Making notes

When participating in the Silverfish Writing Programme a number of years ago, we learnt that we need to always have a notebook with us - for jotting down what we observe around us, descriptions of interesting people we see or meet; in other words, anything that could make good material in our writing. An exercise that we did during the programme was to order a cup of coffee at a nearby cafe, sit at an outside table and make notes of what was going on around us. We also had to create a story based on our notes; I wrote an imaginary conversation between two men I had been watching while drinking my coffee.

Notebooks these days come in all kinds of sizes, colours and designs. I can spend a lot of time just browsing through a bookstore's stationery section, looking over the notebooks; it's hard to resist buying one. Much as I'd like to buy a Moleskine, I still haven't been able to justify buying something so expensive for my note-taking. After all, there are so many cheaper alternatives that will still do the job. I prefer notebooks with blank pages rather than ruled ones - besides writing, the blank pages invite me to doodle or draw as well.

Above are a few still-to-be-used notebooks that I have. The gilt-edged notebook and the one in the middle are both gifts. I had bought the one on the right from the Islamic Arts Museum shop, which sells beautiful stationery items. An exquisite notebook (below), which my sis-in-law gave me, is from Japan and attests to the craftsmanship of the Japanese. It's handmade and so pretty that I don't think I shall be writing anything in it at all.

I have been following the tip learnt from the writing programme till today - there is always a notebook tucked into my organiser, which goes from bag to bag with me.

Writers are not the only ones who carry notebooks with them. This site delves into the pocket notebooks of 20 famous men, including Mark Twain (writer), Charles Darwin (scientist) and Ludwig van Beethoven (composer/musician), while this one takes a look into the notebooks of several people, including Marilyn Monroe (actress) and Frida Kahlo (artist).

So start carrying a notebook with you (and use it) - you will be in distinguished company!

Ten years later...

In mid-2011, I was pleasantly surprised to receive a telephone call from Suria Zainal, now Senior Director at the Malaysian Timber Council (MTC). It had been ten years since we met; I was then the writer of MTC's tenth year anniversary coffee-table book, which was produced by Editions Didier Millet. Suria told me that MTC would be celebrating their twentieth year in 2012 and they would like me to write the book. Of course, I said 'yes'! It's not often that a writer can claim to have written two commemorative books for the same organisation, ten years apart!

On 12 July 2012, MTC held a simple but classy dinner to celebrate their twenty years of serving the Malaysian timber industry, during which the book was launched. I hadn't seen the book at all before this. The text had been written by me, revised by MTC where necessary and edited by Datin Noor Azlina Yunus, with whom I had worked on my first major writing/editing project as well as my book projects for UMW Holdings. 

The design was undertaken by an advertising company and Azlina and I were not involved in the process, although we did have a look at the initial book draft. At that point, many things were not right with the book. After that, due to time constraints, Suria and her team at MTC carried on without us. It was therefore with some anxiety that Azlina and I (both of us were at the dinner) pulled the book out of its slipcase when we received our copies after the launch. Well, we were both pleased with the end result; the book we held in our hands looked nothing at all like the draft that we saw. 

The book in its slipcase.

The book... uncovered.

The start of a chapter.

Some of the pages above and below.

The book also shared the thoughts of key industry personalities.

Suria, who managed the project, had wanted the tone of the twentieth anniversary book to be somewhat informal compared to the earlier book. This was to be achieved by an anecdotal approach in the written text as well as a contemporary and bright, but not garish, design. I believe that she achieved her objective. 

The tenth anniversary book certainly looked very different 

from the newly-launched twentieth anniversary book.

Back to basics

I often get asked by people how they can get started as a freelance writer/editor. I tell them that, in the first place, they have to write well, which really develops through reading - a lot of it and preferably, reading the classics and serious fiction. I also tell them that there are five books they should buy.

The first is William Strunk Jr and E B White's timeless The Elements of Style. It's only 92 pages long (index included) but within these pages are key requirements that will help to give your writing "cleanliness, accuracy and brevity". One of the rules: Omit needless words!

The Elements of Grammar by Margaret Shertzer is the second book. It covers the basic rules of grammar and usage in 168 pages, providing hundreds of examples of correct grammar. There's even a chapter on how to express numbers.

The next book to buy is the 156-page The Elements of Editing by Arthur Plotnik. It brings together the author's own experience in writing and editing, making it therefore a book that deals with practical issues. He points out, "An editor edits above all to communicate to readers." Written with a wry sense of humour, it gives an inside look into the editorial process, giving aspiring editors a good idea of what editing is all about.

The fourth book, The Elements of Copywriting, is just as concise as the ones above. In 173 pages, authors Gary Blake and Robert W Bly cover "writing headlines and body copy as well as increasing readership and response, and go on to provide copy guidelines for print ads, direct mail, brochures, catalogues, press releases, electronic messages, and more".

