The Candid Storyteller

DIY Cover Designs

noreply@blogger.com (Aneeta) — Thu, 31 May 2012 13:00:00 +0000

2 months ago, I happened to be seated next to an editor of a local magazine at a dinner. Both of us were reviewing the food at this restaurant. During our conversation, I discovered that he was previously an author. Naturally, I was excited. Then, he made these statements that, to this day, I find strange, namely: “I self-published,” and “Can you imagine, I drew the picture on the cover design.”

I suppose, it’s not the statements he made, but the way he said them. He rolled his eyes, shook his shoulders and didn’t make eye contact. It was as though he was embarrassed by this project.

Having self-published The Banana Leaf Men, I tried to tell him that he should be proud of his achievement.

“But, so many people criticised it,” he complained.

I smiled then said, “Yes, criticism comes with the territory. But, I want to ask those same people this: if they had exactly the same amount of money and resources, what would they do? It’s all well and good to criticise. But you do the same and let’s see what you come up with.”

He appeared to gain minimal comfort from what I said. I knew this from what he said next: “That’s why I won’t write another book. I’ll just work in magazines from now on.”

When I last ventured into self-publishing, like this editor, I too hadn’t much money. That was why I drew the cover design for The Banana Leaf Men. This time, with Ladoo Dog, it was different. I had the money and even knew where to find an artist I could hire to draw all the pictures and illustrate my stories. I discussed the option of hiring an artist with some friends. One of them said something that encouraged me to try, again, to create my own cover design: “No one is going to know Ladoo like you do. You can understand what it means when her head is angled one way or when she gives you a certain look. No artist is going to do that.”

I did say, “But, I’m no great artists. I’ll make mistakes.”

My friend didn’t reply with words. Instead, she raised one eyebrow and I got the message: If you don’t try, how will you know? Don’t be such a pessimist.

Once the paintings were done (which took about 10 days), I had another friend scan them for me. Then, one Friday, I downloaded the software recommended by the Smashwords team, Paint.NET, and spent the whole evening creating the cover for Ladoo Dog.

So, there’s the story of my DIY attempt at creating the cover design for the eBook. I will admit that I’m very proud of this.

Here’s my question: as my friend suggested, I know what Ladoo’s every look means. Can you, looking at the cover design of Ladoo Dog, guess what was going through her mind when this image was captured?

***

To download a sample of Ladoo Dog, visit the page on Smashwords.

A New eBook - Ladoo Dog

noreply@blogger.com (Aneeta) — Wed, 30 May 2012 11:32:00 +0000

I have done something quite exciting - I published my first eBook on Smashwords! It's a collection of stories based on my dachshund, Ladoo.

Am I excited? You bet!

Here's the cover design, short description and the long description.

Cover Design For 'Ladoo Dog' - Available on Smashwords

Short description

What makes dachshunds special? Can a dog be considered ‘Indian’ or ‘Chinese’? Do dachshunds have temper tantrums? These are some of the themes in the 10 stories about Ladoo, a dachshund with a big heart. This collection of entertaining stories will make you laugh and you will certainly appreciate dachshunds even more.

Extended description

The 10 stories in this collection are a personal account of the antics of my exuberant dachshund, Ladoo. She has brought much joy to all around her and has us all wrapped round her little paw.

While most of the stories are about what Ladoo gets up to, some of them are about how ludicrous humans can be about dogs. For instance, I was asked to get her vocal cords cut to prevent her from barking. Then, there’s the fact that some of her ancestors are called ‘Grandshirevale Open Minded’ and ‘Foonfattken Maxie Sophie’. And there’s one time she was mistaken for a goat.

Above all, these stories show that if you open your heart to a dog, it will give you its whole heart in return. As Gene Hill once said, ‘Nobody can fully understand the meaning of love unless he's owned a dog. A dog can show you more honest affection with a flick of his tail than a man can gather through a lifetime of handshakes.’

Link

Here's the link to Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/163760

Article in NST: Remarkable beauty, fascinating tales

noreply@blogger.com (Aneeta) — Sun, 06 May 2012 02:04:00 +0000

from NST website - Panel of four Iznik tiles

UNTIL June 29, Malaysians are the recipient of a rare treat — a travelling exhibition called Treasures Of The Aga Khan Museum: Architecture In Islamic Arts displayed for the first time in Southeast Asia at the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia.

“The exhibition focuses on Islamic architecture as manifested in art which has flourished across the Islamic world for over 1,400 years,” says Dr Heba Nayel Barakat, the head of Curatorial Affairs at the museum.

She explains that the 100 masterpieces on display here have been selected out of the 1,000-odd pieces that belong to the collection of the Aga Khan Museum.

