I started blogging on May 16th 2008 at my first blog MASTERWORDSMITH@WRITERS.INC and was writing mainly inspirational stuff. Subsequently, I started this blog on August 17th 2008 to write about socio-political issues and then Motion of My Thoughts in February 2009 to cover more international issues.
You know, when I first started masterwordsmith-unplugged, I only had five subscribers. It was quite depressing because I put in lots of effort and wondered why few people came to visit my blog to read my writings. Undaunted, I carried on writing for the sheer love of writing per se and not to achieve fame or glory. Then, I wrote about Anwar and the Permatang Pauh election and somehow my posts were picked up by Malaysiakini a couple of times and I did not even know how or where it appeared for I was not a MK subscriber but I noticed the traffic coming in from there. In time, I grew wiser and learnt the little tricks of blogging by reading up lots on the net.
When I went through the worst period of my life in November 2008 to January 2009, I quit blogging, deleted all my posts and went through the most depressing state of my life. I sat in front of my pc and wept. I wept because I felt that I had cut off my lifeline for stupid cowardly reasons. I cried because I wanted the courage to speak up and yet I could not find my voice. It was truly a devastating period of my life when I did loads of soul-searching. It was not easy clicking on the urls of my blogs and seeing the farewell message then and it hurt so much to know that despite my announcement that I would no longer blog, yet, regular readers still visited my blogs daily. Blog comments were disabled because I felt I would break down when I read messages from readers.
By late January 2009, I started blogging again albeit with much fear and trepidation. From then till mid-October of 2009, I blogged on inspirational and personal stuff with a few socio-political posts. By September, my dear friend Antares left me a comment in one of my posts expressing how he missed hearing my real voice in my writing and that made me realize how much I had suppressed my voice, how I had allowed myself to rot in my muted state. With much encouragement from my dearest friend Angela, I started to blog again in socio-political issues in mid-October and I have not looked back since.
Frankly, I do not think I am a great blogger or writer. I wish I could write like Arianna Huffington of Huffington Post, RPK, Antares, Art Harun, Citizen Nades, Vijay Kumar Murugavell and many other famous writers/bloggers. Often times, I spend hours reading up before I write on a topic and one thing is for sure - I write from my heart to express how I feel and not to impress anyone for I don't think highly of my abilities as a writer. How ironic, isn't it? Why? Simple. I have spent over 20 years of my life teaching others how to write! Perhaps it is because I always have high standards for myself and for the greater part of my life, have been dwarfed by my friends whom I regard to be better writers. But that has not stopped me from blogging...in fact, it has given me the impetus to work harder, think harder and to be more diligent in my blogging.
In my own little way, I try to provide an objective view of current issues with a few subtle slants here and there but more importantly, is the need to raise awareness and to ask questions that can lead us to the answer or the fact that there is no answer to certain issues and to wonder about why this is so when we rightly deserve answers to those very questions! Many thanks to the team at Malaysia Today for featuring some of my blog posts. I appreciate the comments posted there and here in my blog. Hopefully, the forum will help readers to better understand those topics.
Truth is, I cannot imagine life without my blogs. Blogging has given me so much satisfaction in my life. I live a very private and reclusive lifestyle and only socialize with three friends in Penang. As I am CEO of my home and not gainfully employed, it can be quite lonely at home, especially when my boy is at school. Without much human communication (except for my chats with Angela), I believe I would have become mentally and intellectually inert if not for blogging. Besides, via blogging, I have made friends with readers even though I may not know their real identity. The knowledge that readers such as you can take the trouble to visit my blog, read my rants and leave a comment is the one major thing that propels me in blogging. You cannot imagine the sublime bliss and joy when I know you are reading my post. The sum of all that has made me into a blog addict, kept me mentally and intellectually active and given me so much joy and satisfaction in life.
Blogging is highly addictive and it is difficult for me to pull away from the laptop to see the traffic and streams of comments and feedback in the discussions of blog posts. Your comments mean a lot to me - honestly! As you know, I always make it a point to respond to every single comment because I am touched that in the sea of millions of blogs, you chose to visit mine and to leave a comment - which means you sacrificed your time to pen your thoughts in my blog! I have learnt so much in terms of knowledge, wisdom, perspective and about life from the comments that readers have left here in my blog.
