Francis has even received news that people in Mongolia have read the book and were touched by it. There are attempts to translate the book into Mongolian language.

In early February this year, ‘No More Tears’ was featured on ‘A Slice of Life’ with Eugene Loh.

Although the Chongs have not been consciously promoting the book, yet people get to know about it. Crest Bookstore has also been asking Francis and Dorothy to give talks. The Chongs’ main purpose is for couples to be helped. Dorothy is now leading a women support group.

“There are those with father issues, like me, who have also been healed of past wounds. This book has led us to speak in Philippines and Nagaland (in India). We will be back in Nagaland around August to do a marriage workshop,” said Francis.

  To buy ‘No More Tears’ or know more about Francis and Dorothy’s ministry, logon to
www.wecare2listen.net.

Preschool children are the most honest of human beings. If you are boring, or worse, meandering, they will space out right in front of you. So – eye contact, tone of voice and animation – it’s all got to be there in order to engage this exacting audience.

At times like this, it’s important to go back to the basics.

Why read to a preschool audience?

It’s good to understand why one wishes to read to young children. Parents read to their children because reading is a wonderful bonding activity. Until today, my children remember the stories I read to them and even the antics I put on to make the stories come alive. Teachers read to their students to increase their literacy.

As for me, I read to kindergarten audiences because I love to see their imagination take flight. The Little Red Helicopter is really all about the imagination.

I always get asked this question whenever I read the book aloud – Is the little red helicopter real? I love the way their little brows wrinkle as they struggle with the shackles of space and time.

I would love to answer with a simple ‘Yes’ or ‘No’, to smooth those little frowns away. But I never do. Each child must take away his own interpretation of The Little Red Helicopter.

And I sincerely hope the children will let their imagination fly.

Book Reading at Chatsworth International School, 23 February.

WEWAM is set up to support working mothers and stay-home mothers who desire to work so that they can excel at work and in mothering, thus enjoying work-life success.

WEWAM is set up with the following objectives:
1. To provide training, programmes and other services to equip working women to better perform their roles at work and in mothering.
2. To provide programmes such as training for working mothers in disadvantaged situations.
3. To provide opportunities for women to give support to working mothers in need.

WEWAM Women Empowerment Forum

In celebration of International Women’s Day 2012, WEWAM will be launched with a Women Empowerment Forum on February 25, 2012, Saturday.

WEWAM conducted our first Forum for women in November 2011. About 60 women attended the event. We received favourable feedback from attendees which included working mothers and stay-home mums with ages ranging from late 20s to 50s.

At the upcoming forum, the president of WEWAM, Ms Yeo Miu Ean, will share about how women in different seasons of life can be empowered and engaged to enjoy success in work-life harmony.

“No More Cocoa” – A Children’s Story about Pneumococcal Disease
Synopsis: Polly and Peter find out what pneumococcal disease is and how they can be protected against it. Includes a Parents’ Guide.
Involvement: I was commissioned by Pfizer Singapore, through Edelman, to write this educational children’s story. It was published in November as part of a national education programme focused on pneumococcal disease and the importance of vaccination. It was given to children in preschools like My First Skool.

The Little Red Helicopter iPhone application
Synopsis: The tale of a special playground toy comes to life with this animated interactive storybook. Award-winning “The Little Red Helicopter” makes the leap to iPhone with sound effects and quirky animation. Available on itunes.apple.com
Involvement: Well; none at all actually. All thanks to Straits Times Press who got my 2009 book onto iPhone!

Successful Breastfeeding – A Practical Guide
Synopsis: This book is written by Mount Alvernia Hospital’s Senior Lactation Consultant Ms Kang Phaik Gaik. It is a significant publication as it focuses on breastfeeding in the Asian context. Published by Write Editions and available at major bookstores.
Involvement: It has been very educational editing this book. I thought I knew alot about the subject, but Sis Kang is not called the ‘breastfeeding guru’ for nothing!

