I have heard it said that the life of a writer is a very lonely and solitary one, that can have a tendency to remove you from the realities of daily life in this world, and while there is probably some truth to this perception, it is also one that is filled with a delicious paradox. 

It is true that you spend hours closeted away, in your own little world as you work on creating, developing and executing characters, scenes and climaxes for your "work of art". It does become your all-consuming focus and it is very easy to lose sight of the things happening around you - it's your baby and you want to nurture it, to grow it and finally to give birth to this extraordinary piece of yourself called a novel. Yet, paradoxically what is your novel, your baby, if it never goes out into the world, if it never touches anyone else's life? What is your novel if nobody ever gets to read it? Simply put, it is nothing more than a collection of your jumbled thoughts and ideas. 

The key to being a writer, it seems to me, is to be able to share your vision, your insight into the world, your view of life, that you have crafted through your characters. So, although the creation is a solitary and at times lonely experience - the birth must by necessity be a very public event. If you cannot share it with others - what was the point of giving everything of yourself that you have poured into the book? 

I can't speak for all writers clearly, but for me, what I write is very necessarily a reflection of who I am. The situations in which I place my characters, the dilemmas they face, the moral questions they must address and the loves that they experience or lose, are all questions I have posed myself at various times, even situations I have faced or if I haven't actually experienced them - have wondered what my reaction would be if faced by them. So, when I write a novel, it is an intensely personal experience for me and it does become very much, "my baby". The question then becomes how to share that birth and baby with the rest of the world? 

This was where my truly humbling experience began. My novel was complete - the baby was pushing hard and demanding to be born, but how was I, a mere beginner in this industry going to be able to orchestrate the birth? In  a way I almost chose Pentian by default. I had excitedly sent off the first chapter of my "baby" to a literary agent fully expecting a positively gushing response. Well...now I knew what rejection felt like. It was like a hammer-blow! Although rationally, you know that rejection is just part of the literary process, one that you just have to accept...damn it! It Hurts! When I discovered Pentian, I was hesitant to put myself out there and let someone else read my work again, but I knew it was the only way I was ever going to get this book published as I lacked the resources to self-publish.

When Pentian came back to me and said they would love to be involved in helping me to publish my book I was overcome with gratitude. It was only one line they said, but it was one line that was burned forever into my memory: "I don't think we'll have any trouble raising the funds - the book sells itself." It was like mana from heaven for me...a literary recognition that my book was sell-able, that it was readable, and that it wasn't utter garbage. It never occurred to me at that point that this was just the first step in getting "The Second Coming" published.

Now that I was on the Pentian website, I had to raise $2,800 from investors in order for the publishing to go ahead. Part of me secretly hoped that there was this big store of unknown literary philanthropists out there just waiting for my book to appear and then they would jump on the website and pledge the support needed to get it published. Sadly, this hasn't proved to be the case. If I wanted to get this book published I needed to get out there and find the investors myself. That's when the real humility truly began!

One of the things I really liked about Pentian, unlike other crowd-sourcing platforms, such as Pubslush, was that they were offering backers a real investment in the success of my novel. Every investor would get a proportionate return on their investment for EVERY single book sold. To my knowledge Pentian are still the only ones doing this and more power to them for it. 

My first thoughts were to go with the scatter-gun approach to try and interest people in investing via social media, forums etc. For a couple of weeks I religiously posted links to the website on Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In and numerous writers forums...but! Nah! That didn't really work and surprisingly enough when I thought about it, I quickly realised why - it just wasn't personal enough. If I was going to get people to invest I had to invite them personally. 

Once I realised this, and with time counting down on the funding period (as of today 24 days left) I began reaching out to people I knew, asking them to invest. I went to family, to close friends, and even to old friends I hadn't seen for a long, long time. The results to date have staggered me and yes humbled me immensely. Without fail, everyone I reached out has been incredibly supportive. Not everyone has invested, and that's fine - not everyone is capable of doing so at this time, but what is awesome is the incredible amount of positive feedback I've received. That I have written a novel seems to have touched a chord with everyone. The expressions of pleasure and excitement at what I have achieved so far are without doubt the most heart-warming and humble experiences of my life. To everyone that does invest, you have given me an opportunity to follow my dream and to live my passion. I will always be eternally grateful to you for that. Thank you...maraming, maraming salamat!