The exhibition will be divided into six sections and it’s soon clear that Heba has clear favourites. In the opening section called “Sacred Topographies”, sites and monuments of Islamic pilgrimage are explored through paintings and drawings. There are representations of the Kaaba and the Masjid al-Haram circulated from the medieval period in manuscripts, pilgrimage manuals and certificates.
Tombs and shrines represent some of the greatest monuments built in the Islamic lands and the section on “Religious And Funerary Architecture” exemplifies this.

“One of the most beautiful pieces in this collection is an Abbasid wooden beam,” explains Heba. It dates back to the 9th Century AD and is a treasure because wood was very scarce in North Africa. This one comes from a mosque and it was the buffer that connected the arches together for stability. This beam displays an inscription from the Holy Quran and is the floral Kufic script.

Read more: Remarkable beauty, fascinating tales - Sunday Life & Times - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/life-times/sunday-life-times/remarkable-beauty-fascinating-tales-1.81005#ixzz1u3Dq0ILl

Article in NST: Blocks of tradition

noreply@blogger.com (Aneeta) — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 00:49:00 +0000

Balai Besar, where the recently installed Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah was crowned the 28th Sultan of Kedah

PEOPLE of Kedah are used to hearing visitors say, “There’s nothing to see here, nothing to do.” Their response is usually a smile and nothing more.

For those who have come to appreciate the beauty of Kedah know that there is probably no place like it anywhere else.

For a start, the next time you travel to Kedah, just north of the town of Sungai Petani, look out the window. Observe how flat the land is. If you’re patient and lucky, you might see the reflection of rays of the setting sun on the perfect, water-logged squares of padi land. Such beauty is, in part, the result of a well-thought-out and well-executed plan by a man who helped make Kedah a major producer of rice: Wan Mat Saman, the Chief Minister in the Court of the 26th Sultan of Kedah, Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah

Read more: HERITAGE: Blocks of tradition - Sunday Life & Times - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/life-times/sunday-life-times/heritage-blocks-of-tradition-1.76284#ixzz1sj3cXMZE

Article in NST: Rich Royal Heritage

noreply@blogger.com (Aneeta) — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 02:05:00 +0000

HAVE you ever wondered what happened before Malacca was discovered? Where did travellers stop during their trade journeys between the East and the West? Head for the State Museum in Alor Star and learn how Kedah, in particular the Bujang Valley and its surrounding area, was once a thriving and prosperous entrepot.

The well-thought-out displays in the museum highlight the known history of Kedah which began close to 2,000 years ago. Some early notations of Kedah appeared in a Tamil poem titled Pattinappalai, written either in the 2nd or 3rd Century.

Datuk Dr Wan Shamsudin Mohd Yusof, an expert in Kedah history and chairman of the History Association Of Malaysia, Kedah Branch, says evidence from the archaeological findings in Bujang Valley shows that there were Buddhist and Hindu settlers in this region. Indeed, Kadaram and Langkasuka are the ancient names for Kedah.

Then there was an expedition by Tamil king Rajendra Chola I in the 11th Century, who established his merchant and naval fleet to become one of the most powerful in this region.
The word “Kedah”, explains Wan Shamsudin, “some think it comes from the word ‘Kheddah’, meaning elephant trap. Others think it’s from an Arabic word which means stemmed glass.”

Heritage Series

noreply@blogger.com (Aneeta) — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 01:05:00 +0000

In December 2011, the idea to write/publish a series of articles about Kedah and its Sultanate was mooted. I am so happy that, today, the first in this series has been published. It's called 'Letters from Cheraiburi'. Here's an excerpt:

Technicalities aside, it’s the contents that make this manuscript a fascinating read. For example, the letter to Sir Charles dated Oct 5, 1894 is both a letter of thanks and a report. The story goes that the Governor made a request that the Sultan’s people be vaccinated. The Sultan explains that the vaccination programme could not be started earlier because the people had to work in the paddy fields. Now, three months hence, the work is complete and the Sultan will issue a decree that all the people of Kota Setar be vaccinated.

In another letter, the Sultan appears to be writing to a minister in the Siamese Court asking that his brother studying in Bangkok, Tunku Mahmud, be given permission to return to Kedah to visit his mother. The prince is to return on the same boat that delivers the “Bunga Emas” (Kedah’s tribute to Siam in recognition of Siam’s suzerainty over it).

Not all the documents are serious in nature. One of the most entertaining ones is the letter the Sultan wrote to what appears to be the administrator in Songkhla. The Sultan explains that he has an English private secretary by the name of Master Hart. It is the fasting month and Master Hart, having little work, has been granted permission to visit Songkhla.