Finding My Voice – a true story of setbacks, new beginnings and toy characters
Synopsis: Award-winning author Emily Lim chronicles her lowest season in life as a vocal cripple and subsequent recovery with a voice that comes with great candour. It is a book for anyone who has encountered fear, despair and loss of self-worth. It inspires us to have the hope that when one door closes, another opens. Finding My Voice is published by Write Editions and available at major bookstores.
Involvement: It is a privilege to get to know Emily as a friend through our writers’ group. Copyproofing her book brought tears to my eyes.

Out of the Harbour
Synopsis: Out of the Harbour is a frank and beautiful account of one young person’s obedience to God’s call in global missions. Jiamin Choo spent her youth on board Doulos, visiting many countries to bring knowledge, help and hope. The book will be launched in the first quarter of 2011.
Involvement: Jiamin is a petite young lady but a giant in her faith. It has been an inspiring journey editing her book and being in the same writers’ group with her.

Upbeat – a quarterly publication by Employer Alliance
Synopsis: Employer Alliance is a network of corporations committed to create an enabling work environment to enhance work-life integration. Upbeat is one of its tools to equip members with Work-Life Integration knowledge.
Involvement: I feel it is important that working parents like myself be given help to balance work, family and personal growth. So I am grateful to Employer Alliance for this opportunity to contribute to an improved Singapore lifestyle.

Beauty Defined – Becoming a Disciple of Christ
Synopsis: Commissioned by Equipping Leaders for Asia, these two workbooks help single and married women to become more effective disciples of Christ. They cover important areas of our lives like spiritual growth, attitude to work, effectiveness as parents and balancing priorities.
Involvement: Compiled these lessons based on Cynthia Heald’s excellent series of devotional books and Tim Elmore’s Habitudes.

Our Very Own – Stories Celebrating Adoptive Families
Synopsis: A compilation of inspiring stories about love, the courage to love and how adoptive parents overcome obstacles and challenges to become a family with their chosen children. A very useful book for couples considering adoption or for readers who simply want to be inspired by extraordinary love. It is available by mail order from TOUCH Community Services or you can buy the book at the TCS office. Produced by Write Editions.
Involvement: Another book that brought tears to my eyes as I edited it… even after reading it several rounds. One begins to understand the quote “Adoption is another word for love”.

Blessed to be a Blessing – Lionel and Betty Ong
Synopsis: This is a one time publication for the Christian Businessmen’s Committee (CBMC) World Convention 2010. It is a Tribute to the CBMC Chairman Mr Lionel Ong and his wife Betty. Lionel Ong is heavily involved in numerous national ministries and is a blessing to many people.
Involvement: It has been extremely inspiring learning about Lionel’s contributions, and yet, when one meets him in person, he is so friendly and humble. His family is now working on an e-book that they hope to upload by the early half of 2011.

Heart Sell – Cultivating authentic sales that last
Synopsis: Angela Oh has had 20 over years of experience in sales and shares it with us in this book. More than a book about sales techniques, this inspirational work teaches us about positivity and mental strength. Produced by Write Editions. Read more in www.heartsell.sg
Involvement: I came in only at the end to copyproof the draft. I learned that selling is not a vocation; it’s a passion.

The Soy Sauce Towkay
Synopsis: This book is about the founder of Yeo Hiap Seng (YHS), Yeo Thian In. It chronicles how he turned a soy sauce company into a public listed food and beverage company. More than that, it is a heartwarming account of family ties and faith.
Involvement: It was a well-written story that required very little copyproofing. It’s a privilege to be involved even in a minor way in a book that contributes to Singapore’s legacy.

Besides books, I also worked on various websites. SNEF’s portal on Re-employment of Older Workers deserves mention. See it on www.re-employment.sg

I wrote two series on Pregnancy Tips and Baby Development for iPhone applications. They were commissioned by Huggies. Thanks, Sumeet!

Thanks also to Matthew Lim, Jimmy Tan and Fpix for patiently guiding me to improve on my video scripts.

