upon the work of self-published book author Dr. Kay Jurgenson. She wrote about slowing down and taking time to enjoy the mundane things in life.

Is it coincidence that books like these get published and catch my attention almost at the same time?

I don’t believe in accidents. Everything happens by appointment.

Providential circumstances are teaching me to slow down.

It’s loud and clear.

Yes, I hear it!

And yes, I’m listening…

my management guru

I’m scheduled to have a meeting tomorrow with my management mentor to discuss a consultancy project on an expansion plan of the company where my sister works as a human resource specialist.

As I read a blog about a self-published book author who wrote her story as a mentor and a mentee, I thought of writing something about my own guru who, to me, is a legend worth sharing.

I call him Mr. A. And much of the way I am as a professional is because of what he teaches me by what he models. 

How to publish this legend is another story.  Blogging it is a good start.

Mr. A was once my boss and a consultant in several projects I was running when I was still spinning in the world of development work. He was also the guru I always put heads with when I took my masters in management.

He is such a man of integrity: he walks the talk, always honors his word, always comes prepared, never pretends to know everything and is never late.

I can actually write a whole book about him and the wisdom he imparts. Who knows one day the book can get published? That would then be a legacy.

But much time has to be spent in publishing a book. It’s a serious commitment and something I don’t have for the moment.

In the meantime, blogging would suffice.

a journey to publishing

I started writing journals since I was eight.  My entries were most of the time one-liners.  Sometimes two.  Occasionally three.

Papa brought chicken barbeque!
Mama told me to do my bed.
I played chess with my grandpa again.  I still lost!
My grandparents brought me to a farm far away from home…
I’m happy to have a new sister! She’s very small.
Bones is a dog we all love.  I don’t like dogs.  But I love Bones.

When I reached my teens, my writing evolved into stories.  What happened during the day.  The different school events.  Who my friends were.  Who’s relevant and who’s not.

Apart from the detailed chronicles about real life and real people, I also wrote short stories about anything that I imagined to happen and composed poems expressing what I felt.  I even attempted to write a novel about something I was scared about.

Then I thought that I could probably become a book author.

Yet life didn’t lead me to that direction – or not yet.

I neither took communications nor any writing courses.  I was in business school.

When I started working, I was doing reports, plans and proposals – not composing short stories, poetry or novels.  I was crafting strategies and presenting results – not writing fables.  My works landed on the desks of CEOs, government agency leaders, project reviewers, and international consultants and funding agencies.  Not on the hands of book lovers.

My chronicles changed into tables of deadlines, meeting schedules, list of presentations to do and records of targets to deliver.

But I never stopped doing my journals.

Publishing a Book 101 is an interesting blog that I’m following.  I don’t know where this leads me but my writing journey is definitely exciting!