And last but not least is the Handbook for Proofreading by Laura Killen Anderson. Proofreading is essential in written communication to avoid embarrassing errors, and this book "shows how to systematically and thoroughly proofread everything from headline copy to book-length manuscripts". It's only 176 pages long but it takes you through the entire proofreading process. 

So there you are - the five books that can make you a better writer and editor. In fact, I bought these books when I was still in full-time employment as my work involved a great deal of written communication. And I continue to refer to them now. 

About the people

In 2007, I was commissioned by top Malaysian legal firm Zaid Ibrahim & Co (ZI, now known as ZICOlaw)  to write a commemorative book to mark the firm's 20th anniversary. The book would have to convey the essence of the firm's culture and work ethic. To do this, we decided to focus on people within and who had been with the firm, its clients as well as others who had worked together with the firm.

The book Looking Back, Moving Forward is "a book of recollections and reflections, of perceptions and perspectives." The major part of my work for this book involved interviewing various people, from partners to the despatch person. It was an interesting exercise and did indeed reveal a consistency in their experiences, which highlighted that the firm did have a unique organisational culture, one that had brought it to the pinnacle of the country's legal fraternity.

The book's totally black cover with silver lettering is stark and simple, and so is the layout. Each chapter is a collection of articles on selected individuals.  At the core of it all were, of course, the two people who had been instrumental in the firm's development, i.e. founder Datuk Mohd Zaid Ibrahim and managing partner Chew Seng Kok.

Datuk Mohd Zaid Ibrahim

Chew Seng Kok

Datuk Zaid related how ZI "began as a one-lawyer show, with one secretary and one office staff member, accepting any kind of work. Then, the Malaysian government embarked on its privatisation programme and the firm got a foothold in the North-South Expressway project. ZI teamed up with a London City firm and had sufficient work to take in a few lawyers."

Chew Seng Kok told of how he chose to move "from the world's largest legal firm to one that had about nine lawyers on its payroll, preferring to leave behind a large, private, corner office with a view of Singapore's waterfront to take up one corner of ZI's open-plan office, which was by then situated in the Bank Pembangunan Building on Jalan Sultan Ismail." He did it because he bought into Zaid's vision to build up ZI into an international-class legal force.

And they succeeded. In the process, the firm attracted some brilliant people, all driven by a common purpose and governed by the same values. 

Working away

Projects that come my way are of three types. The short-term ones are articles for magazines and other publications, and these take about three to five days to do, depending on the amount of research needed. I wrote a lot of these at the start of my writing life. Understandably, you can't expect to be paid much for this type of work. But if you do a lot of it, the fees can add up.

Medium-term projects would include manuals, reports as well as editorial content for annual reports. I've written quite a number of annual reports over the years. These come at a certain part of the year as companies need to complete them in time for their annual general meetings. The work is quite stressful due to the tight deadlines, more so when clients take their time to revert with their comments on the drafts. But the fees that such clients are willing to pay make up for the worry lines.

Then there are the long-term projects - coffee-table books that would usually take about six to eight months, and corporate histories that can stretch up to two years to complete. I've yet to be commissioned to write biographies. There's good money in this type of work but it requires a lot of commitment to undertake.

Whatever the project, the process is the same. In the first place, it is critical to have a dedicated workplace in the house so as not to be distracted by whatever else that may be going on with the family. And it's also important to have a trusty workmate; I got myself a new one this year - an ultralight Acer Aspire. I've learned to appreciate the need for such a notebook after lugging my previous one about to meetings and interviews.

My new workmate in my home office.

And yes, there will be meetings to fine-tune what the client wants. For a book, the project brief forms the basis to conceptualise its structure and contents, and guide the research needed. The latter will cover document research, i.e. whatever publications, reports, newsletters and materials pertaining to the client's organisation; internet research on the industry and global as well as national economy for the period in question; and interviews of people who can provide stories and inside information. For the books that I wrote for UMW and Commerce Asset, I had to also delve into the country's history.

It pays to be organised at the research stage of a project. Otherwise, the writing will be a nightmare. I would already have the book's outline at the outset, so it would be a matter of putting the data that I've gathered in the right 'compartments'. The reading process needs to be systematic as well, marking parts that would be useful for the book.

Post-it notes on these annual reports and newsletters help me find the information I need.

After the research is completed, which may take a few months, the writing begins. The first line is always the most difficult because it will set the tone and style for the rest of the book. In fact, I would take days just to get the first paragraph right. But once that's done, the rest of the writing will flow easily (this is only if I had been meticulous in organising my research notes). Because there will be moments when I would be stumped for just the right word, I have a lot of reference books to get me through. Not just on language, but also on history, economics and other areas.

