Sunday 24 July 2011

WHY I LOVE WRITING

Hi Everyone,


Today I write to share with you my passion, and the benefits I have enjoyed all this while. This will not only inspire you but also provide you with a fulfilling life while doing so.

I love writing because it brings me into my dream garden where I can just let my imagination run wild. Once I am there, I feel so much freedom. I believe some of you here who have done so have had the same experience, in this sense please feel free to share your feelings. We will love to hear from you.

To me, this is where I can tap into my inspiration and creativity to its fullest. I truly enjoy this journey of discovery, though it may cause misunderstanding. Here, I want you to understand that and you should not blame them for misunderstanding you. Instead we should appreciate what they have done because it is their honest feedback arising from different perspectives that cause different outcome. Just think, how can it be possible to arrive at the same outcome if both parties view things differently? One good example is in the court room where two counsels representing different parties involve in the same case, arguing the case differently so as to achieve different outcome for the best interest of their respective clients. Alternatively, you may use the definition of insanity - Expecting different outcome by doing things in the same manner and refusal to change anything.

In the above scenario, they have a good basis to form their views which may not be in the doer's favour. It is alright. This is because it serves as an affirmation to the doer's action that is not the normal way which the doer intends. Here, tell me why the doer gets angry if he wants honest answers from the bystanders. What is more important here is that we are ready to accept the different views from others because the doer chose to be different. As such, you can see vividly as to how it can be reconciled.

However, after having said the above, you may choose to think otherwise and we should feel it is fine with us. This is because as the doer, he should respect other's contradicting view. It may be because others may have not reach the level where the doer can see vividly. As such, the doer should recognise and realise this healthy response from other parties, though conflicting, because both parties chose to view the thing at different perspectives. As such, it is very normal and logical to reach different conclusion. Thus, it is crucial to recognise that conflicts/different opinions are healthy because both parties see the same thing with different perspectives or levels of understanding.

Now, let us think it rationally and thoroughly and we will then be able to explain why two parties have the same goal yet they may disagree with each other. This is because one party may have yet to see the Big of the Big picture of their agreed goal. Secondly, it may also be due to the words used that cause different meaning to both parties. In short, words lack mathematical precision.

Why I share all these here? This is because I have received many reaffirmations of this truth lately and they are still fresh in my mind, so I decided to record it down in my blog for my reviewing purpose and you as my blog readers may also benefit from this invaluable lessons that I have learned. Moreover, I also want this lesson to sink deeply into my mind and heart so that I feel comfortable with this sort of situation. I believe by doing so, I will not feel abnormal or uneasy to it. Stay cool and cry with Joy despite receiving such adverse remark/opinions from others. At the same time, I hope more people can see it clearly and decide which action you are going to take if such a situation arises.

Bear in mind that we can only be responsible for our own actions and not for others. I am sure you have heard of the phrase that sounds the captain of my soul and mind. So long as you are clear of your goals and you shall pursue your journey to reach your destination. Hence, you have a clear purpose to be here and achieve that mission entrusted to you, which we are more than happy to make your dream come true.

An interesting note I share with you is that I am more comfortable in the new thing/environment I am involved with. I share with you not to blow my trumpet, but one thing I must make you realise that it was not easy initially and I have conditioned myself with the appropriate thought, via writing and reading. If I can do it, I am sure you too can make it happen if you to think that it is possible. Let us think rationally how we can progress if we are always living in the comfort zone. No change No progress. We will not be comfortable with new thing, but how can we progress if we do not learn new things and adapt to the new environment. That's my argument and hope you are clear by now what I am trying to say here. Because today's world is progressing and changing speedily and I want all of us to overcome these challenges.

Same principle applied to Success. No doubts, they are so many ways to achieve Success. If you have not achieve it yet, Do not worry, one certain thing we need to do is to constantly change your approach and method till we discover the right path to take us there. We also must recognise that Success is a journey and not a destination. We constantly have to eliminate the wrong paths and discover the correct path, to seek the success we want.

Please bear in mind that there is no failure in a broader sense, because every failure is a success in itself. You may find it conflicting, but actually it is Not. Why I say so? This is because failure illustrates to us that this is not the right path to take you to your destination. Now, you have a choice either to change your goal or path. Should you decide to pursue the same goal, then you should cry out "Joy" because you have discovered the wrong path and you will then take different path with the hope that it can make you reach your destination. Of course, it may be an unknown path and no one has walked before. As such, no precedence is available for reference. That's why you need to embrace "uncertain mindset" and have the courage to do it and feel comfortable doing it. To refresh yourself, you may click at the link below:-


The more prepared you are, the better you will be to handle such a situation because the real situation may hit us anytime in our lives. That also explained why Emotional Intelligence and Adversity Intelligence are vitally important to us. Otherwise, when you are hit by such a crisis, your mind will turn blank. This is very normal to everyone of us. Therefore, it is wise to put yourself in hot soup once a while so as to get yourself used to such a situation that you will not let your emotions control you.

And last but not least, I shall commit myself to dip myself in such adverse situation occasionally so as to build a defence and immunity to such a situation. I will let my conscience lead me, and not my emotions. Hope I have made it clear to you. Please feel free to raise question here or views should you have any.



Thanks and have an awesome weekend.







James Oh



Skype me at james.oh18

Thursday 14 July 2011

BALANCE SHEET OF LIFE

Our Birth is our Opening Balance !



Our Death is our Closing Balance!