Looking forward to a brand new year and hope to hear from you soon!

On 12 October, I sat through a Forum on “Capturing Memories through Blogs” by Mr Lam Chun See, who is famous for his goodmorningyesterday blog and Mr Char Lee, well-known for his “2^nd Shot” blog.

At 58, Mr Lam Chun See is one of the oldest bloggers in Singapore. His blog specialises on recalling Singapore’s past. It is full of heritage photos and wonderful anecdotes of “kampung days”. Even the name of his blog – Good Morning Yesterday – sounds old. It is actually based on the title of a jingle sung by Paul Anka all the way back in 1975.

Char Lee’s niche is “precision heritage photography”. Wow, first time I’m hearing this phrase. What he does is he takes a photo from the past, usually a black-and-white, locates and visits the exact geographical spot where the photo was taken and snaps a modern day shot – a second shot, geddit? Sounds simple? Not at all. He researches on the background of the old photos. Sometimes, surrounding landmarks have been so obliterated that the place is unrecognisable, and that’s where detective work comes in. Then, he has to take time (he has a day job) to visit the place under the right lighting conditions. This is manageable in tiny Singapore, but Char Lee has made trips as far as Malaysia, Hong Kong and Indonesia, chasing after images on the faded photographs. Talk about passion.

This is what I learned from the Forum:

• If we are interested in preserving Singapore’s past, or to be a heritage detective, or just to hang around with these exciting people, become a Friend of Yesterday.sg, a group of heritage enthusiasts who regularly blog on heritage-related topics, under NHB’s social media platform.
• If your grandma or parents are housecleaning, rescue those old photos! And don’t just let them take extra shoebox space in your storeroom. You can contribute them to Singapore Memory or National Heritage Board. Some people even mail their photos to Chun See so he could post them on his blog. So now Chun See has an extensive and unique collection, while you and I have none. We need to exercise foresight here!
• Char Lee says that he spends more time on research then he does on blogging. This is food for thought as I had initially thought of blogging as journaling. Now I see that blogging also serves the important function of documenting a nation’s development. Hopefully, this will inspire me to do more research.
• Some bloggers blog because they want wider viewership. If you are looking for a subject that will expand your viewership, consider heritage blogging. Chun See’s blog excites a lot of comment. Young people visit his blog for information to help them on their school assignments. Another group of frequent visitors are British people who lived in Singapore as children when their parents were posted here. They share photos and post stories on his blog. In fact, they are a good source of photographs because the British people who worked in Singapore during the ‘50s and ‘60s were richer than our parents and more of them owned cameras.
• If your desire is to connect with the new generation, perhaps your grandchildren, or your students if you are a teacher, you have to find their channel. As Chun See says, young people’s channel is the Internet. So, forget about bonding around the coffee table (the only thing your grandchildren will be doing around the coffee table is playing X-box) and get onto the Net.
• Heritage blogging has to be a passion. As I was listening to the two presenters, the question on my mind was “This sounds like a lot of work, where do you find the time to do it?” They made time. Char Lee is employed while Chun See has his own business, so they carve out time from their busy schedules because they are passionate about their hobbies. Chun See confesses that he spends more time on his blog than on his business. And Singapore’s younger generation should thank him for it. So much of Singapore’s cultural and architectural heritage are being swept away in the name of progress; thus, more heritage detectives and chroniclers like Chun See are needed.
• Some old people have wonderful memories, but are defeated by technology about how to create a blog. So they do something different – passive blogging. I learned this from Chun See. Viewers would read his blog entries, have a memory triggered and contribute their memory as a Comment on his blog. Sometimes, there are lively controversies when memories conflict, and this makes for even more interesting reading. No wonder his name appears high on Google searches for Singapore’s past.
• Old people are always willing to talk, but not so willing to write it down. If you fancy becoming a heritage blogger, the material is more readily available then you think. Just get an old person to start talking.
• Singapore’s present is tomorrow’s history. We don’t need to blog about stuff that happened before we were born. Start blogging now so that we can preserve things that we take for granted today, but which will be novel information for our children and grandchildren. When the presenters said that, it put me in mind of my neighbourhood hawker centre. This hawker centre is old (I don’t know how old), and many people would drive from other estates and offices to eat here. It is scheduled for demolition on 1 November. Now why didn’t I think of that! After this Conference, I’m going back to snap pictures of my favourite food stalls before they are gone forever!

