Next May or June, it would be 10 years since my first story was published in the newspapers. The first one was the cover of Nuance.
The only thing I have spent more time on was my primary and secondary education, which lasted 11 years.
The 9-year journey has been filled with adapting and applying myself to new and unheard of things. One of my old editors told me that all the basic skills of journalism can be used to do anything. To learn and master anything.
When you take on a job, what is the first thing you need? Knowledge and skills. Skills, come from practice. It comes later. Knowledge, you would definitely need.
You acquire knowledge from information. If you don't have information, you need to get it. That's what journalists do - we get information. This is how I found myself moving from the swamp, to running a magazine, sections in a newspaper and then on to new media.
I am currently traversing the frontiers of the digital age, all the while honing my people skills - definitely my biggest weakness in my 20s. I was a robot, most of the time. I knew I had a huge capacity for emotion, which scared me.
I was too intense, and that intensity could burn through anything. Running away from it is not a solution, though. I needed to be okay with it. I needed to ride it and make sure I control it, and not the other way around.
Oh well. I just have one goal now - to retire. To be able to afford retirement, which would cost me RM2 million at the very least.
The only way I believe this would happen is if I get on the New York Times best-seller list. This is not an impossible notion, as I am confident of my writing. I just need the time to apply myself.
Right now, I am swamped with deadlines - mine and other people's - that I can't even take two days off to sleep properly. But the time will come. It's a marathon, not a sprint, and pacing myself now will pay dividends later on.
I see things from many different angles, and I try to keep myself a few steps ahead. I already know most of the outcome of this week. If I'm wrong, I'll be pleasantly surprised. Such is the advantage of being a pessimist - though I must say I also ensure it doesn't get to me.
Some things will be published or launched this week. SO wait, also, for the good news.
For honour! And vagina!