In fact, I go through the comments very often to understand and to appreciate what has been written, always marveling how these comments embellish my posts so beautifully in such an inspiring or funny or wise manner. Thank you, dear reader. If not for you, there would not be me in cyberspace!
I have had to pay the price for blogging. In August 2009, my 17-inch Dell laptop got burnt because I did not know the fan was broken and I had been blogging for 9 hours straight. That was quite a pricey lappy and it was heartbreaking for me. The loss was considerable and it would have cost me @ 2000rm to repair it. So I had to buy a new laptop and this time I am using a heavy duty business laptop - the cost of which burnt a big hole in my wallet. The temptation to incorporate advertisements in my blog is not a very strong one because I am an idealist and cannot imagine how those ads would spoil the ambiance of my blog template so till today, I have not earned anything from blogging even though my former students are earning four figure incomes from their blog ad revenue! Yup - that is the idealist in me.
Honestly, blogging requires creativity and I try my best to be creative in the type of posts I put up and even in the way I write, although most of the time, I give myself a B-. Blogging requires dedication and believe me, I am very dedicated to my blog - my most precious possession after my life and my family! Even more so, it requires an addiction to the act of blogging itself and I know I am a die-hard hopeless addict.
Here are ten signs that testify to my blog addiction!
1. Blogger, Google Reader and other RSS readers are always open in my laptop.
2. I am usually late for appointments (Murali should know!!!) because “something” came up but in reality, it was because I was blogging - editing, responding to comments, pinging my blog or reading.
3. I often dream that I am blogging - and this happened when I was on vacation last week!
4. I am inspired for new blog posts at the strangest times when in the strangest places – sitting on the toilet, when driving, while cooking - you can imagine now how blogging fills my mind!!! I just don't have time to think of my husband or any idol LOL!! Ok lah, I do think of my darling spouse and call him at work daily, er much to his chagrin...
5. Before I started blogging, I used to check my son's books for the tasks I assigned to him. Now I check for unapproved blog comments before heading to bed!
6. It is compulsory for my family to read my blog. Furthermore, if they want to communicate with me, they have to talk to me while I am at my laptop or skype me LOL via their respective computers LOL!!
7. I have actually set up six backup blogs for this blog for fear that blogger might close shop one day and I might lose all my writings :-).
8. My technorati ranking never meant anything but now it does.
9. I blog about anything and everything including my addiction, my rants, music, movies, jokes etc and I sometimes wonder if readers think I am a mad hatter!
10. I have even synchronized my blog with my Twitter.
11. Due to blogging, there have been many occasions when I forgot to turn on the rice cooker switch and only found out when my son said, "Mom! You did it again!".
12. Because of my obsession with blogging, there have been times when I forgot to fetch my son from his art/music classes and even forgot to hang the laundry....Ah- there are far too many embarrassing incidents!
I could go on and on but one thing is for sure - blogging has changed and enriched my life and view of so many issues and people. I just want to say thank you dear reader and friend, for following my blog, reading my posts and for sharing your thoughts via comments.
Without you, there would not be my blogs!
Thanks and God bless you and yours always. Have a nice day!
45 comments to TRUE CONFESSIONS OF A BLOG ADDICT
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Village Boy Joy is infectious. No-one is more capable of giving instruction on the subject of joy than he/she who himself/herself is joyous.
If you brim with joy, it will be contagious.
To many of us, you are truly a great blogger!
Cheers
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Unknown Dear YB Sim,
Thank you very much for your encouragement and for visiting my blog. It really means a lot to me. Take care and see you soon!
God bless you in your constituency and in PKR and PR.
Warmest wishes
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Catherine Once you have taken the first step, overcoming each difficulty that arises is an easy matter.
Keep writing and keep winning!
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Unknown Dear Village Boy,
Thank you so much for your heartfelt and sincere comment and encouragement. It really means a lot to me and I appreciate all the comments you have left in my blog, each of which overflows with depth and wisdom.