My language helpers; my books on history, society, economics and finance are on other shelves.

For a book, the writing process for the first draft takes about four months. I do a great deal of self-editing, at least a couple of rounds, during which I would go over my draft, changing words, tightening paragraphs and rearranging content. Once completed, of course to a given deadline, the first draft would be submitted to the client for review, after which the draft will be revised to cover any meaningful feedback. The final draft is then approved; my part is over and an editor then will peruse the draft for overall consistency and correctness. Thereafter, the book proceeds to the design, layout and production stage.

Writing a book can be a drain on the brain; it's actually rather mentally tiring. Which is why when I'm writing, I'm also drinking a lot of this...

Can't keep going without a cup of hot coffee!

It began as a spare parts shop...

One day in the later part of 2005, I received an e-mail from an ex-client asking if he could give my contact number to the chief of a Malaysian multinational corporation. Of course, I said 'yes' and soon after, I was in the office of Dato' Abdul Halim Harun, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of UMW Holdings Berhad. And he told me a little story.

Dato' Halim had been given a copy of the corporate history that I wrote for the Commerce Asset Group, Of People And Principles, and he wanted to commission such a book for UMW. But he had no idea how to get in touch with me. One evening, he was at a wedding reception and seated beside him was a gentleman. As they spoke and got to know one another, he found out that the gentleman was from Commerce Asset and had been involved in the book project. That was when he asked for my contact number and that was how I got to write Turning Points - The UMW Story, which was published in 2008.

A big project like this had to be top-driven. Dato' Halim championed it but, being a busy man, he placed it in the hands of Suseela Menon, UMW's Company Secretary and Executive Director of UMW Corporation Sdn Bhd. Together, they monitored the book's progress while I worked directly with Farida Mohd Salleh and Zalina Zainal Abidin of the Group's Public Affairs Division as well as Yap Teck Ming, a longtime employee who knew the organisation's history and people who had been working there from the early days. They helped me with the research and set up interviews with numerous individuals. 

The book traces the company's growth from an entrepreneurial family business to a public listed company, which then developed into one of the country's most successful conglomerates. Of course, companies don't exist in a vacuum so I set the book within the context of Malaysia's historical and economic development. The UMW story is an amazing one that began in 1917 when Chia Yee Soh, the Group's founder, set up a small automotive spare parts shop named United Motor Works. It was a dream come true for someone who had toiled away since he was 14 years old, initially as an apprentice in 1902 and then foreman, in a bicycle shop in Singapore. Thanks to his business acumen and hard work, the company spread its wings into then Malaya; while one son took charge of the Penang office, another, Eric Chia (later to be accorded the titles of Datuk and Tan Sri), went to work in Kuala Lumpur. 

The story of UMW in Malaya/Malaysia from the late 1950s to the 1980s is synonymous with the story of Eric Chia. He was a larger-than-life character who, due to his physical size and intimidating personality, struck fear as well as respect in those around him. UMW became a big player in heavy equipment as well as motor vehicles during his time and it was also on his watch that the company was listed on the stock exchange. Eric Chia was aggressive in business, which proved to be his undoing when the boom years turned to gloom in the mid-1980s. UMW was mired in debt and would have become insolvent if one of its main shareholders, Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB), had not come to the rescue. Of course, this meant loss of control by Chia of the Group he had built up over the decades. 

With PNB in the driving seat, UMW moved to the next stage of its development, that of a corporation that grew to become what it is today - a Malaysian multinational with interests in automative; equipment; manufacturing and engineering; and oil and gas, which are spread across more than 90 companies in 13 countries. Truly a Malaysian success story. 

Tan Sri Datuk Eric Chia passed away in 2008 and UMW's top management dedicated the book to him. I would have liked to interview him for the publication but various things stood in the way. 

In his foreword to the book, Dato' Halim declares the reason for initiating the book: "It is essential that (UMW's) history be recorded so that the thousands of people employed by the UMW Group, now and in the future, will know how UMW developed into a corporate organisation with a distinct culture..." Chairman Tan Sri Datuk Asmat Kamaludin, in his message, sees the book as adding "to the store of knowledge that currently exists on Malaysian corporations."

It was in the spirit of lifelong learning that the UMW Management Series was subsequently conceptualised; a series of books "- some illustrating 'successes', others illustrating 'misses' - with the hope that in sharing our experiences, we are helping those within our organisations as well as people beyond our boundaries to better appreciate the trials and tribulations of doing business in an ever-changing world." Those are the words of Dato' Halim in his foreword to the first book in the series, UMW-Dennis Specialist Vehicles Sdn Bhd - A Bumpy Ride, which was launched on 29 September 2010, a day before he retired from UMW.