Plan My Book

1. Name of Book:
2. Genre:          What categories do this book fit in?
3. Readership:     Who will read your book?
5. Chapters:     How many? Headings?
6. Research:      Resources? interviewees?
7. Writing Schedule:      How often a week?
8. Letter to Publisher:      Date
9. Deadline to complete draft:  Date

(adapted from workshop by John Maust, President of  Media Associates International)

Meet Publisher

. Bring your CV and Book Proposal.
. In your Proposal:
•    Suggest 2-3 alternative Book Titles.
•    Give Chapter Outlines.
•    Give slightly more information abt the first 3 chapters.
. Go with open mind to learn what the publisher wants.
. Don’t go with attitude to ‘close the deal’. It will probably not happen in the first mtg.
. The publisher may start by chatting abt generalities. This is his way of checking out the writer’s background and credibility.
. Questions the publisher may ask:
•    “Who’s your audience?” and “Who will buy your book?” Be open and brainstorm with him.
•    “How committed are you to finish writing the book?” Give a realistic date you can finish the book by.
•    “Maybe this is not the most interesting presentation.” Brainstorm with him for a better chapter outline. You may be asked to submit a revised Book Proposal.
. Don’t show your first chapter at this initial meeting.
. Ask what will be included in the contract. Ask about royalties.
. Ask how the publisher plans to market and distribute your book if it bears his imprint.
. If the publisher wish to get regular updates from you, it’s good to agree as this is a good form of accountability.

At today’s Conference, I learned about a new website (you can’t google something you aren’t aware of). It’s the World Digital Library, and it contains high resolution pictures of treasures like “the oldest literature dating from 8000 BC found in Egypt”. You could zoom in until you could actually see the creases in the papyrus, amazing. This would be the closest I could ever get to these artifacts.

A lot of the seminar topics today deal with categorisation and making archives available to the public, but it is still relevant to scribes like me, because it gives us a clearer idea of what archivists and librarians are looking for, and to hunt for these information.

It’s especially exciting to hear the Singapore segment and to know that Singapore Memory is slated for big things in the next five years. Speaker Mr Gene Tan of National Library Board was absolutely correct when he said that our Singapore memory is not a linear chronicle but an explosion of interconnectedness and that we ought to get more people remembering. So, it’s wonderful to hear that many of the Singapore Memory projects are about interactivity, about getting grassroots people to remember simple little details about daily life.

Getting Down and Dirty

Part Two of today’s programme required us to hit the streets and walk the beat. My group toured Little India. The theme was Vanishing Trades, but I like what one shop owner said. Mr Ramasamy of GGS Publication, Books & Stationery said that although the demand for Tamil books is on a decline, “this business will live on as long as I’m alive”. He was speaking not about a shop or about the bottom line, he was talking about a passion that triumphs over profit margin. His trade is certainly far from vanishing. Inspirational.

Looking Forward

Yes, I’m looking forward to the next five years, to see how Singapore Memory will take our nation by storm. But first things first – I’ll look forward to tomorrow, the second day of the Conference, to learn how this one scribe can fit herself into the ‘explosion of interconnectedness’ that forms the mosaic, the jigsaw puzzle, the luxuriant tropical rainforest, that is our people’s memory of our nation.