Read more: HERITAGE: Letters from Cheraiburi - Sunday Life & Times - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/life-times/sunday-life-times/heritage-letters-from-cheraiburi-1.68948#ixzz1qkKj047k

Friends of the Earth

noreply@blogger.com (Aneeta) — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 00:29:00 +0000

3 stories I wrote for Earth Hour which were published in the NST - all photos taken from their website.

ENVIRONMENTAL ADJECTIVES
“Avid gardeners are welcome to collect discarded stalks, leaves and flowers which can be used as mulch or compost. Please bring your own bags or buckets.” This is the sort of email you’ll receive from Brenda James, 35, on a regular basis.

...

POWER OF THE SUN
...

According to the senior physician at Ayur Centre Sdn Bhd, living in tandem with our environment begins by accepting that “without the power from the sun, nothing in our environment can be transformed. In our body, this power is represented in the digestive system. As the sun rises, one’s digestive ‘fire’ will also rise. As sun sets, this ‘fire’ becomes poor. So, when the sun is at its highest at noon, that‘s the time to eat the heaviest meal of the day”.

...
ROLLING STONE THAT GATHERED MOSS

There is a saying: “Sow a thought and you reap an act. Sow an act and you reap a habit. Sow a habit and you reap a character. Sow a character and you reap a destiny.”

Can we, then, influence our thoughts to create the best possible destiny? For Anne Munro-Kua, 63, the answer is yes because, “what and how each of us thinks matters, way beyond our individual lives and Earth Hour”.

Anne, a “clean coach”, uses a tool called Clean Language that was first developed by David Grove who discovered that people use metaphors to describe their most traumatic experiences. “Metaphors crystallise the structure of those experiences,” elaborates Anne.

Read more: Friends of the Earth - Live - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/life-times/live/friends-of-the-earth-1.68466#ixzz1qeL0O47G

Mangled English

noreply@blogger.com (Aneeta) — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 04:45:00 +0000

Here's an excerpt from an article that made me laugh out loud this morning:

I am sure you have also heard youths uttering sentences like, "I busy now lah, nanti saya panggil you on my cellulite phone" and "Today, while coming to school ah, I see a died kucing you know and there was banyak magnets on the kucing."

Many of our teachers have not got past their caterpillar and pupal stages to become flying butterflies where English is concerned. What is even more pathetic is when educated adults murder the language. Instead of saying, "Could you please lower your voice, I'm trying to concentrate over here," they say, "Shaddap lah!" and instead of saying, "I'm in a fix as I don't know how to solve this problem," they say, "Die loh!"

Read more: ENGLISH LANGUAGE: We have got to arrest the rot - Letters to the Editor - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/english-language-we-have-got-to-arrest-the-rot-1.68141#ixzz1qZXDdyFs

A crack at ceramics

noreply@blogger.com (Aneeta) — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 04:32:00 +0000

HAVE you ever wondered when the ceramic plates you use daily were made? Which kiln was used to make the storage jar in your pantry which stores uncooked rice? Was the clay used of good quality?
These are the sort of questions that members of the Southeast Asian Ceramic Society (West Malaysia Chapter) ask on a regular basis. Recently, the Society played host to Dr Rose Kerr, who presented a lecture on the subject matter of Chinese Export Ceramics, a book she co-authored with Luisa Mengoni.

She reveals that since her childhood days, she has enjoyed learning languages, particularly Chinese. “When learning it from a book didn’t work, I took up Chinese Studies in university,” she says.

Read more: HERITAGE: A crack at ceramics - Sunday Life & Times - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/life-times/sunday-life-times/heritage-a-crack-at-ceramics-1.65376#ixzz1q6FURmWF

noreply@blogger.com (Aneeta) — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 01:52:00 +0000

Here's an excerpt of a story I'm very proud of:

Photo of Miquel Silvestre which was on the cover of Life & Times (10 March 2012)

HIS is a story that is reminiscent of Robin Sharma’s The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. “I was a lawyer before. I studied in Spain for 10 years and worked in a very high position. Then things became bad.”
At 39, Miquel Silvestre met with an accident. He realised that something in his life needed to change. “I was always in a rush and felt I was losing what I was before.”

He decided on a move that many lawyers who have left practice can identify with — Miquel quit law and decided to write a book. “I went to Ireland to learn English and find ideas for my novel.” ...

