Pei Ling oh Pei Ling,
Beloved friend/much adored little sister/exceptional writer, thanks for reminding me about this article.
That's The Way the Cookie Crumbles, my now-defunct story-driven column in Quill (replaced with the more pragmatic Survival Tricks for the Freelance Writer) chronicled valuable lessons that may not be that obvious to wet-behind-the-ears freelance writers like myself.
Like this one dispensed by a Malaysian icon at an MPH event in 2006.
While purists ("What, how dare you equate writing to selling?") may balk, it still ranks as the best piece of advice (i.e. practical as opposed to hopelessly idealistic and not applicable to real life) I've ever received about freelance writing.
Reading this again, I detect decidedly Cinderella-esque overtones hehe.
Would you believe it - until now, I have not plucked up the nerve to tell him about this article?
To Eric Forbes and May Lee, thanks a million for the opportunity to write for Quill!