The Little Red Helicopter iPhone app

The Little Red Helicopter has been made into an iPhone and iPad application! Pls click Little Red Helicopter to see it on http://itunes.apple.com. It costs only 99 cts. Pls support? Show it to the little ones or just enjoy it yourself

• Jiamin, the Duolos missionary, only had a book plan, now she has completed a 80,000-word book and it is scheduled to be launched in first quarter 2011.
• Min, a quality assurance professional (!!) was tasked to write a biography but did not know how to proceed, now she has completed a 75,000-word book with a book contract, and is scheduled to launch her book in first quarter 2011.
• Maggie, a teacher, came in with only a book structure, now she has completed 9 chapters and had considered 2 book contracts.
• Linda, from being lost about how to proceed, has now crafted a clear book plan which she will begin writing after her move to China.
• Emily, a 3-time IPPY award winner, from a book plan, has now completed her 10-chapter book and will launch it in November 2010.
• Ng Seng Chuan, a lay minister and speaking coach who has two books in the works, just needs some free time to write!
• And myself, from having no idea for the first six months (!!), have now written 14 chapters.

We also appreciate all the writers who have joined us occasionally over the year – Carol Teo, Caroline Jesudason, Uncle James Kwok and Linn Loh. Special thanks go also to Christina Lim of Armour Publishing for bringing us together in the first place with her writers’ workshop in 2009.

These are our thanksgivings:

Jiamin: I always look forward to coming for meetings because I never know what I am going to read! In this group I see likeminded people who share a common vision to write for God’s glory. I love the diversity of the books, but mostly I love the people. We are from different denominations, some are young, others are married with children, Seng Chuan is a father and speaking coach. We share so much because we revealed so much in our books.

Doing my book has been sooo hard, I can’t imagine how I could have completed it without this group. After talking with the group, I decided to be courageous to self-publish.

Min: I am not a writer! I was just taking notes! I took more and more notes, but still could not find a writer. Finally after 3 years of taking notes, I decided to quit my job to write the book. In my job, I dealt with regulatory submissions and compliance, but this book required me to be emotional and to think and feel like the person I was writing about. I was like a headless chicken. In the period after quitting, I watched 128 episodes of Korean drama instead. God, in His providence, arranged a meeting with Linda in the church toilet. She told me about this group and I came. The diverse opinions of the group helped shape my story and gave me targets. Here I am now – in the final version of my book. It just came back from the UK editor.

Maggie – Last year, I cut my precious long hair and told myself I will not grow it long again until I finished writing the book.

Being in this group has been a humbling experience for me. To let people criticise my work is a big thing for my ego.

In this group, we do not spend time on building relationships at all. Every 3 weeks, we will come together and immediately start critiquing each other’s chapters. Before each meeting I would be very stressed because I have to submit work. Yet, it’s amazing we have a very good relationship. Like, one time we had a heated discussion about Seng Chuan’s fish-hooks chapter. Everyone had a different opinion and it got quite loud. Yet, the next session, we got together like nothing had happened. I appreciate the feedback I get from this group. When Pauline is behaving like a headmaster, Jiamin will sayang me, and that’s how we support each other.

Pauline – I am unspeakably proud of all these writers and their books. Although I did not write their books, I feel that I have contributed to them in a tiny way, so in a sense, I feel they are all my books! I learned alot from the group, eg I was humbled by Min – that she would quit her job to write a book! I don’t think I could make that kind of sacrifice. Emily has a lot of experience with self-publishing. And I marvelled at how the personal tragedy in her life caused her to take the unexpected turn to become a children’s book writer! And it was wonderful to meet Maggie, another FCBC member, in this small non-denominational group, and be able to share with her my ministry woes knowing that she understands.

In one thing, I am proud of myself – on the instructions of my publisher, I was to write my book as a secular book, but as the chapters progressed, I realise that I couldn’t keep God out of my life! Keeping God in will most likely mean losing my publisher, but I can’t think about that now, I just gotta finish the book!

Emily – Having this group made a lot of difference to me. For two years I wrote alone. I was lonely sometimes, but these were my children’s books so I could still turn to my friends and ask them for feedback on my manuscripts. But with an adult book, I can’t keep troubling them. So the timing of the group was perfect for me. Here, there’s give and take when we critique each other’s chapters; it’s not like asking for favours. Also, I am the kind who works well with deadlines so the regular meetings really forced me to write my chapters.

