Dec. 22/08 – It turned out that the “highlight” of my 2-week Australia trip was not about the places I visited but the long talk Mom and I had during our flight home….
This is the longest and deepest 1-on-1 talk Mom and I ever had as far back as I can remember… I am so amazed by some of the old old stories she told me related to our whole family and all the hardship she went through in the 70s, during the whole escape enroute to Canada, how poor we were and how tough our life was back then…. Oh, and I now know exactly why I could have been dead twice while I was in her tummy.
We both ended up in tears during the different events that she shared with me. My mother is truly an amazing woman!! I feel that whatever I have gone through in my life is nothing, absolutely nothing, compared with what she experienced!!
I am now very inspired to write a story on my mother’s whole life… but not for the purpose of making money. It’s all about telling her story to her grandkids, great-grandkids, cousins, nieces and nephews. I am sure they will feel proud, motivated and inspired after they read the story of her life….
As I often do, I shared my thoughts and feelings with those very close to me.
Pop said that he knew where I got genes of ambition, survival and understanding of life; and that publishing it would not only be precious for me but for the entire family.
Lisa is very appreciative not only of the book itself but of Mom being our inspiration and that without her, we wouldn’t be where we are now. We even discussed about writing the book together. On the other hand, Eric is of the opinion that one important thing about book writing is the author’s voice, and the fact that I already had had this long talk with Mom about her life history makes me the most qualified. Besides, I was older so I do have more memories of what went on than he and Lisa have.
Honestly though, art, Writing/Reading – these are all “brand new” to me so I don’t know enough “yet” to decide what makes a better book since I have never even finished reading past page 30 of any novels all my life!!
All I know as of now is that I will need to invest a lot more time and energy into this department before I can even start the writing. But I do have the heart and motivation to do it now.
But I do agree with Eric that he can’t commit yet because of his work schedule and his family, of course. However if Lis feels she can commit to writing the book herself, then I am more than happy to support financially and emotionally.
As for me, if I were to write the book myself, then my target for completion will be for Mom’s 65th BD which is in 2011; that’s 2 yrs and 9 months from now.
Eric feels that the books has to be written, whoever does it and however it will be done. I agree. For him, writing a book about her is a tribute, of taking pride in our family heritage and especially of Mom’s achievements and how much she has overcome. He thinks I should be the publisher and that one of us should write it since we are her kids. Then, we can just hire a professional editor.
I definitely challenged by this new turn of events. I am going to be a writer! And so, I need to the kind of “education” I need for this gigantic task, yet a very noble one. I gave family and friends a hint of what I wanted as Christmas gift. Eric lent me his copy of The Concubines Children, written by Denise Chong who talks about her grandfather’s early journey to Van and how life was for the early Chinese.