Counting one step at a time: Yet another beginning...

in 2013!

Yep, I regret for missing the perfect timing to wish, but I still want to say,

Best of Luck for 2013!
Let it be the year you realize your goals and dreams and everything between! ^__^

And to mark the dawn of a new year, here's my backlight shot of Sepalika leaves
with the sun peeping over

So how have you been everyone? As for me, I've been out of the mood to blog for a while (yep, a very long while it's been) so no matter how much I thought and resolved.. hereafter I'm going to be a regular on Blogger, I never did. -__-

No posts, no blog visits, no inspirations, no cam shots, no nothing! And when I finally get to drop by, I cannot help but become intimidated (and petrified), and wonder... will I ever be able to catch up to all these new posts on my blogroll that's been rolling at warp speeds for months! O__O (my soul then turn into Casper and flutter away from Milky Way)

So what can I say? When the TIME is the culprit and the PROCRASTINATION is his accomplice and the MOOD is their mastermind, you just can't outwit yourself from becoming lazy-prone, now can you? So at least today I won't say that I will be a regular hereinafter. But at least let me make it a point that I will (may) try to cover the last few posts (if not at least the last) that I seem to have missed from my dear old blogroll, a bunch at a time. (in case if my wordings made no sense whatsoever, kindly blame it on the doomsday hype from last year) ^__^

So yeah, before I get on with 2013, let me finish dealing a few things with 2012...

Before I parted from my teaching career, back in 2011, I was trying to realize my first life goal of becoming an author. There were a bunch of stories written by me since several years back, but most of them didn't see the end. (like the sleeping beauty they slumbered forever and ever) When I finally completed half the plot of one story I thought it was time to find a publisher for the book - for my maiden children's story. And I did contact all the publishers that I could think of.

But.. it never worked, and I mostly received negative feedback. Just one proprietor kindly gave me a load of tips on how to market my book. But many weren't even interested. And eventually I dropped the idea. Next I thought of translating story books. But it was like rewinding the past and playing it over and over. And after riding the high waves of negativity for a while, I realized that it all comes down to one thing. Either you ought to be a renowned author, or you ought to be able to self publish and market your own works. If not it's pretty hard to survive let alone enter the publishing world. But then again, maybe lady luck was not on my side.

And when I thought and thought about it, suddenly I found a new path opening up before me. In a way it's funny that I never thought of it before even though it has been suggested to me a couple of times, long ago. Indeed, I'm a writer and no matter where I work it doesn't change, and so this was the only solution. To make a name first and then try to publish a story. Though.. I never even dreamt before accepting this challenging task, that I will get an audience as big as our little island! Well.. then again who knows how many of them actually reads (despite our literacy rate being high, people still find less time to read, don't they?).

I was all giddy and excited to step into (not a publishing house but a huge building that housed a dozen odd newspaper firms in three different languages under one roof) and then start working for them since January 2012. Yep, it's been almost a year, though I'm still working as a freelancer from home. But thanks to this job, I was able to reach an unseen (some seen) audience and even inspire and motivate them on a regular basis. Those were my favorite, and were magazine articles. But I also started venturing outside, interviewing folks, doing bit of research and taking photos and have written a bunch of feature articles on a variety of topics. Visiting new places, meeting new people, discovering new things.. it's been a whole new experience for me. But I'm still taking it slow and steady. And of course, I'm still no where near a journalist, but doing a fraction of what they do daily, at my own snail's pace, still fascinates and excites me to no end.

And that's how my 2012 wrapped up... Now coming to 2013,

While continuing my work, I still couldn't give up on my dream goal that I lost one time. And so I started working on those idling stories, even hatching some new ideas, and trying to cook them, fry them, toast them, roast them... anyway I please and turn them into something irresistible (hopefully, if there will be any leftovers). In the mean time I'm hoping to go for translating story books once again (yep, I'm really bad at giving up!) and this time I feel like I've found the right place, as the time frozen from the end of 2011 seem to tick slow and steady now. So I'm waiting for some good news, with my fingers crossed.

Maybe... just maybe... lady luck may have smiled upon me? ^__^

PS: yes, I do tend to forget to add things and when I miss the timing, they willingly get pushed to the Postscript section. So now what did I forget? Oh yeah, about my photographic endeavors. Well.. I've been clicking a way lot more in 2012, though it has slowed down by now due to the long lousy weather = unstoppable rainy season. But you'll see some of them up in my future posts. For now I'll share a few, under PPPS.

PPS: Oh and I almost forgot to say that I joined the intimidating NGM My Shot community (think since April or so last year), and being a teeny microscopic speck amidst thousands of veterans and amateurs of the photography world, I've been taking baby steps in that field too.. indeed, it's a fascinating world - a one that lets you capture slices of stills from the streaming life. (and sorry if that didn't make sense either!)

PPPS: Here's a glimpse into those future posts...

The Sun...