As of today, the pledged fund for "The Second Coming" stands at 20.71% but I also have had numerous messages of support assuring me that people will invest over the next few days. It is the positive messages and general pleasure at my achievement that gives me such certainty that not only will this book be published, but many more will follow. For allowing me to live my dream - thank you to my family, my friends and to Pentian. To be honest, even if this book is successful and other options are available for publishing in the future, I certainly wouldn't rule out Pentian as an option for my next book. The ability it gives me to reward the people who have shown such faith in me is its greatest asset.  

Yesterday I was privileged to witness, sadly only on television, what will remain for a long, long time in my mind as the top sporting event of 2014. I refer, of course to the amazing final game of the UAAP Season 77 Men's Basketball tournament played out yesterday afternoon at the iconic Araneta Big Dome. It wasn't the game itself that was so inspiring - in fact the National University Bulldogs proved to be quite comfortable winners in the end, over the Far Eastern University Tamaraws. No, what was inspiring for me, was the overall commitment and effort required by the NU Bulldogs to even reach the final, let alone win it. 

Now those of you familiar with my writings, or with me personally, will be sitting there right about now tut-tutting to yourself: "Mmmm, Grant is writing about basketball - a sport he professes to have little time for - what has happened? Has the world altered on its axis or something - have we unwittingly entered a parallel universe? Well, let me put your minds at rest - I admit I was wrong, if not about basketball, then certainly about the College variety of basketball that is played in the UAAP. In June this year, when UAAP Season 77 basketball was about to saturate the television screens every Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday afternoon for the next four months, I had a simple choice to make. I could either dismiss the game and find something else to occupy my leisure time, or I could get with the program and actually give it a try - see if I could become hooked by this game. The votes are in - the results are tallied and the answer is plain and simple - a resounding YES! From the opening game of the season I became drawn into the whole College vs College rivalry that is so much a part of Philippine sport. I even found myself becoming an "expert" on the game, questioning the decisions of coaches, players and referees. Yes, I truly had become an aficionado of this game and I was enjoying every minute of it.       

It seemed to me that this season's contest was overall much tighter than the previous year's, to which I'd just given a passing glance from time to time. Certainly there were the perennial "easy-beats" in Adamson and the University of the Philippines, but it seemed that on any given day, any of the other six teams could defeat each other. Many of the games went right down to the final buzzer - a situation that would often bring out the "instant" heroes, such as; the Kiefer Ravena's, the Mac Belo's, the Roi Sumang's and the Gelo Alolino's. The games were tight and exciting to watch - I was really getting into this stuff and much to my wife's amazement and I might add at times not so silent sufferance, I would regale her with tales of that day's games (and no doubt bore her to tears). 

As someone who obviously didn't go to school here, I needed to find myself a team among the eight to "support". Having a daughter attending UP leant me initially in that direction, but one game of watching the "easy-beats" quickly dissuaded me of realistically supporting them to achieve anything more than the odd token win against Adamson, so I looked at the other options. Like most New Zealander's I am drawn to the under-dog, which in my mind ruled out Ateneo, De La Salle, UST and FEU, all four of whom were regular finalists over the past few seasons - in fact I was amazed to hear that every final since 1993 (except this year!) had featured either Ateneo, or De La Salle, or both. My choice of team to "support" was therefore either the University of the East Red Warriors or the National University Bulldogs. For a while I followed both teams closely and it soon became apparent that UE appeared to have some serious discipline issues with some of its players. NU, on the other hand, seemed an incredibly closely knit team, with a real purpose. As last year's number one seeds, after the elimination round, with their twice to beat advantage, they had found themselves quickly bundled out of the finals by a then rampant UST. They were seeking redemption this year, and despite losing their star player, they seemed both intent and capable of claiming it. So - it was NU all the way for me from then on.   

