The First Post

For the longest time since I created this blog – two years and seven days long, to be exact – I let it sit here, like a placeholder for something significant I had hoped would come.

And because I'm someone who values symbolism to the extreme, I often wondered what would make for a, well, symbolic first post. Would it be an announcement that I've secured a book contract for my first manuscript? Or an indulgent essay detailing the emotional rollercoaster ride of my quest to getting a book published?

I thought about this space that I had reserved, intermittently – while I was stuck in traffic, in the shower... Sometimes, I let random ideas lull me to sleep, only to wake up with no memory of any late-night inspiration that might have struck in the seconds before my brain powered down.

Time passed.

I thought I might publish one of two short stories I’d written for an anthology (Pulp Toast/Roti Bakar, #1). Or both of them. Or write something new. Just to breathe some “life” into this space and to keep my writing going.

But time was the only thing that kept going.

Even after I got offered a book contract, and my manuscript had undergone a round of structural edits and copyedits each, and then a couple of rounds of proofreading, and I can almost imagine holding the physical book in my hands.

So today, I bit the bullet. I put away my e-books and dramas. I ignored the temptation to scroll through my social media. I shoved away the excuse that typing a proper post on my mobile phone might blind me, and I finally sat down to write this post, in memory of the day that my book was suppose to be published.

Because, remember the part about me being big on symbols? Well, 10th December 2019 was supposed to be the launch date of my first novel The Night of Legends. I say was because, of course, it's not out yet.

PS: I'm publishing this post a little past midnight but I did start writing it on 10.12.19. Deadlines are the bane of a writer's existence.