Ok, for the humorous thanksgiving – I really liked the stars! Ever since I was young, I liked to be given stars by teachers. So, when the group put stars next to sentences that they feel are good, I feel happy!

Linda:  I don’t have much to boast of in terms of writing my book. While the others have made progress in their book writing (and some have even completed their books!), I am still fine-tuning my book outline and early chapters! But if there’s any achievement I can boast of − it would be that of bringing Min to the Writers’ Group. One day, Min and I bumped into each other in our church toilet!!! Hahaha!  (In a church of 5000+ members and the fact that we attended different services, that is sheer divine appointment). I invited her to join the Writers’ Group and she came. The rest is history. I was actually contented to remain as the Barnabas of the group—to encourage and support the rest to finish their books. It didn’t matter if I finished my book or not. But I know that God is not done with me yet! There were times when I wanted to give up my book idea, but everyone from the Writers’ Group, (especially Pauline and Jiamin), spurred me on. Recently, while on a (rare) Facebook Chat session with a friend from Hong Kong, I shared my book idea with her.  She liked it very much and even offered to translate it into Mandarin! I am thankful for the many writing opportunities God has opened up for me in the past year − volunteer opportunities with a Christian publisher (to edit a youth blog and pen a couple of children’s devotional articles); and writing for my church magazine; as well as two commissioned articles for this rookie!  These are small and humble steps in my writing journey. My moving to China will give me the needed time and focus on book-writing. I am asking the group if we can have Skype Meetings!

Seng Chuan: The “benefit” for me has been the pressure to produce something for the meeting!  However, the philosophy of “benefit” does not appeal a lot to me. So I turn up at meetings even when I do not have a chapter, simply because I’m part of the group, and hope that my presence is of some use to the others.

Our Future

It is heartwarming to hear the members unanimously vote to continue with the group although some of them have already completed their books. Some of them will explore a subsequent book.

I have two dreams now (I call them dreams and not plans because they require alot of planning!)

(1) We can organise a writing retreat in a holiday resort among inspirational settings with delicious programmes lined up back to back, and then break for relaxing swims in the hotel pool and high-tea.

(2) We can plan a writers workshop where each one of us can take a module (we won’t have to invite professional writers to speak cos we are professional writers!)

Here’s looking forward to another great year together, all glory be to God.

Emily Lim

Had a constructive meeting with three-time IPPY award winner Emily Lim. I have a lot to learn from her about self-publishing, marketing books and storytelling. I look forward to learning further from her at the Hands On literacy workshop this November which she has graciously invited me to collaborate with her.

This is what I learned from her today:

• Don’t be afraid about the cost of self-publishing, you can break even. In fact, spending your own money upfront on publishing your book will motivate you to go out and market it.
• Think of international market for your book by exploring Print on Demand and e-books.
• Don’t be overly modest and order a small print-run by thinking your book will not sell. The cost of a second print-run is expensive. Instead, think of new ways to package and market your books.
• Don’t just depend on the distributor to get your books out. Hands-on marketing means that the profit from each copy goes completely to you.
• Be open to give media talks and presentations as these generate publicity for your books.
• Keep writing, because the launch of each new book will improve the sales of your previous books.

If you are a teacher or a librarian, please join us at the Hands On Literacy 2010 Conference. You can register at: http://www.handsonlit.com and please do support Emily Lim and myself by signing up for our workshop on Session 3, 1:45 pm – 2:45 pm. : )

Hands On Conference

More about Emily: 1st outside North America to win 3 IPPY Awards in children’s books – 1st in Asia to win 2 IPPY Awards – 1st in Southeast Asia to win Moonbeam Award.
Books: Baby Panda Finds His Way; Bunny Finds The Right Stuff; Just Teddy; The Tale of Rusty Horse; Prince Bear & Pauper Bear. Her website: www.mustardseedbook.com;