As I said earlier, this year's contest was very unpredictable. Even, the struggling UP Fighting Maroons could have upset the apple cart at one stage when they heart-breakingly lost to Ateneo during the elimination round. With just a second or two left on the clock, they were faced with two free throws - get one (extra time), get them both (beat the competition leaders)...they missed them both of course - and I guess that summed up their entire season in just one brief ten- second period - missed opportunities. But for all that, they were a side that promised more and played better generally than in previous seasons. 

So, what was so special about NU's achievement in winning UAAP Season 77 - put simply, they displayed all the guts, grit, determination, character (and yes - humility) that makes a great team. They overcame immense odds to achieve this victory and it is a tribute to their coach Eric Altamirano who fashioned a team of ordinary sportsmen into world-beaters. He gave them an utter belief in themselves and they paid him back in spades, with the title. Just for a second, let's consider the path to the final for this amazing team: 

1/ Finished the elimination round tied for 4th and 5th place with the UE Red Warriors.
 
2/ Defeated UE in an incredibly tight play-off game 51-49, to claim the last final-four berth. 

3/ Had to beat the number one seeds, Ateneo Blue Eagles twice, just to make the final. 

4/ Ateneo had only lost twice this season, in pool play, but interestingly enough their two losses were to the NU Bulldogs - NU seemed to have the "wood" on the Ateneo squad. 

5/ Game one of the semi-finals sees NU prevail 77-74, after just managing to survive another one of Ateneo's legendary fourth quarter comebacks - forcing a do-or-die second game. 

6/ Do-or-die game two - and what drama! NU lead 65-63, there's nine seconds left and it's Ateneo's ball - but - some of the lights go out and both teams end up waiting around 45 minutes for the lights to be restored. Finally, as expected it's Kiefer Ravena driving to the hoop for the tie and the extra time. He doesn't miss these shots - except when the man they call the Block Mamba - Alfred Aroga is around. Aroga leaps high and blocks Ravena's shot - the game is NU's - the final beckons. 

NU have done to Ateneo exactly what UST did to them last year - redemption is achieved - now on to the final.             

NU's last appearance in a UAAP Final was 1960 - they lost that one. Their one and only victory in the UAAP Men's Senior Basketball tournament was in 1954. It was sixty years of history, sixty years of disappointment that needed to be wiped away for this NU squad to achieve their greatness, their sporting nirvana. 

There was no Ateneo, no De La Salle, and no UST in this year's final. They said it just wouldn't be the same without those teams - and they were dead right! It wasn't the same - it was a whole lot better! FEU's Coach Nash Racela summed up his and many others feelings about the situation at the press conference following their disposal of De La Salle in the semi-finals. "This is the best thing that could have happened to the UAAP". I can't help but agree with him. Any sport, any competition, requires teams to be able to not just aspire to greatness, to reach the top, but to actually be able to achieve that. NU and FEU had shown that any team could win the UAAP if they play with their hearts and they devise a plan to do it. Well done to both teams for their advance to the finals. 

And so to the finals - Game one did not augur well for the National University Bulldogs. All season their game had revolved around their resolute defense. It was their ability to shut down the opposing team's superstars that had got them this far, but perhaps it was nervousness, or just the amazing sense of occasion of a UAAP Final, but they lost their way and they forgot to defend. For whatever reason, after a bright start, the NU star faded and FEU ground them into dust, eventually coming out the victors 75-70. It was on to game two and hopefully three, for NU to erase sixty years of mediocrity.              

Game two and three were played on consecutive Wednesdays at the Araneta Big Dome. Perhaps in response to the loss in the final's first game, the NU supporters seemed to come out in their thousands to support their Alma Mater. Yes, there were plenty of FEU supporters there too, but somehow it just seemed that the sheer fervor of the tide of NU supporters might be enough to carry their beloved team to victory. 

All other schools  may wish to take note: Attendance Game 2 - 24,896 rabid Bulldog and Tamaraw supporters (A record basketball crowd for the Big Dome). Attendance Game 3 - 25,118 (A new record attendance!). You're right, it definitely wasn't the same without Ateneo and De La Salle in the finals. 