Read more: The rider who sold his suit - Live - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/life-times/live/the-rider-who-sold-his-suit-1.58284#ixzz1ofsxX28W

Ladoo's in the Papers!

noreply@blogger.com (Aneeta) — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 00:36:00 +0000

Here's an excerpt of the story about Ladoo in the papers:

Since my dachshund, Ladoo, is one of the family, I didn’t see why I couldn’t use Colgate to brush her teeth. So, with an old toothbrush in one hand and a generous amount of Colgate squeezed on it, I sat on the floor, in front of her. With the other hand, I held Ladoo’s chin and asked her to open her mouth. She absolutely refused. After 10 minutes of cajoling, coaxing and scolding her, I gave up. Then, I could hear Ladoo making funny sounds and turned to see if she was all right. With one paw on the end of the Colgate tube, she was squeezing the toothpaste out and licking it. While my vet is probably mortified reading this, the upshot was that Ladoo had lovely minty breath the whole day.

http://www.nst.com.my/life-times/sunday-life-times/family-a-brush-with-hygiene-1.51910

Deleting My Facebook Account: A Narrow Escape

noreply@blogger.com (Aneeta) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 12:17:00 +0000

I had only 1 New Year’s resolution for 2012: to delete my FB account. I’ve never been so relieved to get rid of a toxic burden. And here are the reasons why.

Cryptic comments

Let’s start with irritating cryptic one-liners like Spending the night with a hot bod? I’d spend hours trying to decipher them. Was it that my friend found someone new? Had the marriage broken down? What of the children? Imagine the anti-climax when she said, “Oh, no. We bought a new car and took it for a spin.”

Birthday wishes

On birthdays, I’d be privy to photos, gifts and romantic gestures played out ad nauseum. There were statements like I’m so lucky. I have the best husband/wife in the world. And, in less than a minute, the wife/husband would reply, complete with little kisses and hearts in the status updates. Horror of horrors, they’re sitting next to each other during this ‘exchange’. Is there nothing private anymore?

In my naiveté, I once told a friend who had over 200 birthday wishes how lucky she was. Her reply was, “Aneeta, these are the people who just wish. They’re not really my friends.” Huh?

Useless arguments

I’ve only engaged in one ‘argument’ on FB and, as I confessed to my best friend, it was because I had nothing better to do that night. The thing is, if I want another dachshund and a pet shop or breeder are my only options, I’ll still choose them. Insisting that other dogs will be put down isn’t going to make me feel any guiltier. Don’t lecture me about where to get my pets, thank you very much! Instead, I would be less antagonised if people campaigned for laws allowing flat-dwellers to keep pets.

To advance my business

How?

When my book was published, 1 friend bought the book. Just 1.

And don’t think I didn’t go out of my way to support my FB friends. I have shared my expertise in writing and editing for free. I’ve bought books by other authors and even offered them free publicity on my site.

What did I get in return? A few ‘likes’ for my articles and lots of heartache. One friend-of-a-friend maligned me and my work without having ever read my books or met me. Then there was the time I introduced a client to a friend only for the friend to be hostile towards us both because my timing was off and she wasn’t prepared for the spontaneous ‘meeting’.

Friends?

When I joined FB (must have been about two years ago), I was excited to get in touch with friends from school. Some had matured beyond my expectations: for instance, 2 who hated each other because one stole the other’s boyfriend were now sharing jokes.

Slowly, though, the hypocrisy emerged: on FB, the girls praised each other no end to the point of supporting one another’s disrespect for elders. But, when I met them in person, they confessed that they didn’t really like the girls they’d praised and also thought the criticism made of families was too much. Why, then, dishonestly support such callous statements in the first place? Why praise when you despise them so?

Although everyone else warned me about one girl, I ended up admiring her enormously because she said what all the others thought like, ‘Wah! You so lucky,’ ‘OMG. You’re so thin,’ ‘Your house so big one. You’re loaded.’ And it was unadulterated entertainment to read how the recipients of such comments justified their expenditure.

Am I jealous of these people? Not at all. They come across as selfish and their sole aim seems to be self-aggrandizement. Clearly, nothing has changed since school. What I envy is their ability to show off shamelessly without censor.

There has been some good being on FB – I was sure a friend would be in town to receive the flowers I sent her for her birthday. I learned about an engagement before we were officially told about the union. I saw pictures of holiday destinations I’d never been to like Maldives, Hong Kong, South Africa and Mexico.

There’s an old Tamil saying – on your deathbed, if you have 4 people you can call your friends, then you die happy. When I die, I doubt that my 4 friends will come from FB. So, deleting my FB account has been worthwhile and social networking be damned.

Article: Faces of Brilliance

noreply@blogger.com (Aneeta) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 00:36:00 +0000

Faces of Brilliance

Some people collect stamps. And some collect coins. Then, there’s Dr. Bernard Cheong: he collects watches to the point where he says, “Practising medicine has become something I do in my spare time.”