Writing the book for UMW, as well as the one for Commerce Asset, showed me what it was like working with people who are truly professional. Not only that, in both instances, the employees tasked with the project were committed and ensured that I had whatever materials were available. Interviewees were helpful with information and forthcoming in their responses. And as the project progressed, top management often checked to see whether I got what I needed. 

On a personal level, such books are dream projects because they have allowed me to contribute to the knowledge that we have on the people and organisations that make up our Malaysian society.

It's that time of the year again...

... the time when design companies are pitching to produce annual reports for the hundreds of companies listed on Bursa Malaysia, the country's stock exchange. An annual report helps shareholders understand how their investment in a particular company is doing. For those not yet invested, it gives them a good idea of the company's progress and performance, thus helping them in deciding whether or not to buy its shares.

An annual report provides information required by company law, stock exchange requirements and accounting standards. It usually begins with the chairman's statement and review by the managing director or chief executive officer. The operations review follows next, which is a detailed report on the company's performance for the financial year. The company also needs to make a statement in regard to its corporate social responsibility. There are then various sections on the company, its corporate and organisational structure, board of directors and senior management as well as corporate calendar. Before the financial statements are presented, there are the corporate governance statement, audit committee report and statement of internal control.

The annual report then is a strategic communications tool, providing the investing public with an insight into a company's vision, mission, direction and, just as importantly, its future. It is the single most important document produced by a company for the year, which is why its design and presentation are important. It must command attention and be easy to read. In Malaysia, the National Annual Corporate Report Awards have been held since 1990 to recognise corporate financial reporting.

Having been a company secretary before, I've been called on by design firms to provide writing and/or editing services for the annual reports they are producing. Sometimes, I'm approached directly by the companies. My corporate experience has certainly helped me in this area. In the first few years of my writing life, I took on way too much, doing four or five annual reports, all of which needed to be delivered within the same short time frame. It was crazy, and I had to be careful not to mix up the companies! Now I don't take on more than two a year.

Malakoff was one of my direct clients back then, and I wrote their annual report for six years. They were comfortable with me and trusted me to do the job without hand-holding. On my part, I found them easy to work with; they were professional and responsive.

Another regular client was Puncak Niaga; in this case, I provided my services to the design company that produced their annual reports.

There were other companies. One experience I wouldn't want to repeat was that of working on the annual report for Malaysia Airlines. I was the writer on a team brought together by the design firm. There were really no problems but, to finalise the design and text, we were required to work non-stop at the client's premises for 48 hours, with breaks for meals and prayers only. It was mentally and physically exhausting, and I was aching all over. When I got home, I took a nice cold shower and slept for hours.

You don't have had to work in a particular industry to be able to write the annual report of a related company. My clients included financial institutions as well as property developers and a healthcare provider. In writing an annual report, you will be relying on write-ups and other information provided by the company's business units. There will also be interviews with key people, such as the chairman and chief executive officer. Additional research on the industry is necessary because that provides the context for the company's performance. Of course, it helps if you can digest economic data and is up-to-date with what's happening in the global economy.

Writing annual reports is not for everyone and it goes without saying that, not only do you have to write well, you also have to write with confidence and conviction - because your words will be conveying what a company is all about.

Believe in yourself...

After more than a decade of freelance writing, I've come across all kinds of clients or potential clients. But before I go into these, let me get a chip off my shoulder. It still baffles me that organisations (some, not all) are prepared to throw away hundreds of thousands of Ringgit on glitzy, gimmicky events and promotions but will pay peanuts for writing and design work on their publications, brochures and pamphlets. Yet these are what the public will hold and read, and form an impression of the organisation. A shoddily-designed brochure, with text that's badly written and grammatically wrong, says a lot about what the organisation is - and isn't.

Alhamdulillah, I'm able to walk away from such organisations. It's not that I'm being arrogant but I find it demeaning to work for people who don't value or appreciate what I do. There have been a couple of times when I discovered too late the attitude of people whom I had to work with. One was a government agency. I was asked to attend a preliminary meeting at the director's office. When I was shown in, he was propped up in his chair reading a newspaper. Did he have the courtesy to put the newspaper down and greet me? Nope, he carried on reading as if I wasn't there.

After some time, he put down the newspaper, grunted a hello and called in his assistant. We then talked about the project at hand and the director asked me to attend a meeting with his colleagues, during which he intimated that I was to also act as some sort of secretary and take notes of the proceedings. I politely informed him that that wasn't what I understood my role to be and, taking a deep breath, I said that I didn't think I was the right person for the job. I thanked him and left.