For the record, Coach Altamirano and his NU team returned to basics and in the end quite easily brought the victory home for the Bulldogs. Holding FEU to just 47 in game two and 59 in game three was the key to their victory. As Final's MVP Alfred Aroga said after the game - "You don't win a championship by offense, you win it with defense." NU reverted to what they knew best and finally broke their sixty year hoodoo. With key players Troy Rosario, Glenn Khobutin and others graduating, who knows if the NU Bulldogs can recreate Season 77 next year and go on to build a dynasty. It doesn't matter - for my mind, what matters is that UAAP Season 78 promises to be even tighter, even more competitive and even more exciting than this amazing Season 77 we have just witnessed.

There were many heroes for NU: Finals MVP Alfred Aroga, Glenn Khobutin, Troy Rosario and Gelo Alolino to name a few, but one often overlooked player I think deserves special mention is Nico Javelona. At "just" 6' 1" he is one of the shorter members of the team. The first time I saw him play, I thought..."My God, NU have a schoolkid playing for them." He just looks like a little boy, but his performance in defense, against Kiefer Ravena especially, and his three point shots just when they are needed made an enormous contribution to this team's success. In summary, NU struck me as a well coached, a well managed and a well behaved group of young men. They thoroughly deserved their victory and all power to them. So fitting also that a member of that winning NU team of 1954, Nestor Sepida, was on hand at the Araneta Coliseum to witness his beloved Bulldogs again taste victory.  

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY BULLDOGS!  

Today's blog is going to be a bit different from previous efforts in that I'm going to stay away from my two great passions in life - politics and sport, and instead focus on something that in recent years I've discovered gives me all the energy and desire I need every day - this blog is going to be about living a purpose-driven life.

When I first moved to the Philippines about three and a half years ago, it was like taking a giant step into the unknown - into a world that was so radically different from that which I had known in New Zealand, that in some ways it terrified me - but also for the first time in many years I felt truly excited and challenged by what might lie ahead. 

The first year or so was almost exclusively taken up with strengthening and developing the new personal relationships I had entered into when I came here. I had a new wife (an amazingly wonderful wife at that) and new step-children that I had to get to know and love. All that would take time and effort on both sides, but fortunately it all worked out extremely well and I settled into my new life here. 

So here I was, in a land far, far away, where I knew virtually no-one and didn't speak the language. At times it did indeed feel totally isolating and lonely, but deep inside I knew instinctively that I'd made the right decision to come here, so as time passed and I became more comfortable in my new role in life, it came the time when I needed to consider what the future might hold here, for me specifically. I knew I was way too young to actually "retire", but with limited capital (none really!) I had to chart a course for myself that would give me as much personal fulfillment as my new position as husband and surrogate father was already giving me...What to do? What to do? 

It was around this time that my wife discovered "The Secret" and "The Law of Attraction", and introduced me to the concepts contained within. Now I don't want to go into a long and scientific discussion about whether the Law of Attraction is real or not - I'll leave that for others to argue. Now before you jump on the bandwagon and argue that this is all just "New Age, mystical claptrap", I'd just like to ask you to hear me out. 

What I want to say is that the precepts contained in the Law of Attraction revolutionized the way I viewed the world. It made me realize that the concepts that I had grown up with and had been indoctrinated into me since an early age were in fact rubbish and indeed were an anathema to the way we, as human beings, should be living our lives. I'm talking of concepts like: "Us against the world"; "That everyone wants something from you"; "That there is ulterior motive to everything people do" etc etc. I realized that I had reached the age of 55 and was nothing more than a world-weary skeptic...in fact worse than that - I was living my life in a permanent state of anger, annoyance, envy, rage and jealousy and that moments of happiness and sheer pleasure were few and far between and more often than not were the result of luck. The Secret, and The Law of Attraction made me realize that this was not the way we human beings are meant to live.


WE ARE BORN TO BE HAPPY - TO BE SUCCESSFUL AND TO BE FULFILLED! 


What an awesome concept that was...so how to achieve this amazing yet seemingly impossible state of nirvana. 

