One Hit Wonder



Collateral Damage by Silverfish
where Chewing Gum Boy was first
published

 I have definitely rolled into 2011 with lots of positivity for me and with that, came a bagful of positive and exciting news. Eating, Praying & Loving is working its magic and I'm constantly doing the jiggy. Refreshing indeed to be focused on "glass-damn-full" *grin*

One of the jiggy-worthy news I received was a fan-mail from a reader who read Chewing Gum Boy (for those who haven't read it - do and I welcome any critique.... ) In it, she told me of how she had enjoyed the story and also shared that UNISEL Shah Alam had picked this short story of mine for the Malaysian Literature subject for one of the bachelor degree courses. Wow.

Last year, I received a mail from Cambridge International Examinations wanting to use an excerpt from Chewing Gum Boy for one of their literature examinations. And I received also another fan mail for Chewing Gum Boy, with comments of "I like the story very much... It is interesting and a very touching story..." Wow again.

As such, I am proud of this short story of mine. And then I realized - OMG, like Dexy's Midnight Runners, I am a one-hit wonder! None of my other short stories, whilst published have garnered this much "fame". And plenty other short stories that haven't been published or selected for publication.

Truth is - Chewing Gum Boy touched on a subject matter that was very dear to my heart. I was both curious and familiar with the lives and plight of street kids in Vietnam while I was living there. The part in my story where the protagonist went under the bridge and came face-to-face with the street kids - that was me in real-life. That was me, trying to get them to go to school, go to an orphanage, do something with their lives. And that was me, trying to get them to tell me their story too.

Unlike my other short stories, I actually spent 4 months crafting this piece. Story ideas are always swimming about in my head. As such, churning a story out is no problem. I can write a short story in less than 2 hours. It is the crafting of the story that takes up a lot of time and patience. Well, back then, every free time I had, I would look at the story, again and again and again until I could memorize the story word-for-word (I should, shouldn't I? I wrote it! :P). I visualized each sentence, each paragraph, each section. Basically, I wanted to tell a story and I wanted to tell the world of their plight.

I haven't spent this much time crafting another story after Chewing Gum Boy. I was still under employment then and as such, had slightly more time to look into my hobbies. But since I started my own businesses, crafting stories seem to be the least of my priorities. No wonder I've been a one-hit wonder!

There's another story, dear to my heart, that is waiting for me to craft. And I am extremely thankful to Sharon Bakar, my editor, for sitting down with me on this piece and going through it para-by-para (shamefully, 6 months ago) so as I know what I need to focus on when I start crafting. I am also extremely thankful to Sharon for NOT condemning me as a "fluke" writer. I know she is a big fan of Chewing Gum Boy as found here and here and also a small fan of mine (perasan-nya!) as found here :)  With an editor who is hell-bent on seeing me produce another brilliant story, then I am hell-bent on crafting one!

Now, to clear some time on my schedule and go chase Maxime Richer for the screenplay of Chewing Gum Boy..... :)
___________________________________________

Other mentions of Chewing Gum Boy are found here and here.