It's early Friday morning and way past my bedtime. However, I can't seem to fall asleep yet. I just got home from a night out singing karaoke with the real life Ming Chan and the adrenaline is still pumping. Heck, I'm humming a karaoke favorite, 'Living on a Prayer' by Bon Jovi, as I'm writing this thought. Don't get me wrong. I can't carry a tune but I have no shame belting out 'Californiacation' thinking (not sounding) like I'm one of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

My like for karaoke began two years ago when the real life Ming Chan asked me to go give singing a try at an East Village karaoke bar in New York. At first, I was hesitant because I thought singing karaoke was one of those "FOBBY" (Fresh Off The Boat) things that foreigners did. However, right after I sang "Gangsta's Paradise" by Coolio, I was inspired. I felt like a rock star, a star on Broadway. Okay, that's a bit extreme but I did have fun.

Here's my philosophy. If you enjoy something but aren't good at it, go out there and still do it. There have been many people that have asked me questions like "I like writing alot but I'm not good at it". My answer to them is "If you like it, do it. You will get better."

The hardest things in life is to try and perfect the things you do but one thing we don't realize is that one of the easiest ways to enjoy and live life is to be satisfied by what you choose to do.

"China Dolls: The Novel" didn't happen overnight. We chose to write it and even though there were times when we wanted to stop, we kept going. We knew that this was something we loved doing and the passion for it made us begin to see that success (a sale) was near. Blossom and I didn't want to just write something and then put it in our drawers for our great, great grandchildren to read in the year 3000. We believed and wanted to be 'anything but ordinary' as Avril Lavigne would say and get the freakin' thing published. Also, don't ever let haters get in your way. An NBA player named Lebron James (some of you might have heard of him) once said "If you ain't going to be with me from the beginning, you ain't going to be with me in the end either." So true. Support and be supported!

Okay, I've done enough rambling about philosophy and book writing for one night...err...morning. I'm sure you all get my point by now.

I'm off to cover the U.S. Open the next two weeks so I'm sure I will have some good stories then!

 

What did you think of this article?

Liked
Disliked
No Opinion