It is so ridiculously simple - that's what makes it so amazing. All I had to do to turn my entire life around was to look only for the positive aspects of any situation and to live in a permanent attitude of gratefulness for what I had - not a permanent attitude of ingratitude for what I didn't have - simple ha! No matter how bad our situation seems - there is always something we can be grateful for. Little things like the sun, the rain, a sweet smelling flower, a loving kiss from a spouse or a child, a cuddle with a pet...it really doesn't matter how you achieve your attitude of thankfulness, as long as you do. Once you stop looking at the world through cynical eyes you start to see the sheer beauty and wonder of nature and people, and then you feel more grateful, more blessed by your life and the circle continues. So, that's step one - be grateful for everything you have and never express envy, jealousy or ingratitude for that which you don't have. 

The second most important step for me was not so much to adopt the positive, but to reject wholeheartedly the negative. It was only when I started to monitor myself and others that I realized just how much negative stuff we surround ourselves with every day. Whether it is complaining about this or that politician, corruption, or just the Government in general; whether it is criticizing a loved one; gossiping about a neighbor's perceived idiosyncrasies; or just complaining about the heat, or the interminable traffic...I suddenly saw clearly just how negative we were all being every single day. How can you live a positive, gratitude filled life if every second word that comes out of your mouth is negative or complaining? For me, it took a major effort to change this...55 years of disappointment and ingrained negativity are hard to remove straight away - but it can be done - trust me! If I can do it, then anyone can. What I did was read and listen to as much positive material as I could, plus of course with both my wife and I embracing this philosophy we were able to mutually support each other and often we would find ourselves reminding each other not to focus on the negative aspect of a situation, but rather seek a positive aspect of it. Remember though - it is always a "work in progress". We cannot expect to achieve nirvana overnight and it takes a bit of hard work and discipline to overcome years and years of negative conditioning. Believe me though, the results are worth working for.

What I try and do now, when confronted by any situation that might have frustrated or angered me in the past - such as massive traffic jams or rude and unhelpful people, I just ask myself one question. Can I change this situation? If the answer is no, then I switch off from it. For example when I'm stuck in traffic, the jeepney is stifling hot, and we're all crammed in like sardines, I say to myself, will getting annoyed, frustrated, angry or rude change the situation? Clearly the answer is no, so I have to find some other way to cope. For me, I just close my eyes and revisit my "happy place" in my head. For me, my "happy place" is walking down a moonlit beach in Mamburao with my wife, holding her hand and feeling the warm evening breezes caressing our bodies. I can smell the salt air and I can feel her warmth and love beside me as we walk. Believe me, this is a much better place to be than crammed into a stinking, hot jeepney. Suddenly, we're where we want to go, and in an awesome frame of mind to do whatever it is we came to do. It works! Another method is to load your phone with positive affirmation music, or audio books with positive messages or stories. Plug in your earphones, relax and listen to uplifting and inspiring music or information. Again, it works! 

Similarly, if someone is rude or unhelpful - before, I would seethe internally at them. Did they know I was annoyed with them? Probably not! Did it make me feel any better? Not really - now, I know some people say it is good to have a rant, or a blow-out (to let off steam), but personally it's never made me feel any better within myself, in the long run - it just puts me in a bad mood that I then take out on others and so the downward spiral begins. What I do now, say when someone cuts into a queue that I've been in for 20 minutes or so (and trust me it happens often here), I just assume that person has a good reason for wanting to get where he or she is going, quickly. Usually, I shake my head, smile and just let it go...what is the point in letting it bother me? Does that hurt them? No, it hurts me and those around me that I love, so why do that? If you get angry with that person, you are allowing someone else to determine your mood and that is a big mistake. You are the Captain of your ship - you make the decisions on how you feel and react, so stop blaming the actions of others for your decisions. 

So, now I am living a happier, more relaxed, more laid-back life than I ever was before, but still I knew something was missing - what to do with myself? An entire industry has grown up around The Secret and The Law of Attraction (LOA). My inbox these days is flooded with various gurus offering me the "missing key" to LOA. If you follow LOA and live life in an attitude of positivity, gratefulness and thankfulness, your life cannot help but change for the better. Your relationships will improve, your health will improve (less stress), your friendships will improve, and your entire outlook on life will change, but will you become rich and successful. Well...you may! Living life positively does attract like-minded people into your life and these people are often themselves rich and successful...this may well open up new opportunities for you that you'd never dreamed possible before. It does happen, I'd read too many testimonials to believe otherwise.

