In the Shade of a Mango Tree – Interview with Dato’ Dr. Andrew Mohanraj (15 January 2019)

Dato' Dr. Andrew Mohanraj

Dato’ Dr. Andrew Mohanraj © Aneeta Sundararaj

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“Same old. Same old. 2004 has been so boring.” These were the words my friend said on Christmas Eve. Neither of us was aware that our belief that the year would end on a dull note was premature. On Boxing Day, I was at home in Alor Setar. I was busy caring for my puppy who was recuperating from an operation. I’d shortened her leash by twirling it around one leg of our dining table so that she would remain in one spot. Suddenly, the glasses in our cabinets rattled and the dining table shook. This tiny little dog is too strong, I thought. Yes, looking back, this makes little sense. At the time, though, I was so focused on trying to make sure my fussing dachshund stayed still that no other

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How to Pick a Profitable Niche – Quickstart Guide

By Rohi Shetty

Most freelance writers struggle to find their niche. Either we procrastinate or we choose a niche that isn’t profitable. When we don’t have a clearly defined niche, it’s hard to communicate what we do and to find potential clients. Whether we are new or experienced writers, we need to choose our niche and to choose it wisely.

What is a niche?

A niche is a specific group of people who have a clear and compelling problem and are seeking a solution to it.

Most writers resist choosing a niche because they don’t know which audience to focus on. However, you will be surprised to know that picking a target audience is not so important. It’s more important to discover a problem that people have and then offer a specific solution to them. So your first step is to identify a pressing need and to build your freelance writing business

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Don’t Sell Me, Tell Me by Greg Koorhan


Title: Don’t Sell Me, Tell Me
Author: Greg Koorhan
Paperback: 156 pages
Publisher: Crossbow Studio; 1 edition (July 7, 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9780692748275
ISBN-13: 978-0692748275
ASIN: 069274827X
 

This nifty book is full of useful information that will be a blessing for all storytellers. For those who are beginners in storytelling, you’ll not make the mistakes that veteran storytellers make. For veteran storytellers, you’ll understand why your stories written for a business setting aren’t converting to sales and how to correct such mistakes. It is, essentially, an important guide for those who need to learn how to market their products more effectively.

Let’s analyse this book a little more. For one, the subtitle to this book gives a glimpse of what’s ahead in that Koorhan says that the book shows you how to use storytelling to connect with the hearts and wallets

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How to Create Your First Viral Challenge For Your Audience

By Rohi Shetty

“Of all the virtues we can learn, no trait is more useful, more essential for survival, and more likely to improve the quality of life than the ability to transform adversity into an enjoyable challenge.” ~Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

There is no better way to get out of your comfort zone than a challenge. As you learn to take on bigger and bolder challenges, you will improve your chances of success and satisfaction.

Five Steps to Create Your First Challenge
A challenge is like a course in which you help the participants to achieve a specific result by the end of the challenge. Creating a challenge is a highly effective way to attract readers, subscribers, and clients.

Topic and title

It should help your readers to overcome the struggles and challenges that they face. Think of some small and quick but significant wins that they can get from your challenge.

What are the

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Parent or Parents?

In Malaysia, both parents must consent to the conversion of their child to Islam. For now.

Many years ago, in a provincial court, I began to panic. The judge had refused my request for an adjournment. I wanted to wait for my boss to arrive so that he could start cross-examining the witness who was an engineer. No doubt, everyone in that courtroom with mould-stained walls and creaky furniture was aware that I knew next to nothing about construction law. My opponent smiled, certain of success.

I took a deep breath then summoned every ounce of optimism and courage in my being. In the next few hours, I asked the engineer basic questions to determine if he’d followed procedure. As his face became redder by the minute, it soon became clear that he had cut corners and caused damage to our client’s

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Nine Fabulous Contests for Writers With No Entry Fee

By Rohi Shetty

When you participate in free writing contests, you not only have a chance to win prizes but it can also help you to complete projects within deadlines and show how you measure up against the competition.

Taking part in a writing contest is a great way to combat writer’s block because most contests have clear guidelines and deadlines. If you don’t win, you can repurpose your entries and publish them elsewhere and/or enter them in other writing contests. And of course, if you win, the boost to your confidence and credibility are priceless.

If you are new to writing contests, start by entering writing contests with no entry fee. Here are nine free writing contests that you can enter right away.

1. 53-Word Story Contest
https://www.press53.com/53word-story-contest
Description: Each month Prime Number Magazine invites writers to submit a 53-word story based on a prompt. 53 words—no

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Overcoming Writer’s Block with Automatic Transcription

By Jason Kincaid
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If you’re a writer — of books, essays, scripts, blog posts, whatever — you’re familiar with the phenomenon: the blank screen, a looming deadline, and a sinking feeling in your gut that pairs poorly with the jug of coffee you drank earlier.

If you know that rumble all too well: this post is for you. Maybe it’ll help you get out of a rut; at the very least, it’s good for a few minutes of procrastination.

Here’s the core idea: thinking out loud is often less arduous than writing. And it’s now easier than ever to combine the two, thanks to recent advances in speech recognition technology.

Of course, dictation is nothing new — and plenty of writers have taken advantage of it. Carl Sagan’s voluminous output was facilitated by his process of speaking into an audio recorder, to be transcribed later by an assistant (you can listen to some of his dictations in the Library

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Are You a Writer Without An Editorial Calendar?

By Rohi Shetty

The best thing you can do as a writer is to create an editorial calendar and stick to it. This single step will transform your writing life because you will gain incredible focus and clarity. It will help you to avoid stress, procrastination, and writer’s block.

We writers are notorious for procrastinating and waiting until the last possible moment to complete their projects. Missing deadlines is a cardinal sin for a professional writer and yet we have all missed deadlines more times than we care to recall.

Often we stay up late to complete the project and submit it just in time. We promise ourselves we won’t repeat this mistake again. And the next time, we repeat the same sorry pattern. It’s a destructive habit we just can’t seem to escape.

We should never finish anything the night before it’s due to be published. Aside from the caffeine overload and the

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kɒnvənt ɡɜːl

Commemorating the centenary celebrations of the Church of St. Michael in Alor Setar, Aneeta Sundararaj remembers the Catholics who played an important role in the community.

Programme Booklet

‘kɒnvənt ɡɜːl’. If you’re a former student of St. Nicholas Convent, Alor Setar, you must recognise these words, know what they mean and how they’re pronounced. If you do, you’re a credit to the Sisters who once taught us. If you don’t, shame on you! Remember those lessons in Phonetics? In case you’re still confused, ‘kɒnvənt ɡɜːl’ means ‘Convent Girl’.

The memory of my lessons in Phonetics taught by Sister Alphonse Coombs pales in comparison with what happened one sunny day in 1980. It was just us in the airy classroom next to the vast playing field.

Stop it, Sister. I can’t even look at you right now.  

I wanted to scream, but no sound

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An Evolving Journey

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On 14 August, I woke up to the sound of birds chirping and I just knew that it was going to be a good day. An hour later, I was preparing my breakfast as I mentally listed down all the things I needed to do that day. I remember that moment well. In my kitchen, I was pouring boiling water into the cup when I heard the beep on my phone. Who could be texting this early in the morning? I reached for the phone and saw that the notification that a message had come through from one of the editors at the publishing house that helped with the books.

Quickly, I opened the message on the phone app. Hers were the words I’d been waiting to read for a long time. Both my books Two Snakes Whistling at the

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