Cecelia Ahern's Recipe of Success

Salam.

Selamat Hari Raya, Maaf Zahir and Batin to all my readers!

Whew, I hope it is not too late for me to say these words to you. Please forgive me. I was kind of busy lately, you know, with all the raya preparations and stuffs. So, I was like, "Oh no! It's been a long time since I've updated my blog!" and I truly miss it.

So, how's everything? How's raya? Did you enjoy your raya? Honestly, I didn't really enjoy mine because my twin is not here with me. Duh! My one-year-older sister, okay? She's in Mecca right now, performing umrah with her husband and she'll be back by September, 8, insya-Allah. She's so lucky for performing umrah in such an early age, don't you think? And I totally envy her. But, never mine. The time will come soon and I will wait for it patiently. Lol.

Alright, please don't get me wrong. I'm not writing (tonight) about raya celebration or about my sister performing umrah, instead I just want to share with you some of my findings. Okay, see the title up there? Yup, definitely it's what I'm about to share with you here. Again, Cecelia Ahern. Who on earth doesn't familiar with that name. The most admirable author in many parts of the world. But, bear in mind that this post is not an autobiography too, okay? Lol.

Do you believe if I say, she was the first English author who had attracted me to start reading English novels? Previously, I hate to read any English materials (magazines, comics, newspapers, what ever you name it) because I hardly to understand what they are saying.

But in this case, it's different. The truth is, Cecelia is the only one who could make me touch and even read English books. Well, thanks to her. What do you say? 

When I first looked at her third novel, which titled, "If You Could See Me Now" my first impression was, "Okay, I think this book could be interesting because the title is so unusual and this is my first time seeing an English novel being titled with a (quite) long statement or sentence, or I may say a phrase." Seriously, that had made me fall in love with the book. Then, right after I finished reading the novel, I decided to look for her other novels because I had created a new interest in me, which is to be closer to English language (seems English has been my favorite subject since primary school and I discovered that Cecelia uses simple English in her writing and this could help me a bit in enhancing my English language).

Then, I found her first published novel, "P.S. I Love You" which is also a best-seller book in the bookstore. However, to be frank, I didn't quite like the plot because I think the story is not written for someone at my age, who is still a bachelor. Duh! But Cecelia's novel is still wonderful and it is so much different from other English novels that I've read before and like her other novels, this novel also has been translated into many languages and be sold in many countries around the world. Wow!

Later, much much later, I became so obsessed with her writings. So, I determined to go to the same bookstore (Kinokuniya) to search for Cecelia's next novels. I found them all and I started collecting them on my bookshelves and reading them again and again. But, for the record, I read "If You Could See Me Now" for countless time because I found that the plot is just amazing. It tells you about Western culture who believes in the invisibles. Well, to me it s something new. So, I grabbed it.

Just now, after I finished my dinner, suddenly I felt like I wanted to watch Cecelia talking in front of camera. I want to see how a writer like her speaks in front of public. Because I still remember, there was someone who told me that people who are good on papers, they are not really good on cameras and vice versa. So, I decided to watch myself and to prove that not everything that the person says is always right.

So, I typed Cecelia Ahern in the Youtube search box then, I found this video. Let's watch it together. Cecelia is truly an incredible author and who would expect many film directors want to create a film based on her novels and first film had already been adapted successfully from her first novel, "P.S I Love You" and it has caught people's attention from most countries from all over the world.

In this video, she shares with us some of her recipe of becoming a successful author. Check it out!

It was amazing, wasn't it? Who could expect a young lady like her could produce as many as eight novels so far, and two of them have been chosen as the best-seller novels. O Allah, I wish I could have talent and passion like her.

You know, it's been my dream to become a successful author just like Cecelia Ahern.

One of her best quotes says:

"If you can believe that you can do something, then you can do it." 

She's right, you know. If we really believe in our own ability, we will work hard for it. We will struggle til the end, just to make sure that we achieve our goal. I made this statement as my source of inspiration to continue writing my own novel and like her, I also want to make my dream comes true.

To conclude, Cecelia is not merely good in creating and writing stories based on her own imagination, instead she also knows how to please people (especially her readers) and touch their hearts with the plot that she developed in her mind. I really respect her in that sense because not everyone can do the same thing as she does. When she was asked in an interview about where did she get inspirations to write all the stories,

this was her answer:

"...from life. I absorb everything around me. All the people I've met and all the places I've been, all the stories I've heard, music, books, absolutely anything and everything inspires me. I find that I'm constantly day dreaming, constantly imagining and creating scenarios in my head. .."

She further said:

"...I  can sit still for hours on end, staring at a wall, my body totally still but my mind going on the greatest adventures..."

I hope my first novel can achieve this level. I'm not really confident about it, yet it's not wrong to have faith n ourselves sometimes, don't you think?

"Being a writer is a natural thing because it is something that is not forced."

All you need to have is talent and passion. Don't forget hard work too. Without these three components, we could never be a successful author for the rest of our lives.  

Let's stop now.

Hopefully, this would be very helpful to those who want to become an English (Malay also can) author someday. Come and join the club.

Wallahua'lam.