Born in Kuantan, Pahang, Dr. Bernard’s parents chose to make Singapore their home when the city state left the Federation of Malaya. “My parents insisted that I go to a good school and enrolled me in ACS (Anglo Chinese School),” he says. New to the social dynamics at play, he felt totally out of place. “Even a primary school student would wear an Omega or Rolex. I learnt the difference between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’.”

To read more, please click here.

The misunderstood shark - article in the NST

noreply@blogger.com (Aneeta) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 07:22:00 +0000

This is a story about sharks and it’s become one of my favourite articles so far.

Am very proud that one of the photos is a cover shot and, I think, it’s the main story in today’s NST!

Here's the link:

http://www.nst.com.my/life-times/sunday-life-times/family-the-misunderstood-shark-1.11097

What you think of the sharks-in-residence?

Being Happy and Following Your Heart

noreply@blogger.com (Aneeta) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 00:12:00 +0000

Follow Your Heart

During the Deepavali holidays, I got a chance to read Andrew Matthew’s book, Follow Your Heart. There is a section in this book that is extremely inspiring for any author. I’ve copied out the relevant text (which appears on page 87 of his book).

***

‘Being Happy!’

Being Happy!

When I took the manuscript of my first book, ‘BEING HAPPY!” to publishers, they all said: “The last thing the world needs is another self-improvement manual.” They also said that, to be writing books like ‘BEING HAPPY!’ I should be a psychiatrist – except for one fellow, and the thought I should see one~

But after a year and a half of rejections I found Media Masters, a publisher with a vision, in Singapore. Media Masters soon told me that the book market is extremely competitive, and that newspapers and TV have little interest in unknown authors. We needed a strategy.

We decided to take ‘BEING HAPPY!’ direct to the people. When we launched the book in Singapore, I took my easel and microphone into almost every book store in the city. I drew my cartoons, talked about my philosophies and signed books. In the high schools and universities, I talked to the students and in the corporations, I talked to the staff. We stuck with this plan until ‘BEING HAPPY!’ hit the Singapore best-seller lists, and then we used the same strategy in Malaysia, then Australia, and so on.

I spent six years travelling countries all over the globe. I spoke in warehouses and prions, and cartooned in a thousand shopping centres – my next book should be “Shopping Malls of the World”. For the most part I revelled in the project. But there were days when I would wake up in some hotel room and think: “If I go into another book store I’ll vomit!”

One book store at a time, one city at a time, one country at a time, we took ‘BEING HAPPY!’ to the international marketplace. And gradually, the newspapers and TV stations began to call us!

We had some fun along the way. We did a whole promotional tour in Australia during an airline strike. In New Zealand, they had me drawing cartoons on radio!

To launch ‘BEING HAPPY!’ in America, we organised a cocktail party for the media at the Australian Embassy on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. We sent out invitations to what seemed like every newspaper, news bureau, TV station and radio station on the East Coast of the USA. We catered for two hundred people. I flew to New York for the launch on June 20^th, 1990.

As it happened, June 20^th, was the day a fellow called Nelson Mandela also flew to New York. How many media people thought little Andrew was bigger news that Nelson Mandela? Zero.

If you have ever had a cocktail party by yourself, just you and eleven waiters, you’ll know that the service is unforgettable.

People ask me: “What did you do to sell a million books?” I tell them: “I flew a million miles, gave five hundred speeches, a thousand interviews – and lost my baggage twenty-three times!”

This story is not about books or business – it’s about any successful project you care to name. You start wherever you can. You do everything you can. It’s more about effort than luck.

***

I’d love to hear from you if you have similar stories.

When the heart rules the head - article in the NST

noreply@blogger.com (Aneeta) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:11:00 +0000

In some cases, a headache can be a sign of problems with the heart, writes ANEETA SUNDARARAJ
IT starts with a throbbing headache that progresses to nausea and a feeling of dizziness. Soon, your vision is affected. All you want to do is draw the curtains, get into bed and sleep.

Perhaps there is something wrong with your heart, says Dr Yap Yee Guan, Prince Court Medical Centre’s consultant interventional cardiologist.

To understand the connection between your heart and your headache, Dr Yap says it’s necessary to know the structure and function of the heart: “The heart consists of four chambers — the left and right atria and the left and right ventricles. The muscle that divides the right and left sides is called the septum.”
In a normal, healthy heart, deoxygenated blood moves through the right atrium to the right ventricle. It then flows to the lungs to be oxygenated. Oxygenated blood flows back into the left atrium. From there it goes into the left ventricle and, finally, to the rest of the body.