It is lovely to get to know you via blogging. Thanks for being a regular reader!
God bless you, Village Boy. Have a nice day!
Cheers
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Unknown Dear Catherine,
Once again, you have infused my blog and life with your inspiring comment! You are so right - the first step is the most difficult - the rest is easier...
Lao-Tzu once said:
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
"Even the longest journey must begin where you stand." [note by Michael Moncur, September 01, 2004]
Thanks so much for being a regular reader and a friend....
God bless you! Have a nice day.
Cheers
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Catherine Success is a journey not a destination.
Our journey continues, doesn't it?
God bless
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Cat-from-Sydney Hey, if not for blooging, you won't be sleeping with that schnauzer now! teeheehee...
We love you heaps Aunty Paula.
Angelina & Brad
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nick Yep, The Master has finally returned to us. After months of soul searching, she has finally found the other half of her that was missing (not that I'm saying yr hubby is missing. he..he..).
Hurray! Keep on blogging Sis and I promise you that I will keep on commenting and sending you my mutated piece.
Thanks for being a friend through your blog, Sis. GOD Bless.
Hamba.
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Unknown Dear Catherine
What a beautiful thought - success as a journey - an unending one till the day we expire...
Here's another one to share with you - something that I say at the beginning of a writing course...Writing is a journey, destination unknown.
Take care and have a good day. God bless you too.
Peace be unto you and yours
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Unknown Dear Angelina and Brad
We love you and your mama LOTS too! Indeed if not for blogging, I would not have known you guys, enjoyed jerky, soap, sleep with the schnauzer and other softie toys plus Uppity Cat :-). I was just looking at your lovely card today and thinking of you guys!
Thanks so much for being a very caring and generous friend. Take care and continue to shine and purr where you are to spread love and kindness around.
Hugs and lots of love
mws
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Unknown Dear Nick
Thank you so much for being a very supportive, understanding and caring friend plus Malaysian. Your wisdom, insight, sharp and witty comments tinged with classy sarcasm and political consciousness never fail to bring a smile to my face.
I appreciate all your writings, advice and thoughts shared. And I would welcome any piece - just email to me and it will be my pleasure to post...aha - I still recall you were writing one halfway in Nov or was it Dec???? Hehehhe...
Take care and thanks for being a great friend!
May the Almighty bless you and yours and your business abundantly!
Salam
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semuanya OK kot I understand what you went through. The brief comment I can make is to quote: "The greatest right is the right to be wrong. When radicals criticise or satirize the political gods, or question the justice of our laws and institutions, or pacifists speak against war, note how the old inquisition, ostracism and ex-communication, the prison, wheel and torture-chamber or the mob are called upon." - Harry Weinberger, 1917
Arianna Huffington was brilliant on BBC Hardtalk a year or so ago. In response to a stuffy comment about roumor and comment not being journalism, she said (words to this effect): "Where have you been? Blogs are about comment." We need discourse to make sense of the increasing quantities of spin (polished excrement) being directed at us (unfortunately, at our expense).
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Ummie You go, Girl.
But political issue written will make a non-Malaysian me, a silent reader.
My husband often read your blog via Malaysia Today.
2 Thumbs Up ;0)
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Unknown Dear semuanya OK kot
Thank you very much for your compassion and understanding for the predicament that I went through. Thanks for the inspiring quote as well.
Arianna Huffington is indeed an inspiring woman and a brilliant blogger!
Take care and thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. I notice that your comments in cyberspace are always very insightful. We need more Malaysians like you.
Have a lovely evening.
Cheers
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Unknown Dear Ummie,
You are one of the first few friends I met via blogging and I have never forgotten you.
Thanks so much for your kind and encouraging words. My appreciation to you and your husband for reading my blog. Golly - I did not even know that you are married cos I thought you are still a young swinging single.
Take care and do keep in touch!
Have a lovely evening!
Salam
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Hafiz b Shukor Let your voice be heard, loud and clear.
Let it reach and touch everyone, everywhere.