The second situation involved a government ministry. The agency for the project had taken me on as writer and I went along with its design staff to an initial meeting to discuss the requirements. Imagine my surprise when we walked into a large conference room with 20 people or so who, we were told, were heads of departments (HODs) of the ministry. I was then informed that all my writing would be reviewed and commented upon by all these HODs! You guessed right if you concluded that I withdrew from the project - it's hard enough to get three people to share the same views, but 20? I just didn't want to waste my time.

I'm freelancing because I want to enjoy what I'm doing. If I'm not going to, then I'd rather not do it. The project can be a creatively difficult one and it can take some time, researching, interviewing and talking to many people - that's okay as long as the client respects me as a professional in my field, trusts me to deliver what I do best, i.e. write, and appreciates the work that goes into it.

And it's heartening that this has been the case for most of my clients, whose CEOs have the courtesy to even walk me to the lift, whose project teams comprise an average of three people empowered to direct the project, and whose managements have got better things to do with their time than to want to follow me every step of the way.

So my advice to would-be freelancers - believe in yourself and what you do, and walk away from clients who don't.

Art in a book

My brother Zaid designs and I write. It was a just a matter of time that one day, we would work on the same project. That time came in 2003 when Kathy Tan, who was then Executive Director of the Federation of Malaysian Unit Trust Managers (FMUTM), now known as the Federation of Investment Managers Malaysia, called me up to talk about producing a coffee-table book to commemorate FMUTM's tenth anniversary. The brief was to design, write and produce the book to a specific theme.

Noting that the unit trust industry was still growing, Zaid and I came up with a theme based on nature. FMUTM liked our proposal to trace its development through art by commissioning six original art-pieces as the creative base to illustrate the concept of growth and potential. These art-pieces served as the book cover and chapter division pages, and during the tenth anniversary gala dinner, they were framed and presented as gifts to VIP guests.

As explained in the book, "the cover art-piece, portraying the abundance and vitality one finds in nature, is reflective of the opportunities available in the unit trust industry. Motifs depicting various stages of growth in plant-life are brought together to illustrate the development cycle. The imaginative use of colours and patterns convey a sense of energy and innovation, elements that are essential for the further development of the industry." The chapter titles carried on with the theme - Chapter 1: Planting the Seed; Chapter 2: Growing the Industry; Chapter 3: Nurturing with Care; Chapter 4: Reaching Beyond; and Chapter 5: Developing Organically.

The book cover

The story of FMUTM's beginnings is conveyed through the juxtaposition of panels of seeds.

The idea of growth is reflected in the dominant use of plant roots in this art-piece.

The arrangement of images and patterns intimate at FMUTM's relative youth.

Flowers and leaves depict the blossoming of FMUTM regionally and internationally.

In the final art-piece, trees are arrayed in a line to depict the counting of FMUTM's achievements. The colour blue comes vividly in the picture to indicate the commitment required to bring the Federation beyond the horizon.

As in the corporate history book project of the Commerce Asset Group, working on FMUTM's tenth anniversary coffee-table book was a pleasure. Zaid and I worked with a small team headed by Kathy Tan, touching base occasionally with then President of FMUTM, Dato' Seri Abdul Azim Mohd Zabidi. Approvals were quick and the team was receptive to our ideas. Zaid and I, and more importantly FMUTM, were happy with the end result (by the way, the colours of the pages above are more vibrant in the actual book). One thing about the book that could have been better was the quality of the archival photos, which were not taken by professional photographers but understandably by staff members present at the various events. 

The story of a bank

I received a call from Joe Fernandez late this afternoon. I haven't seen him for ages and he called because he would like to buy a copy of Hajj - The Humbling Journey. God willing, we'll meet up next week. Who, you might ask, is Joe Fernandez? Well, without him, I wouldn't have written Of People and Principles - The Commerce Asset Story.

In the book, published in 2003, I acknowledged Joe as "my partner in this endeavour,... a conscientious researcher and effective project coordinator." Joe, who had worked at Commerce Asset and knew it intimately, was asked by its management to spearhead the publication of the Group's corporate history. He needed a writer and, through people he knew, principally Dato' Seri Abdul Azim Mohd Zabidi, he found me.

The book took about two years to see the light of day, during which time Joe and I worked closely together in conceptualising the book, interviewing key people, going over archival documents and photographs, revising and redrafting chapters. I truly enjoyed working on the book - the management was committed to it and went out of its way to ensure that resources and people were made available to us. But the best part of it was that a small team of three top management staff was assigned to approve various aspects of the project as we went along. There was no red tape, it was smooth going, and I could write the story as I saw it.

It was fantastic the way everyone whom I interviewed opened up, providing me with never-before-heard anecdotes, sharing private conversations, and giving behind-the-scene insights into how decisions were made in the boardroom and executive office. 