Read more: Health: When the heart rules the head http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/Health_Whentheheartrulesthehead/Article#ixzz1b5ULlrpD

Life paralysed by migraine - article in NST

noreply@blogger.com (Aneeta) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:10:00 +0000

THE smile on the faces of Mohammad Noor Mohamad Ishak, 47 and his family belie the trauma they’ve been through. “I had my first stroke in 2005. I was only 39 then,” says the legal advisor in a multinational firm.

“Our life was so stressful,” adds his wife, Roslina Mohd Yatim, 47.

The housewife explains that after the stroke, her husband could not move or drive. “Sometimes, he couldn’t even talk. But I was not going to allow him to stay inside the house. Every day, I would take him for a walk.

“I always encouraged his friends to visit him. Sometimes, he didn’t even know who they were. So, I used to keep a list of all the people who came. When my husband recovered, I showed him this list. He was so happy and said to me, ’People like me. I must be a good man’.”
Mohammad Noor went back to work after his recovery but life was no longer the same. “Many times, I had to take medical leave because of migraine,” he says

Read more: Health: Life paralysed by migraine http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/Lifeparalysedbymigraine/Article#ixzz1b5TupH21

Article featured on Suite.101

noreply@blogger.com (Aneeta) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 06:07:00 +0000

I have been writing for Suite101.com for a while now. One of my articles 'When A Break Up Splits Your Social Circle' has been featured on the site.

Most pleased.

Here's the link to the page where the article's featured: http://www.suite101.com/divorce

Here's the link to the page where the article's published: http://aneeta-sundararaj.suite101.com/when-a-break-up-splits-your-social-circle-a383611

My Article : Science and Spirituality of Ageing

noreply@blogger.com (Aneeta) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 00:42:00 +0000

This article was published in the NST today. I enjoyed meeting Professor Rattan and really enjoyed listening to his 'pseudo-intellectual pontificating'. Here are 2 of my favourite passages from the article:

'Why exactly do we age? From a biological perspective, ageing happens when a species has lived longer than its essential life span (which is the necessary time required for the species to reproduce). For homo sapiens, this is approximately 35 to 40 years. After this, the ageing process begins — Rattan'
AND

“Why I’ve stuck my neck out and done this pseudo-intellectual pontificating is because I don’t like the misuse of the word ‘spiritual’. Most of the time, religions have what’s called the ‘fear factor’. Science takes away this fear and everything has to be explained by humans. Not by a ‘God’. To do this, scientists have to live and talk to each other.”

To read more, click here: Health: Science and spirituality of ageing http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/Health_Scienceandspiritualityofageing/Article#ixzz1aQfqPMQe

Advice about creating a platform

noreply@blogger.com (Aneeta) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 03:06:00 +0000

In an article called, The Importance of Building an Author Platform, Gary McLaren writes about what an author should do today to create awarness about his book. His advice is sound and, most importantly, he says this:

... the new model for author platform still involves visibility and reputation but revolves around interaction between authors and their readers.

Here's the link to the article: http://www.publishyourownebooks.com/build-an-author-platform/

Untold Stories from Aurangabad and a Town Called Shirdi

noreply@blogger.com (Aneeta) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 08:04:00 +0000

In my article, The call of Aurangabad, I wrote about part of our visit to India. I wrote about the city of Aurangabad, Bibi-ka-Maqbara, the Ajanta and Ellora caves and Daultabad Fort. The response to the article has been so encouraging – I’ve had emails, text messages and telephone calls from all sorts of people telling me they enjoyed the story.

Here’s a snippet of information that wasn’t published (the article I submitted was way too long and needed to be shortened!): On our way down from Daulatabad Ford, we were drenched in the monsoon rains. Sanjay pacified us by saying it was good luck to be caught in this, the first downpour of the season. I smiled, but knew that we were already lucky as our holiday in Aurangabad was a spectacular adventure filled with history, culture and religion.

There was another town we visited – Shirdi. We visited this town at the end of our holiday, on the way back to Pune. The reason we went there was because of my desire to take the darshan of Sai Baba of Shirdi.

Scene from India by Eve Lim

We left Aurangabad at about 10 a.m.. The day was bright and we were quite exhausted already. It took us about 2 ½ hours to reach Shirdi. The roads leading there (purported to be highways) can be full of potholes. There is hardly anyone on the road. On either side of the sometimes-bumpy-road, there were sugar-cane plantations. At times, there were small farms, trees with the odd buffalo taking a rest and little temples. It’s mainly countryside with nothing to see but scenes like the one in the photo.

