Category Archives: Uncategorized

My protégé for the past 18 months at work had his farewell drink last night. After a few more days in the office, he will be “stretching his wings” elsewhere. I am more proud of him than me (which may be a rare occurrence for some people). He called me Master Yoda. I took it […]

I got the message finally when I asked a friend repeatedly for feedback after purchasing my book 1 week ago. He said “Raymond, your book is not a piece of meat. It does not decay and please calm down.” It is true. People buy books and read them later. A book is not a newspaper that people read […]

After lunch last Friday, I visited a bookstore in North London (Postal code N22). The staff told me that the bookstore is launching a section for self-published books. I thought this was finally “up my alley” until he mentioned that it was for novels only. I glanced over the stack of books that he was […]

After a quick re-composition of myself after the first negative result, I walked to an independent bookstore in the same area on my list. It was supposed to open at 11am, but when I arrived sharply at 11am, the door was not open. I marched up and down the block try to avoid passers-by mistaking […]

I took a day off from work yesterday to promote my self-published book.  The first store was a big bookstore in Piccadilly Circus, a very touristic area in London. After fighting off my habit developed in the last decade shopping in the area (this time I only went into one shop instead of usual 10+, […]

Knowing that my sense of direction is close to non-existent, I thought it would be wise to strategically work out the route on the internet to my short-listed independent bookstores before embarking the journey. I decided to focus on Central and North London (around 9 bookstores in total). Guess what I found on the list […]

To all my Jewish friends including Jesus!  I visited 2 bookstores in North London (N11 – North of Finchley Road) which apparently is a Jewish neighborhood. Both bookstores were closed for Jewish New Year. I can understand. It is time for celebration! My long walk (25 minutes from the closest underground station) will not be […]

It will be my very FIRST day that I actually put on the hat of the salesperson of my book facing the public. I am taking a day off from work to visit some independent book stores within zone 3 of London (I rarely ventured outside of zone 1) and ask them if they are willing […]

I went to the dentist office this morning. A thought came to my mind when I was “strapped” to the dentist chair. It was not pain, death, heaven and marriage (not that they are related, but I heard those are some of the common thoughts when people are at the dentist chair!). I was actually […]

When I woke up this morning, I only got 15 minutes left to get out of my flat for work instead of my usual 90 minutes (Yes, please don’t think my hair style and all of it are natural and require no work!). I was in a total panic and bad mood as one can […]