The result is a story that began with Bian Chiang Bank, a one-branch, family-owned bank in Kuching, Sarawak, which metamorphosed in 1978 into Bank of Commerce after its purchase by the Fleet Group. The book then traced the Bank's growth through the economic recession of the 1980s, the Asian financial crisis of the late-1990s and its merger with United Asian Bank in 1991 and then Bank Bumiputra Malaysia in 1999, to become Bumiputra-Commerce Bank. There is also a chapter on how Commerce Asset was able to fend off being a takeover target in 1998. A parallel story in the book is that of Commerce International Merchant Bankers (CIMB).

The Commerce Asset Group and Bumiputra-Commerce Bank are now no more. In their place is the CIMB Group, a regional universal bank. How that has come about would make another riveting story. 

Short and sweet

Can you write a story in one sentence? Seems hard, doesn't it? Well, there's actually a website, onesentence.org, where a story is in only one sentence. One example: "We visited him in the hospital over 100 times during the last 14 years, but the one time we didn't go was the one time it counted." Click on the website for more of such stories.


I favour writing that is succinct, which according to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary means compact precise expression without wasted words. A writer well-known for his "spare, tightly written prose" is Ernest Hemingway. His published works include The Sun also Rises and A Farewell to Arms.

Succinct writing takes practice. For those of us who need to work on our writing skills, take a look at 400 Words, a magazine of short-short non-fiction. As the title suggests, people who send in their true stories must do it in 400 words. (Note: this website is not current but the point here is to learn a thing or two about writing succinctly).

Closer to home is the British Council's A City of Short Stories - Kuala Lumpur. The challenge here is to write and submit a story about life in Kuala Lumpur in not more than 1,600 characters. I couldn't resist and have three stories featured. Have a go. It's really fun. Just click here.

Let's, of course, not take being brief to the extreme.

A personal project

It was November 2010 and my husband and I were in Makkah to perform our Hajj. It was by Allah's Will that my good friend Yasmin Gan Abdullah and her husband were there as well. Two weeks before I was to leave Malaysia, she had called me with her good news and we were both delighted to learn that we would be in the Holy City at the same time. We promised, God willing, to meet up in Makkah.

We did and Yasmin mooted the idea of sharing our personal Hajj journey through words and images in a coffee-table book when we return home. Hajj is a very intense experience and we were of one mind that we would like to express this, not only to encourage those who hadn't yet been to go but also to help relive memories in those who had. We wanted the images to be original so took photographs whenever we had the opportunity. I didn't bring a camera so used my Nokia N86 which has an 8mp camera - the photographs, such as the one above, came out thankfully well.

Although we were back home in December, we didn't get down to writing immediately because of other work commitments. Yasmin then set the deadline for us to get started on our book - the very first personal project for us. We agreed that the book would have two parts, one comprising three chapters - an introduction to the Hajj, my journey and Yasmin's - and the other consisting of photographs that we had taken of the Hajj, the people of Islam, Masjid Al-Haram in Makkah and the Prophet's Masjid in Madinah. Because of our respective strengths, Yasmin would handle the design and production aspects while I would write whatever else required. 

Initially, we worked on the premise of getting sponsors to underwrite the production costs of the book but this proved to be an exercise in futility. We still wanted to publish the book, however. Alhamdulillah, Yasmin succeeded in working out an arrangement with the printer to pay in instalments as the book is sold. It was exciting to see the book coming together over a period of months and we were soon at the stage of checking proofs.

To generate interest in the book, we started a Facebook page and geared ourselves towards 'launching' our book, Hajj - the Humbling Journey, on 8 October. Just three days before, 500 copies of the book were delivered to my house, the other 500 to Yasmin's office.

Earlier, we had to deal with the question of how to launch the book. Given our very limited budget, we decided to introduce the book to a small group of abut 40-50 people over brunch at my house. Our immediate family members and close friends were asked to come, and we also invited those who had liked our Facebook page.

Next question - who to introduce the book? We sought the advice of my dad's cousin, Datin Kalsom Taib (or Auntie Chom, herself the author of three books, one of which is on her husband). Unfortunately, the person she suggested wouldn't be available. The day before the event, over breakfast at my house to finalise details, it dawned on Yasmin and I that the most appropriate person would be Auntie Chom, who had been very supportive of our initiative. I called her and she immediately said yes.

And thus on 8 October, our book was finally introduced. 

Yasmin, Auntie Chom and I

The book cover

Yasmin and I with designer Junaida and project assistant Norhayati

Now comes the hard part - selling the book. Yasmin and I were not in favour of distributing our book through the usual bookshops, as the commission charged would mean that we wouldn't be able to meet our production costs. The best way would be to sell the book ourselves and place it at selected places, including Sri Munawwarah and Dakwah Corner Bookstore. Alhamdulillah, the response to our book has been heartwarming and encouraging. We feel truly blessed to have realised our niat (intention) of sharing our humbling Hajj journey. 