Then, all of a sudden, the road becomes congested with traffic, there are buildings on either side of the roads, hotels, travel agents and restaurants. As you come to the main gates of the temple complex, the thing that hits you the most is the overwhelming number of people there. There are guides asking you if you need a tour of the complex, devotees of all shapes and sizes, drivers, pick-pockets, sanyasins and tourists. It can be suffocating.

While a lot of my experience in Shirdi was spiritual in nature, here’s a funny one: when we were walking back to our car, an elderly man walked towards me. He had a long beard, wore a kutra pyjama and carried a bunch of peacock feathers in one hand. He gave me a benign smile. I smiled in return. He touched my shoulders with these peacock feathers, as if to bless me. When he put his hand out, I realised he wanted money in return for his blessings. I shook my head and walked away.

I heard the sound before I realised what was happening.

Whack!

The same man with a benign smile had hit me on the head with those peacock feathers. His smile was gone. Instead, he wore a frustrated frown and held the peacock feathers up, as though to hit me again.

I frowned back and walked away, rubbing my sore head. I didn’t know that being hit my peacock feathers could be that painful!

Nevertheless, I feel blessed to have stepped on the soil of Shirdi and that I got darshan from Sai Baba. But that’s another story.

E-publish and be damned

noreply@blogger.com (Aneeta) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 12:17:00 +0000

http://www.freeclipartnow.com/termsofuse.php

IN an article called ‘Kindle: How you can make a million writing your own e-book’, Andrew Wilson shares his ideas about e-publishing. I’m guessing there’s more to the amount of work he did than he’s letting on. While it’s wise to read the whole article, what I’ve done is to condense his words to get a gist of the whole thing:

***

Step 1 – How to Start

Think about the type of book you want to write. Genre novels – particularly crime thrillers, fantasy, paranormal romance and chick-lit – seem particularly suited to the Kindle format. Experts say it is best to steer clear of literary fiction.

Read other people’s books. Look at the list of the top 20 titles and download those that look similar to your novel.

Consider the length of your novel. Many of the top sellers tend to be short, quick reads.

Proofread your novel for mistakes – pay a professional to vet your manuscript.

Step 2 – Judging a Book

A good cover is one of the most important secrets of e-book success.

DIY cover – in my novel The Gift Of Death, each of the key players in an old murder case receive macabre gifts.

Using my MacBook Pro (application called Photo Booth), I clicked on Effects and selected the X-Ray feature, which provides a kind of negative image. I enlisted the help of a couple of designer friends. I found an old gift box, wrapped a ribbon round it and then gave it to one of my friends to hold as they stood in front of a set of glass panelled doors.

When I was happy with the image, I sent the picture to my friend’s computer, and we played about with typefaces, fonts and colours until we were happy with the result. (Remember to follow Amazon’s technical guidelines regarding the cover image.)

I decided to add the ‘twisted gem’ quote from Kate Miciak at Bantam Delacorte, to give the book an extra boost. I then saved this image and uploaded it back on to my computer. The whole process – concept, photography and design – took something like two hours.

Chapter 3 – Uploading a Book

Before you upload your book, you need to write a description, which Amazon says can be anything between 30 and 4,000 characters (not words). This is your chance to really sell your work, so make the blurb pithy and compelling.

Amazon has provided a useful video and step-by-step guide (kdp.amazon.com), and the whole process of uploading it to the site was surprisingly straightforward.

If you are serious about self-publishing, it’s a good idea to also check out Smashwords (smashwords.com).

Chapter 4: Pricing

There are two royalty rates offered by Amazon – 70 per cent of the cover price if the book sells for between £1.49 and £6.99 and 35 per cent for titles priced at 75p. The overwhelming advice offered by the experts is to keep your price as low as possible.

Chapter 5: Creating a Brand

Once you’ve completed the uploading process by clicking the Save And Publish button, you’ll have to wait around 24 hours before your book is available for sale.

Build a backlist – in an ideal world, you would have a series of novels already written that you could offer your readers.

Promote the book on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, together with specialist ones such as Goodreads.com and Kindleboards.com.

Create your own website and blog creatively. Post a series of short and infrequent blogs to your target audience. The idea is to attract readers to your website, where you can then engage them on an individual level until finally they begin to correspond by Twitter, Facebook and email. Locke calls this concept ‘loyalty transfer’, a technique that is the opposite of the hard sell.

‘One day I wrote the blog, the next day I was successful,’ he boasts. He ran a Twitter search for Penn State and found hundreds of people tweeting about a forthcoming game. He picked the first 100 and sent each one a direct message with the title of his blog and a link to it.

