Cowboy Caleb the liberal arts, grown-up stuff & random mischief

Further Adventures Of Cowboy Caleb

A good number of bloggers have recently made the foray into the wonderful world of print and have their own columns in the newspaper like mrbrown, mrmiyagi, xiaxue and the sarongpartygirl. It’s tough to make a buck off your blog. Especially if you’re some sort of Batman like yours truly who refuses to take off his mask or talk to reporters.

But then an intriguing email arrived one day from a well respected lady, and it contained an offer to write for them, which I would normally have refused except that there was a twist to it - adventure. That got my interest and I asked if I could write as ‘Cowboy Caleb’ instead of ‘Robert Goh’, which to my surprise, they agreed to without hesitation.

The deal is almost firm, I think. They are making all the arrangements right now.

Have I ever told you that I wanted to be a writer as a teenager? I used to win writing competitions and wrote scripts for the school debate team. Between the age of 14 - 18, I was a stringer (got hired because I wrote an essay for a national competition) for the New Straits Times in Malaysia; covering social events and commercial launches after school hours. When I finished the equivalent of my ‘O’ levels, my bureau chief gave me a recommendation letter (which was ultimately useless because of the university racial quota system) and told me very gently that I should not choose journalism unless I wanted to grow into a bitter old man like him who couldn’t make ends meet. So I chose another path in life, but I’ve always liked writing although my spelling, grammar and punctuation is atrocious. Maybe that’s why I became a blogger.

I’m not doing this for fame although the additional money does come in handy. In fact, I worry that my writing style may not translate well into print. I just feel like… God is giving me a second chance at a vocation and not a job.

hey! I’ve always wanted to be a writer too! but writers can’t make ends meet… isuppose the best option is to be like you, have a job and write in the spare time.

that’s so kewl!

Hey!

-counts of his fingers-

Debates….check. Wants to be writer…check. Wanted to read journalism….check. Became a shar…oh well. Couldn’t get them all. :D

go for it man. and duh…what’s up with worrying over writing style ‘in print’?? isn’t a blog a ‘print’ media as well?

just be yourself. that’s what readers want to read.

oh well, you could always worry a little about grammar and impact of your written topics…!!

congrats on the writing gig! Hope thigs work out well.

JIA YOU JIA YOU!

Haiz. Some even made it to the front cover of Maxim lor. :( I want also no one want to take picture of me sia!
HAHAHA!

lucky bastard!

did the debate team even win?? :p

gratz cc, :) Nice to see one’s dreams being realised.

Congrats!!

Now you have to come out and give us free beers all around…

Hey, seriously, I’m really excited for you as I would absolutely love it if the same happens to me too.

I fondly remember I made the first 6 dollars of my life when I was 10, from having one composition I wrote go to print in the Straits Times. They used to publish like a page full of compositions every week, contributed by kids back then. I earned another 6 dollars when I repeated the feat at 11.

Then I grew up and discover boys, so that was the end of my writing career. haha!

And yes, I learnt from my previous lecturer (who used to hold some senior position in the Straits Times), that it is not as beautiful as it seems in the world of journalism in Singapore.

I remembered I was pretty outraged by some of the things I was told. Needless to say, I didn’t end up venturing into journalism either.

Wah Low eh… all the best…

p(^_^)q Ganbatte ney!

Congrates! I’m sure you’ll be one good writer even on print.

Eh I just want to say I find it very sad that people’s sentiment is that writing tan bo chiak because if we really want it, we can get book deals! It’s true! But we must be willing to move out of our comfort zone — my friend is a Singaporean with 2 books published by Penguin. She went to NYC to study and spent two years just hanging out at writers meets etc, and finally one day this agent found her and said “I’ve been looking for an Asian female writer” and she sent 2 book ideas, Penguin bought both and she had like, an advance of more than US$10K, which is pretty decent.

Don’t give up your dreams! Write them down, and then start finding out how you can make them come true. Blogging is a great way to advertise your writing skills — keep doing it.

You never know who is reading, eh Cowboy?

Welcome to the editor-filled world of print media dude… :)

Steady. Writer cum blogger cum IT consultant cum…

So once become writer, still can use words like evar, kewl. They allow rite? :)

“…I should not choose journalism unless I wanted to grow into a bitter old man like him who couldn’t make ends meet.”

That advice only applies if you’re working for a paper especially like NST, with all the cronyism, politics and back stabbings going on in there.

I write full-time for a magazine in Malaysia and I’m definitely not trying to making ends meet with my kind of pay. In fact, stringers/contributors/freelancers stand to make more than full-timers, especially the good ones.

Just go for it and don’t look back. Nothing beats seeing your byline in print for the very first time.