Learning never stops

Learning, they say, is lifelong. And it's so true in writing. We learn when we read the work of others. Just imagine the very many ways that thousands of people can write the same story. When I buy a book by an author that I'm not familiar with, I would read the first paragraph. If I like the style and use of language, I would buy it. Of course, the story matters too. One of my favourite writers is Turkish novelist and Nobel Prize (Literature) 2006 winner, Orhan Pamuk.

My favourite book by him, however, is his memoir of Istanbul. When I read it, I wished I could write so eloquently about Kuala Lumpur.

We learn when we write for our clients from various industries. My clients have included financial organisations,  a healthcare provider, a legal firm, a philharmonic orchestra and even an airline. In writing for such clients, I learned not only about their businesses but also how to accommodate their preferences into my style. 

And of course, we learn when we attend writing courses and workshops. My dream is a writing retreat in Italy.

We don't have to go so far, if time, distance and money don't allow us to. Bali's Ubud Writers and Readers Festival has grown from strength to strength since the first one in 2004. The 2011 festival in October brought writers and book-lovers from various parts of the world to this idyllic island. With this one already over, Perth is a possibility with its Writing Out of Asia event in early December this year. 

But if you're looking for something more focused, check out Silverfish's Writing Programme, which is held at its bookshop in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur. I attended the programme a few years back to develop my creative writing skills (my writing has all been non-fiction) and although I haven't embarked on my great Malaysian novel as yet, it has helped me try out a bit of short-story writing. 

Enjoy the learning!

An honour and a privilege

The late Tan Sri Dato' Harun Mahmud Hashim was a man to be admired, a man who stood for dedication, honour, integrity and sincerity in all that he did. In September 2001, a collection of his The Benchmark articles, which had appeared in the New Straits Times, was published in a book. I was honoured and privileged to have been the book's editor.

The initiator of the book was my good friend Yasmin Gan Abdullah, to whom Tan Sri Harun's family is her keluarga angkat (adopted family). She felt that Tan Sri Harun's articles needed to be in a more permanent form, thus the idea of compiling them into a book. Yasmin asked me to help and for the two of us, I believe it was our way of showing our admiration for a man who lived his life without fear or favour.

After having agreed to edit the book, Yasmin then introduced me to Tan Sri Harun and I had a delightful time talking to him. The work began when I was presented with thick files of newspaper cuttings of his articles. At that time (the year 2000), he was still contributing to the newspaper but I chose to focus on the years from 1994 (when he began the column) to 1999. He wrote on a wide range of issues, from the law to education, and of course, corruption. My task was to read each and every article, and organise them into a number of categories for the book. At the end of the day, due to space constraints, only 149 of the 281 articles that he wrote over the period could be included.

Editing the book and working together with Yasmin to bring it to fruition was one of my most satisfying projects. It was a heartfelt effort and I was certainly saddened when Tan Sri Harun, a fearless champion of justice, passed away on 30 September 2003.

Building my portfolio

I may have been a corporate career-woman before. But having left that behind, I needed to build up my writing portfolio from scratch. Potential clients would like to see a history of work done and, in the freelance writing world, it's good if this can be as varied as possible to show flexibility and the capability of taking on different assignments. I can specialise; in fact, a lot of my work has been finance-related. But it's interesting to take on a variety of work because every writing assignment is a fantastic learning experience.

In the early years, in building my portfolio, I took any assignment that came along. Well, not any assignment. For example, I won't take any work that's related to the tobacco/smoking industry and, of course, alcohol. That's the good part about being your own boss - you can say 'No'. Other than such ethical/religious considerations, I had to get as much work as I could, even if the money may not have been so good. So I wrote articles for publications such as a human resource magazine, the Labuan Digest, Smart Investor and Majallah Ekuin. 


Writing copy for advertising/design agencies can be lucrative and the most work that I did in this area was for Freeform Design. I thoroughly enjoyed writing for their clients, Dewan Filharmonik Petronas and the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. Not really a concert buff, I learned a lot about classical music during the years that I wrote copy for them. It's not easy to get such work and I was fortunate that my brother Zaid was then a designer there and he introduced me to Kamil Yunus, the firm's owner. Kamil and I clicked and he must have liked my initial work for him to retain me for as long as he did. Zaid is now on his own with his long-time friend, Wei Shein - together they run Milk Design.

The range of writing work I took on ran the gamut of corporate communications - speeches, press releases, corporate profiles, promotional kits and brochures, as well as newsletters. I even did a training manual and a 10-year development plan for the Federation of Investment Managers Malaysia (then known as Federation of Malaysian Unit Trust Managers).