Let it inspire them with bravery, confidence and courage.
Salam
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Unknown Dear Saudara Hafiz
Certainly!! I will do just that. Take care and thanks for the exhortation. Have a lovely evening.
Salam
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stephen I've seen blogs die a slow death after year 3.The bloggers slowly ride off into the sunset with bent fingers,never to be heard of again.Hope this doesn't happen to yours!
I happened to stumble upon your blog while randomly doing a search for penang bloggers.Your blog kept popping up every few hours to the top of the heap! I thought, either there must be a few writers or its a cut and paste blog or the blogger must be a retired person who doesn't have a life (sorry)!!!
Sooo, I decided to visit the blog and peeped in.Could there be anything interesting like feelthy pictures or pictures of penang? Nope, there wasn't, but a lot of jokes- nice jokes.The commenters too,seemed the normal type with their heads screwed down the right way!!
And I am now your devoted blog reader (still waiting for the feelthy pictures)- keep up the interesting and thought provoking articles.
Oh,BTW,I did a search on your name ( you know-one flew over the cuckoo's head-that sort) and saw that you've already had your 15minutes of fame last year! I thought you're so lucky to have the police clamouring for your autograph after (inappropriately) singing the song of freedom.
You must have sang well as the papers said you were a singer/guitarist!! It takes guts, I admire you for that.Not that I said your singing was bad......
Just joking lah! Have a great evening MWS and best wishes to you and family.
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Unknown Dear Stephen
LOL!!! Riding away in the sunset with bent should I add...arthritis-stricken fingers...LOL!!!
Er...I don't think that will happen to me, not even after my death. I have left strict instructions for my son to continue with my blog after I expire. Password and all other instructions have been included in my will LOL! Actually, my son has a great blog but he cannot access it cos he passed the password to his friend who took over all his accounts to access his Pet Society and wiped out all his gadgets. Sighs - 11 year olds!
This is his blog by the way - he created it himself and learnt how to blog by observation :P-)...
http://nickisjustbloggin.blogspot.com/
Er..you are right lah...LOL I am a retired person with no other life except the one in front of my laptop :-).
Actually, there is a treasure trove of jokes in my blog if you look under humor...and yes, in real life, I laugh a lot, too much and quite loudly hehehe and the few friends I have dare not watch any comedies with me. Sometimes, I end up being the only one in the cinema laughing cos the audience cannot catch the jokes...:-) Or is it that I have a sick sense of humor :-)
Thanks for being a wonderful reader and follower. Actually, you write very well. Do you blog? Wish I could write like you do!
Er..I hope you did not see the youtube thingy of me singing that ironical song of freedom after which I lost my freedom hehehe...classic joke ..
Wah - you sure you don't work for the CIA??? Eeeew...How did you find the info re my infamous stint? Yea...With that, I am sure you can understand what I meant i the first few paragraphs. It was a life-changing and transforming experience. And I am really glad I went through it cos I am a much tougher cookie...a far cry from the towfoo-fah scary cat that I used to be :-). I even took up martial arts and that did me lots of good!
Thanks so much for the encouragement. I really appreciate it and it is lovely to get to know you this way. Are you by any chance Lita's husband???? Just wondering...
Take care and God bless you and yours.
Shalom
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QQ The more imposing our problems seem, the stronger and positive we should strive to be!
Take care!
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bakarmerah Hi blog addict,
I have to be cruel to be kind...I do agree with your irony - you teach writing but...
Well, at least the grammar and the its and it's are used correctly...except for a few unintentional spelling errors (too enthusiastic I guess). Still so much fire after so many years?
So...maybe I have high (or weird?) standards.
Like I have told you before, I do think Jeremy is one good writer.
Sometimes Art Harun is great too. Antares is...his England way too high for me. Can't enjoy the story through admiring his joining of overly intelligent words :P
But what I really admire about you - so much homework-research done on each of your pieces!
But never mind, as long as you love what you're doing dear mws.
Apologies for being so honest.
Keep it up iron lady of jade.
