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.

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. 

I love books

To write, you must read. And read. and read. And read.

I'm a voracious reader. I can't imagine not reading. I have books all over my house. And I read a few books at a time, keeping them here and there - downstairs, upstairs, in the family room, in my bedroom. Almost everywhere I sit in my house, there's a book at hand. But there's one place I won't put my books - in the john.

One of my favourite places is a bookshop and one that I regularly visited when in primary school was Kiddies Store. It wasn't strictly a bookshop as it sold other things as well, but it had a good supply of my favourite series at that age - The Famous Five and The Secret Seven.

When I was in primary school in Kuala Lumpur, we lived in the Gurney Road (now Jalan Semarak) area. Not far from our house was a row of shops, one of which was Kiddies Store. Every weekend, my father would give my siblings and I our pocket money. With the dollars in hand, I would trot off to Kiddies Store by the back lane and spent whatever I had on books. It didn't take me long to build up a small library, which found a home in one of the unused servants' rooms at the back of the house. I opened my library to my classmates at the Gurney Road Primary School, which was within walking distance from our house, and they could borrow books using my handmade library cards.   

As I grew older, I was drawn to the classics and later on to modern fiction. Now, I tend to buy biographies, autobiographies and memoirs. 

Given my love for books, the Big Bad Wolf sale is not to be missed and at its recent event in October, I underspent my budget of RM200 and came out with these books...

"There are many little ways to enlarge your child's world. Love of books is the best of all." 

- Jacqueline Kennedy

Has it been that long?

At the age of 45, I left my cushy corporate job, with all its stresses and strains, so that I could have a more flexible life and do what I have always wanted to do - to write. An ex-colleague said that it was a courageous thing to do, trading in a career with an established organisation for an uncertain future.

Now, almost 57, I realise that I've been writing for a living for almost 12 years! Has it been that long?

Writing away over such a length of time should give me enough credibility, I think, to blog about it. So here I am, where I shall be doing a couple of things - sharing my writing life and showcasing my work.