Over time, I put together a portfolio of work that has helped me to take on more ambitious projects. Such projects brought in bigger bucks but also created greater challenges.

Nightly knocks in Labuan

The Labuan International Offshore Financial Centre's coffee-table book to commemorate their tenth anniversary (1999-2000) was an effort that brought me together with two people I know. Labuan IOFC is now known as Labuan International Business and Financial Centre.

I've known Yasmin Gan Abdullah when I was working many moons ago at Komplek Kewangan Malaysia Berhad. I was the training executive there and she was working with the Malaysian Institute of Personnel Management as its marketing executive. We became friends and kept in touch as we moved from one organisation to another. I then embarked on my freelance writing life, by which time she was managing her brother's design company, CTG Creative Point.

CTG was awarded the project to produce Labuan IOFC's coffee-table book and Yasmin pulled me in as the book's writer. Because the publisher wanted some new photos for the book, I brought in my photographer/writer friend, Peter Anderson, whom I knew through the Malaysia New Zealand Chamber of Commerce. See what I mean in my earlier post about cultivating contacts.

Working on the book involved travelling to Labuan. Peter and I flew there together for a three-day visit and were put up at the Waterfront Hotel. It's an old hotel and the room I stayed in was really quite large and rather dim. At night, it was difficult to sleep because of a constant knocking sound. On the morning that we were to return, I met Peter at the check-out counter. He looked bleary-eyed and when I asked him why, he said that he hadn't had a good night's sleep because of this knocking sound that went on through the night. I told him that I had the same problem. So we asked the guy at the counter the reason for the sound and he replied that it was because of some renovation work in the kitchen.

Peter and I said, "Oh, okay", and it wasn't till we were flying off that it occurred to us the absurdity of the kitchen being renovated so late at night. Needless to say, we didn't stay at that hotel on later trips to Labuan.

Cultivating contacts

You don't get work if you don't have contacts. That about sums up the freelancing writing life.

I had a couple of things going for me when I decided to freelance. My corporate experience has been a plus point when it comes to being considered for publications such as annual reports, particularly so when this experience has been in the financial sector. Clients know that I can start the job running because I understand organisations, their language and how they work. For this reason, if you're thinking of taking the freelance road, try and gather as much working experience as you can; you'll have credibility in the eyes of your clients. Also, the working environment, including dealing with outside parties, is a great way to build up your list of contacts.

The second thing is my network. Since my schooldays, I've been involved in all kinds of activities outside of work. In school, I was on the editorial board, a member of the Interact Club and on the committees of various societies. In university in New Zealand, I was an office bearer of the Malaysian Students Association. This mindset was carried into my working life, during which I was actively involved with my university's alumni association as well as the Malaysia New Zealand Business Council, now known as the Malaysia New Zealand Chamber of Commerce. Apart from these, I also joined professional organisations such as the Malaysian Institute of Management.

Of course, in doing all these things, it never occurred to me then that I was building up my contacts for a possible freelancing life in the future. These are activities I enjoy doing to this day. Along the way, I made a lot of friends - friends who would be a great help to me in securing writing work.

Don't cultivate contacts, however, with the thought of how these people would be useful to you. Be sincere when making friends. Also, you need to give without expecting anything in return. Believe me, when your intentions are good, the rewards will come.

My first... the words

I can't emphasis enough the importance of having a good network of contacts (more of this in my next post). Thanks to someone I know, I got my first book project within weeks of leaving my job. He told me that an international book publisher, based in KL, was looking for an editor with some knowledge of New Zealand (I obtained my honours degree from Victoria University of New Zealand, Wellington).

Editions Didier Millet (EDM) had been contracted by Dorling Kindersely UK (DK) to produce an illustrated travel guide to New Zealand, part of the latter's Eyewitness Travel Series. EDM's publishing manager at that time was Datin Noor Azlina Yunus, herself a New Zealander. We met, we clicked and I got the assignment - a contract job that required me to come into the office for a few hours a day. I started work almost immediately.

The travel guide was a truly international collaborative effort - the writing and photography were done by people based in New Zealand; the design and editing (to a strict style template provided by DK) were undertaken in KL; the overall project was supervised by DK's editors in London, who occasionally came to KL; and the production was in China. There was another editor, Dianne Buerger, working side-by-side with me. Being involved in the project (and my first at that) was a great experience and it taught me a lot about publishing and editing.

It was also the start of friendships that continue to this day. I would later write a book produced by EDM (Datin Azlina had left for another publisher by then and Dianne had taken over as publishing manager), and Datin Azlina and I have worked together on a number of projects over the years.

The Eyewitness Travel Guide to New Zealand raised my profile as an editor/writer and put me on the road to a freelance writing career.