However, there does appear to be a key to achieving this brave, exciting new world and that key is ACTION. You, yourself must take some action to discover what makes you happy. One guru that I did take notice of was a chap by the name of Jack Canfield. His advice was to find what gives you the most satisfaction in life, and try to build a career from that. He said - "Find your bliss, and then follow it." I took that to heart and after following a few of his training courses I quickly discovered what my true bliss was - writing! Since discovering all this at the start of this year, I've written a novel - The Second Coming, which will be published this year (I know it will be!) but more importantly I know what I should be doing for the rest of my life, and that's writing - that's my bliss. The Second Coming is just the first of what will be a string of best-selling books. 

This is my nirvana - A wonderful wife, an amazing family and the opportunity to follow my dream. I am now a full-time writer and I truly am now living my dream, thanks to just a simple attitudinal adjustment that everyone is capable of making. Give it a try! What have you got to lose - just your anger, your cynicism, your envy, your jealousy and your negativity. 

LIFE IS AWESOME - MAKE SURE YOU PARTICIPATE IN IT! 

Check out some of the links below. The last two links are to my son, Chris' blog. If you are interested in comics or movies based on comics, you'll love these. He's a really talented writer and he knows his stuff. I don't even like that stuff, and I still enjoyed reading his blogs. 

As my first novel, The Second Coming, is being prepared for publishing, the question above is something that I've been asked quite frequently. The most common response people make, when I explain to them that I'm a writer is: "So, what sort of stories do you write about? In other words - What's your genre? 

It certainly wasn't something that I'd given much conscious thought to in the past, but equally I knew once the book was available, it was something that required answering. Whereabouts, in that massive market of novels, would The Second Coming fit? In fact, what is it that I like to write about? 

As someone who has spent a lifetime reading books of all descriptions, I like to think I have a pretty good grasp of what a novel sets out to achieve. Yes, it does tell a story, but there is an underlying premise, it seems to me, in every novel. That underlying premise addresses one or more of the great issues of life - and to be honest there aren't that many. The issues I'm alluding to here include: The battle of good vs evil; The questions of why we are here - what is our purpose in life; The great unrequited love, and indeed the great requited love; The questions of death, mortality, the hereafter and heaven; the struggle and triumph over adversity; and finally questions of morality - what is right and what is wrong. All novels address some, or all of these questions and the vehicle they use to do that is their genre. 

Genres can range from the bizarre science fiction aliens through to fantasy werewolves, witches, vampires and goblins, or equally they can be about ordinary everyday people like you and me. Whether a novel uses the vehicle of fantasy, murder mystery, suspense, thriller, science-fiction, or romance to tell its tale, ultimately it will be revealing, examining, discussing and sometimes providing answers to the issues mentioned in the previous paragraph. 

For me, the vehicle I used for The Second Coming, was the conflict between what our higher power (in this case God) wanted our world to be, and what humanity had allowed our world to become. That, however, was never the issue of the novel - that was just the vehicle I decided to use. At the core of The Second Coming is: 1/ A romance that transcends humanity - a romance that succeeds because of the differences in the participants, rather than despite their differences; 2/ An examination of morality - of what is right and wrong in the world today; and 3/ A celebration of what life should be for each of us - what makes the human experience superior, to even, immortality. 

So - what is The Second Coming's genre? If I had to label it, I would call it a "Romantic Fantasy". Having said that, it has plenty of adventure, excitement and suspense to keep most readers interested. One thing it is not, is a religious book - it is far from it. Religion is just the clothes dummy on which I've hung the outfit that is the story.

I hope that gives you some insight into my thought processes and ideas when I wrote this novel and I hope everyone enjoys it for what it is - a simple story of love triumphing over difficult odds.

You can even invest in this novel by visiting Pentian and receive real returns from every sale of The Second Coming.