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Unknown Dear QQ,
After all I went through, I really learnt to develop a more optimistic perspective of life. I gave up my title of Mother of All Worriers :-) and found strength within which I never knew existed...
And it is largely due to the many blogger friends I made via blogging, including you, QQ. Thanks a lot!
Take care and God bless you.
Shalom
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Unknown Hi Pug
Love your candid and sincere comments which I accept wholeheartedly. Yea - I am very lazy when it comes to spell checking hehe...don't really practise what I preach :-).
Of course you must have high standards, dear brother - you are a star in the media industry!
Me - a bored housewife cum blog addict :-)...
Yes, Jeremy is a great writer. Thanks so much for introducing him to me. My British friends seem to enjoy his humor a lot! His books are SO pricey!
And for the record, I really love what I am doing, although it has not been good for the waistline :-).
Take care and know that it is always lovely to hear from you!
God bless and keep you and yours always.
Shalom
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Anonymous Rukunegara says : 'belief in GOD/Tuhan' !
Allah is NOT being stated at all , so
let's just guna GOD/Tuhan & dun fuss over the issue ; let life go on till 21-12-2012, ok !?
(aku belum makan nasi, lapar la )
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Anonymous di sini ada olang tak ada nasi makan
di sana ada olang bising2 tentang ALLAH .....! sigh !
@#$%^&^%$#@ !!
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stephen Hi MWS,Nope, Lita doesn't ring a bell,asked the missus if she surreptitiously goes by that name- drew a blank and a hit on the head.
Anyway,visited your son's blog, yep, tell tale signs of blogger sunset.Looks like his last post was of beautiful paper planes.I am a plane sort of person too.
Here's a link to my tenant, I mean daughter's webby.
http://rcgntn.com/blog
Covers the local art scene.Still in uni and father's scholarship,so a lot of free time.
She's also an arty farty sort of person.On the other hand,I'm a big farty sort of person or that's what my wife says.
See ya!
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QQ "It is my conviction that there is almost no arena of life which we cannot transform according to our own desires if we want something badly enough, if we have faith in it, and if we work for it all our hearts."
- Eleanor Roosevelt, a social activist and former American first lady
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Unknown Dear Anonymous @ 6.10p.m. and 6.19p.m.
Sighs...As you can see, I have not made any statement or blog post on the "Allah" issue.
Reason - I am deeply saddened that people can squabble over such an issue. To me, both sides are wrong. The issue should not have arisen in the first place. I may get a lot of brickbats for this but the whole controversy just shows the extent of secularization and the distorted vision that man has of God these days!
Sighs...
Indeed there are more pressing issues that we need to fight for...
Such as hunger, homelessness, corruption, the rot in so many places...
But then again...this is bolehland.
Salam
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Unknown Dear Stephen
Yea - my son lost control of his blog :-(...So sad. He is into paper planes and has a whole collection. Now he has invested in Horrible Science Magazines, plastic human organs and many other scientific contraptions or so he claims. At the point of typing, he is in my kitchen conducting some ahem mind boggling experiment. My older boy is a final year student majoring in violin (conteporary music) and is a music teacher part-time too.
Your girl's blog is so savvy! Cool! I love the template. That is the beauty of blogging in Singapore. Like in many areas, Singaporeans are way ahead of Malaysians. I visit many Singaporean socio-political blogs and am always impressed by the forum and debates that go on there. Amazing!
Haha - love the big farty sort of person haha...
Er I am also the arty-farty bohemian type except I am too old to follow the bohemian lifestyle LOL!
Take care and enjoy the evening.
Shalom
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Unknown Dear QQ
Thank you so much for that beautiful quotation from Eleanor Roosevelt. You know, I admire her and Theodore Roosevelt so much that when I was expecting, I wanted to name my baby Eleanor....I was so happy when the gyny told me during my second pregnancy (5th month)that I was expecting a girl ...but a month later, she said - oops...it's a boy. So Eleanor became Nicholas! And it is fine with me andhubby.
Thanks for sharing that inspiring thought.
I appreciate the effort that you made to find and to post the quote.
Take care and enjoy the rest of the evening!
