The Birth of A New Book

A lot has happened since my last blog post.

1. You’re reading this post in my new website. I finally handed the job of creating a website to a web-magician. His name is Jared Lim.
2. You’re looking at The House of Little Sisters, my new book baby.
3. I am now on a book blog tour. This means that the book, HOUSE, is being read all over the world by book bloggers and reviewers. And I am busy reposting and sharing their reviews of the book.

It’s World Book Day on March 3, 2022. This year’s theme is You Are A Reader. I’ll be going into schools to read to students. Here are some ways you can celebrate being a reader.

As we all know, since the Pandemic, author visits have moved online. I have enjoyed doing online visits and will continue to offer this option to schools. Schools do prefer it if the author can come in person. I would prefer it too, but England is big and travelling costs quite a bit. So, it would benefit schools if they would consider online visits as an alternative. No travel costs for me means no travel costs for the school.

I will be visiting two schools in March. They’re two primary schools and they’re boys’ schools. And, I will be reading Sahara’s Special Senses to them. This picture book is delightful and illustrated by the talented Debasmita Dasgupta.

A friend asked me if her son would be able to relate to a female character. And my answer, no guesses, is YES. It would be interesting to see if the boys a Keble Prep and Mount Carmel Catholic Primary would relate to Sahara Khan.

As a mother and a writer, I feel that children should and can read any books, as long as these are age-appropriate. Reading does expand one’s world and helps children to develop a sense of empathy.

Sahara’s Special Senses is a picture book for children 4 – 8 years old. But I write across ages. So, The House of Little Sisters is for teens aged 12-17. It’s a Young Adult book. And it is a historical fiction.

HOUSE, the name of my new book baby, is being loved by book reviewers and readers. One said that they want to see it on screen.

HOUSE even made it to #1 in Amazon Singapore. Now, readers and writers beware, this best seller list moves in a blink of an eye. I was #1 for a few weeks prior to the publication date, which was — 22022022. Yes, it was a palindrome date day. Today, someone else book baby is #1.

But if you want to help HOUSE stay #1 for a while more, here’s the link to order your copies. Please excuse the plug and promo. As an author, I write so that my stories can be read. Your support would mean the world to me. You probably don’t want to hear about how hard it is to write a book, so I’ll spare you the details. But I will say, it is damn hard. But I love it.

You know I don’t like social media all that much. But as a full-time author, I have come to accept that social media is a way for an author like me, a newbie and back-lister, to drum up attention for my work; social media is a necessary evil. Tony Riches, a historical fiction novelist found me on Twitter and invited me to be a guest on his blog. Here’s where you can read the post. And if you want to see what I’m up to on Instagram, follow me there. I am doing a tour of posts where I share photos of Old Nanyang. Curious to see how Old Singapore used to look like? — Instagram me.

What’s next? You ask. I’ve volunteering at Words & Pictures an online magazine for SCBWI British Isles. It’s the chapter’s online magazine and I’ll be covering events. I’ll also be working alongside the editor on their Representation segment as a Features Writer. Heres’ an article I wrote recently. I’m sorry it’s for members of SCBWI BI only. But if you’re a children’s book writer and illustrator, you can join SCBWI, which is headquartered in the USA, and then join in your local chapter in your country. I was part of SCBWI Singapore before moving back to London.

This is all from me for the month. See you in my next post.

Take care, everyone!