Our Prejudiced Views are our Liabilities



Our Creative Ideas are our Assets



Heart is our Current Asset



Soul is our Fixed Asset



Brain is our Fixed Deposit



Thinking is our Current Account



Achievements are our Capital



Character & Morals, our Stock-in-Trade



Friends are our General Reserves



Values & Behaviour are our Goodwill



Patience is our Interest Earned



Love is our Dividend



Children are our Bonus Issues



Education is Brands / Patents



Knowledge is our Investment



Experience is our Premium Account



The Aim is to Tally the Balance Sheet Accurately.

Sunday 10 July 2011

HOW TO PUBLISH EBOOK

Hi! Everyone,


Some of you may know by now I have intended to publish Ebook with some of my writings. In this connection, I have read the article with so much excitement and hope you will like it too. Who knows, you may have similar interest as mine.


Even if you do not have such an interest currently, it does not mean that you will not have it in the future. Having this in mind, I rather chose to blog it out to excite us as well. I do not have such an experience to comment on it. What I need is perhaps some feedbacks from you especially those willing to share some of their experience here.


Better still, if anyone is willing to collaborate with me to publish an Ebook on any matters which you and I have the common interests. As you know, I always love to hear from you so that we can explore all means to make the proposal feasible and beneficial to both parties.


My experience tells me that through brainstorming and discussion, we can always put the ideas to work. Through constantly shaping and polishing this idea, it will eventually shine so long as we do not give up such a hope. Let our endurance and patience complete the task. We will be able to produce a masterpiece at the end of the day.


I do hope you are by now you feel excited and are willing to give yourself a try, as I do. Please do put forward your comment should you have any other idea, proposal or experience where you like to share here. Thank you in advance.


Have a fruitful day everyday,


How to Publish an Ebook


Posted by Gary on May 2nd, 2011 / 3 Comments


How to Self-Publish Your Ebook


Every day I receive multiple requests from authors around the world who are looking for assistance or more information on how to self-publish an ebook.


And the answer today is very different than when our Publish Your Own Ebooks website started back in 2003.


Then, your best option was to get your ebook into PDF and start selling it from your own web site. While you can and should still do that today, if you want to be taken seriously as an independent author then you must also make your ebooks available at mainstream ebook stores such as Amazon Kindle Store that have emerged in recent years.


I’m very close to releasing a new ebook self-publishing guide but until it is ready I wanted to post a quick overview of the ebook self-publishing process and some of your options.


If you want to publish your own ebook then you need to consider the main online ebook stores where readers are buying and downloading ebooks. The four big stores right now are Amazon Kindle Store, Barnes & Noble Nook Books, Apple iBookstore, and Sony Reader Store. There are a few others to consider, but let’s keep this discussion to these four.


How to Get Your Ebook into these Stores?


Each of the major ebook stores has a portal for publishers to upload and manage their books. Remember as an indie author you are the author and the publisher.


You can choose to go to each store and publish your ebook directly or you can go through a distributor, sometimes called an ‘aggregator’.


An aggregator typically converts your manuscript into multiple formats and distributes your ebook to one or more stores on your behalf.


Some of the ebook aggregators commonly used by authors include Smashwords, BookBaby, and LuLu. They earn their income by a combination of upfront fees and annual fees for each ebook, or a percentage of the sales revenue from your ebook.


The process for publishing directly is different for each store and many authors use a combination, publishing directly to some stores while using an aggregator for the others.


Why Use an Aggregator?


One of the main reasons to use an ebook aggregator is to get assistance with converting your manuscript into the correct format. Amazon sells ebooks in their own proprietary Kindle format, AZW while the other stores use the EPUB format. There are sometimes complications encountered while trying to convert your manuscript from Microsoft Word into the appropriate format.


You may also decide to use an aggregator because you can’t meet the requirements to submit directly. Sony encourages indie authors to submit through an aggregator. Some stores require you to have a U.S. Tax ID or U.S. bank account if you want to publish directly. And in Apple’s case you need to submit from a Mac computer. Using an aggregator is a way to work around these obstacles.


Why Publish Directly?


Generally speaking it makes sense to deal directly if you can because you will save on costs and more of the profit from your ebooks will end up in your pocket.


If you are familiar with HTML you can probably handle the necessary formatting to successfully convert your manuscript to the appropriate ebook formats.


Getting Ready to Publish


Whether you publish directly or through an aggregator you will need to gather some important information for the submission process:


• Book Title


• Book Description – you need a professional-looking book description.


• Ebook Cover – when your ebook sells in online stores it needs a cover image.




• Price – decide on the price that you will charge. Sometimes different prices result in different royalty percentages so choose carefully.


• Territories – you need to know which geographical territories you hold the rights for your ebook. If your ebook is an unpublished work then most likely you still hold rights for all territories.


• ISBN number. You need an ISBN number at some ebook stores but not at others.


ISBNs for ebooks, ebook covers and pricing are all important topics which will be covered in detail in other posts.


As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, this is only a very brief overview of the self-publishing process and some of your options. I’ll go into more detail in future posts and be sure to watch out for our new ebook self-publishing guide which will be available here soon.


Please, if you found this post helpful, take a moment to share the link to it via Twitter, Facebook or your favorite social media buttons below.


About the Author


Gary McLaren is a self-published author and the publisher of Publish Your Own Ebooks. He is also editor of Worldwide Freelance Writer a weekly email newsletter for freelance writers with around 29,000 subscribers.


James Oh






Skype me at james.oh18