Cheers
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Anonymous will they change in Rukunegara to :
" belief in Allah " ????
Good la if they do , then everywhere
in church, temple , cave, mountain ,
'Allah' can be freely used BUT
someone will say : NO, kami ada copy-right !
sigh !
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Zendra-Maria Hi Wordsmithee, I'm so sad. If you give yourself B-, I see big red F's splashed across my cuts-and-pastes :)
Still, you're an A+ in my books. Keep addicted dear!
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Unknown Dear Anonymus @ 9.14 p.m.
I correctly predicted that outcome of the appeal...and now we have to wait for Friday because the Home Ministry has allowed a group to demonstrate ....Sighs...
Very sad...
Take care and remember that all we can do now is to hope for divine intervention to inject sanity and justice in the minds of the authorities concerned.
Salam
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Unknown Dear Kak Zendra
Wow! That is so validating and encouraging, Kak Zendra. Thanks a lot, my dear friend. You are also an A+ in my heart! Take care and thanks for swinging by to touch base with me. All the best to you and yours for 2010.
Salam
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Anonymous Blogging can be considered as an exploration in cyberspace, and:
"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."
T. S. Eliot, Little Gidding
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Unknown Dear Anonymous @ 11.37 p.m.
Thanks for that quotation. I love the works of T.S. Eliot.
Indeed blogging is a journey of discovery and exploration for me - one that has unraveled new experiences in another dimension so to speak...
Take care and have a good rest!
Cheers
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uncle james Dear MWS,
I empathize with you, bcos at one time i also stopped blogging and deleted my blog.
And one fine day, my most ardent reader (she is my student)asked me why i stopped blogging. She even offered me advice!!.."uncle, you dun need to write a long post. Just a few lines will do. I really like to read your blog."
I especially like your Masterwordsmith@writers.inc. Your posts there are so inspirational, and we must be thankful to you for taking so much effort to collect so many wonderful motivational materials for us to read.
May God always keep you healthy & strong so that we all can carry on enjoying your writings.
Peace & Cheers !!
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Unknown Dear Uncle James
Thanks for your kind and encouraging words and for sharing abt your experience too. Indeed it takes a lot of work and time to maintain Writers.Inc cos I have to trawl the net and look for the best...sometimes I find gems in the most obscure places but as I search for these gems, I am so blessed and in return, i bless the readers by those offerings of inspiration.
Do take care and continue to be a light to the world...May God bless and keep you and yours always. Thanks for being a regular reader and for linking back to my blog. I appreciate your kindness and friendship.
Shalom
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bongkersz Keep up the good work. Looking forward to read more posts from you. Pressures produces diamonds and well you are a gem!
Remember chatting for you and feel so encouraged to have you reading my posts ;) Stay strong and all the best for the years to come!
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Unknown Hi Bongkerz
What a lovely surprise to hear from you! Thanks for swinging by to read this post and for your beautiful and moving comment which touches my heart.
Indeed it was lovely to connect with you! I must catch you again for another chat. You are doing a terrific job and I can honestly see you standing for elections one day in the near future. You have what it takes to be a rakyat first kind of leader not forgetting your strong following.
Take care and may God bless and guide you as you make waves in cyberspace, especially amongst the younger set - the group that matters most for they are the majority for the next GE.
Warmest wishes
mws
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CK Mak Hi, I am your newest fan!
Oh my, why didn't I know about your blog earlier.
But hey, better late than never.
Thanks.
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Unknown Hi CK Mak
Thanks! I am very encouraged by your comment. How did you come across my blog? Do swing by again and may God bless you!
Cheers
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CK Mak Hi,
Malaysia Today posted a link to your blog regarding the church attack.
Then, Vijay Kumar posted a link to your blog regarding your confessiona of a blog addict.
And I'm hooked.
:)
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Unknown Hi CK Mak,
Thanks for the info and the encouraging comment. I am touched to have another reader..Take care and please make yourself at home...and share your thoughts whenever you feel like it. Take care and have a good day!
Blessings to you and yours.
Sim Tze Tzin Keep up the good work and write from the bottom of your heart.