Writers in Borneo Attracting Success
In late November,with nothing official on the horizon in terms of writing assignments coming in or anything being published, I made a subtle change to the title of my blog by adding two more words to the name Borneo Expat Writer: Attracting Success. Within a week I got an offer to write about some hotels for a guidebook and a nibble from a French publisher that turned into something big. Coincidence? Maybe? I dont think so. More importantly, I quickly acted on both to make sure they came through by taking immediate action and following through.
Then last month Han, a poet from KL, was coming to Kuching to visit friends and wanted to meet with some other writers, preferably poets. Someone suggested me, and although Im not a poet, I agreed to meet him and invited a few other writers, most of who could not come because of the extremely short notice. But another American writer who I had recently met did agree to come. Not knowing how familiar Han or his friends were of Kuching, I suggested Khatulistiwa Restaurant, which has a strategic location at the Kuching waterfront.
Altogether it was an enjoyable evening meeting some new people, none of us hardly knew each other. Conversations were disjointed, too. Dominic, who I had invited along because I was critiquing his book about Bidayuhs (and briefly met at one of my writing workshops and who actually writes poetry), spoke mostly with Tom on one side of the table, while I smoke with Han, and Hans two female friends who sat at the end spoke to each other in Chinese. Then Tom joined our conversation and Dominic pretty much kept to himself, no doubt digesting some of the comments and suggestions I had made about his book just prior to the others arrival.
After Han had to leave to catch his flight home and Dominic returned home, Tom and I started talking, American to America! n, write r to writer, and stayed another two hours brainstorming ideas about our writing. We agreed to meet again the following month at the same place. Although I had a feeling we were on to something big, a regular gathering of writers in Kuching, something Ive been wanting for about four years now, I wanted to start this slowly, adding one or two other writers at a time and then see if we can forge something that would be useful to all of us and gradually grow. Tom thought of another writer who has written several books that we both were familiar with but had never met. As it turned out, she was out of the country. I invited Annie who had published some articles, writes a blog, and had written a memoir.
My intention was to keep the meeting focused on us, how we could help one another in our writing in a positive, productive way. What I didnt want was the typical writers get together to gripe about how hard it is to be a writer because of ____. Fill in the blank. Instead what I wanted for us to ask the how questions. How can we achieve our writing goals? How can we improve as a writer? How can we get our blogs better known? How can be attract more success in our writing? How can we publish more books? No easy answers, but the right questions will put you on the correct path.
I also thought its a good idea to start each meeting with talking about our writing success since our last meeting. What have we written, sold, published? To attract success you must focus on your successevery day, every week, every month. The more conscious you are about your successes, the more youll attract even more successes into your life. Success breeds more success. Even with a little success, achieving a personal goal with your writing, can get you all fired up, even inspired. You start to see the possibilities. And thats something Im starting to see while meeting other writers in Kuching.
Ive also just today, attracted my 10,000th view for my blog, 1,733 just in the last month. Lets make that 100,000 by the ! end of t his year. In order to get where you want to be, you need to know where you are. That was something that came out of our first two meetings, discussing where we areexactly. Prior to that, I never checked my stats. Didnt have a clue. Now I know exactly where Im at. Im an expat writer in Borneo @ Borneo Expat Writer: Attracting Success.
Then last month Han, a poet from KL, was coming to Kuching to visit friends and wanted to meet with some other writers, preferably poets. Someone suggested me, and although Im not a poet, I agreed to meet him and invited a few other writers, most of who could not come because of the extremely short notice. But another American writer who I had recently met did agree to come. Not knowing how familiar Han or his friends were of Kuching, I suggested Khatulistiwa Restaurant, which has a strategic location at the Kuching waterfront.
Altogether it was an enjoyable evening meeting some new people, none of us hardly knew each other. Conversations were disjointed, too. Dominic, who I had invited along because I was critiquing his book about Bidayuhs (and briefly met at one of my writing workshops and who actually writes poetry), spoke mostly with Tom on one side of the table, while I smoke with Han, and Hans two female friends who sat at the end spoke to each other in Chinese. Then Tom joined our conversation and Dominic pretty much kept to himself, no doubt digesting some of the comments and suggestions I had made about his book just prior to the others arrival.
After Han had to leave to catch his flight home and Dominic returned home, Tom and I started talking, American to America! n, write r to writer, and stayed another two hours brainstorming ideas about our writing. We agreed to meet again the following month at the same place. Although I had a feeling we were on to something big, a regular gathering of writers in Kuching, something Ive been wanting for about four years now, I wanted to start this slowly, adding one or two other writers at a time and then see if we can forge something that would be useful to all of us and gradually grow. Tom thought of another writer who has written several books that we both were familiar with but had never met. As it turned out, she was out of the country. I invited Annie who had published some articles, writes a blog, and had written a memoir.
My intention was to keep the meeting focused on us, how we could help one another in our writing in a positive, productive way. What I didnt want was the typical writers get together to gripe about how hard it is to be a writer because of ____. Fill in the blank. Instead what I wanted for us to ask the how questions. How can we achieve our writing goals? How can we improve as a writer? How can we get our blogs better known? How can be attract more success in our writing? How can we publish more books? No easy answers, but the right questions will put you on the correct path.
I also thought its a good idea to start each meeting with talking about our writing success since our last meeting. What have we written, sold, published? To attract success you must focus on your successevery day, every week, every month. The more conscious you are about your successes, the more youll attract even more successes into your life. Success breeds more success. Even with a little success, achieving a personal goal with your writing, can get you all fired up, even inspired. You start to see the possibilities. And thats something Im starting to see while meeting other writers in Kuching.
Ive also just today, attracted my 10,000th view for my blog, 1,733 just in the last month. Lets make that 100,000 by the ! end of t his year. In order to get where you want to be, you need to know where you are. That was something that came out of our first two meetings, discussing where we areexactly. Prior to that, I never checked my stats. Didnt have a clue. Now I know exactly where Im at. Im an expat writer in Borneo @ Borneo Expat Writer: Attracting Success.
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