They in turn forwarded it to friends all over the world, many of whom clicked on Locke’s website and found his novels shared many similarities with his blog.

Traditional media are also good for spreading the word about your book – ask your local newspaper if they would be interested in running an interview with you. Word-of-mouth recommendation is the key to success.

Chapter 6 – In the Money

What are the chances of striking it rich?

Kindle owners are reading more – they now buy 3.3 times the number of books they purchased before owning the device. And, as volumes of Kindle owners increase, and assuming prices go up, someone over here will do it eventually.

New Book by Brian Porter: Behind Closed Doors

noreply@blogger.com (Aneeta) — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 00:45:00 +0000

I receive the following information from Brian Porter about the publication of his new book, 'Behind Closed Doors':
***

Award winning author Brian L Porter, is pleased to announce the release of his latest Victorian Murder/Mystery novel, Behind Closed Doors. In a generous gesture, the book's publisher, Sonar 4 Publications, has agreed to donate $1 from every paperback sold to Brian's nominated charity, The Mayflower Animal Sanctuary, in Bawtry, South Yorkshire, UK. The sanctuary does tremendous work every year, rescuing, caring for and rehoming hundreds of abused and abandoned dogs, cats and small animals. Brian, a dedicated dog lover and rescuer, has adopted four of his dogs from the sanctuary and he is delighted that his book may go some way towards helping the charity in their work.

Behind Closed Doors

Autumn, 1888. The population of London is transfixed and horrified by the atrocious and horrific murder spree being conducted by Jack the Ripper. The newspapers are full of the details of the mutilations perpetrated by the killer and the apparent inability of the police to apprehend the unknown assailant. As Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Charles Warren throws the bulk of his investigative resources into the search for The Ripper, and the tabloid press scream of the crimes in banner headlines on a daily basis; on the new, ultra modern Underground Railway that has revolutionized travel around the great metropolis for the working man, another, less well publicized killer is at large.

Tucked away on the inner pages of the daily press, hardly enough to raise an eyebrow among discerning readers, one may have found a few, short articles which told of the strange and also, so far unsolved murders which are taking place on board the carriages of the new-fangled and much heralded transport system. Each murder takes place the day after one of the ripper killings, as the murderer appears to be taking advantage of the lack of police resources to tackle not one, but two, major investigations simultaneously.

Inspector Albert Norris is charged with bringing the railway killer to justice, but, as with case of Jack the Ripper, clues are few, the killer's motive unclear, and he is forced to carry out his investigations 'quietly and without causing a public panic' as the authorities seek to prevent a loss of confidence in the safety of the underground railway system. The press are being told even less, hence the minimal coverage, and Norris can count on little help from above as he attempts to solve the inexplicable series of murders.

Behind Closed Doors (ISBN 10, 0615529240 or ISBN 13, 978-0615529240) is available in paperback and Kindle editions from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk and in PDF e-book from the publisher, www.sonar4publications.com and from all good online book sellers.

For further information please go to http://www.inspectornorris.webs.com and for information on the Mayflower Sanctuary, visit www.mayflowersanctuary.co.uk

The Call of Aurangabad - article in the NST

noreply@blogger.com (Aneeta) — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 23:06:00 +0000

My article about our recent visit to Aurangabad has been published in the NST. Here's an excerpt:
***
THE city of Aurangabad has yet to make it to the Malaysian list of Top Ten Travel Destinations in India. Still, when I arrive in the city in the state of Maharashtra and meet my guide, Sanjay Vaswani, I am excited to be here.
Aurangabad is named after the Moghul emperor, Aurangzeb Alamgir (son of Shah Jahan, the man behind the famous Taj Mahal). During his second viceroyalty of the Deccan, Aurangzeb made it his capital in 1653 and named it Aurangabad.

But its history goes further back. With an abundant water supply and a strategic location between north and south India, the city was first built around a village called Khidki.

It’s known as the City Of Gates as there are 52 gates into the old city (each one was opened for a week every year). The principal ones were the Delhi gate (in the north), the Jalna gate (in the east), the Paithan gate (in the south) and the Mecca gate (in the west). Most of them are no longer used.
To read more of this article (and see the other pictures), go to The call of Aurangabad http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/Go_ThecallofAurangabad/Article#ixzz1YdBSD82j

Article in NST - Internal Repair

noreply@blogger.com (Aneeta) — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 11:03:00 +0000

Harvesting adult stem cells to repair the heart muscle is showing good potential. ANEETA SUNDARARAj finds out what the procedure entails

Read more: www.nst.com.my http://www.nst.com.my/nst/Section/index_html?section=Health#ixzz1VkqmjnmN