Joyce Chng's Blog

Well, August came and went.

I mainly focused on my embroidery projects, especially the zhuizi patterns which hail(ed) from the Hui’an heritage. I found out that they also embroider patterns that reflect the surroundings/environment (for Hui’an, it’s the sea/coast and flowers, so sea life is key). My design derived from Peranakan tile patterns, which then I modified to flowers. One floral pattern became an orchid (link to Singapore) – because I effed up tracing the patterns on the fabric and t...

Sometimes, heritage is tangible,

a tactile piece of fabric,

embroidered patterns

speaking of history.

Sometimes, heritage is intangible,

or so they say,

and often they have their own idea(s)

of what heritage should be,

they of the dominant majority

who wants us to assimilate,

so that it is good for the future.

Sometimes, heritage is tangible,

the land itself, the sea itself,

the forests, the very air we breathe,

the sea is ours,

in our bones,

July was exciting. Was eldest’s graduation – but boy, our travels did not go smoothly. Before this, spouse fractured his elbow and had to put his arm in a cast. So, he was already unhappy about it and it meant travel plans had to change. Then a certain travel agency canceled our flights by mistake the day before we had to fly – we ended up getting another flight but it meant spending more money than we should. The trip, however, was relatively smooth – we enjoyed our day trips to Stonehenge, Bat...

Oh boy, June… June was interesting, to say the least. The national newspaper featured me (thank you, Clement) and I was dealing with a sudden influx of interest. Likewise, I started embroidering, using rayon floss, and it was/is a steep learning curve. There was some online kerfuffle which hurt a lot of people and my wish for genre space is always to be kinder and show more empathy.

I will be busy in July, flying up to the United Kingdom to attend my eldest’s graduation and to have a short br...

https://www.straitstimes.com/life/arts/singaporean-ex-teacher-joyce-chng-51-shortlisted-for-british-fantasy-awards

May has been a ride – from menopause symptoms to Wolf’s Path being a finalist for Best Collection in the British Fantasy Awards. I’d spent the whole month worrying that I would become anemic, so I was pretty much distracted and down with this aspect of ageing and middle age. The news of being shortlisted shocked and surprised me (in a good way). Fingers crossed. The month ended with a smaller Ren Faire.

I also got a gig writing for Dead Hawk Publishing.

So, what do I have in store for June...

April was busy. Book release – Sailing The Golden Chersonese! Celebrated my folks’ 80th birthday.

I have fallen in love with dragon ribbon/dragon flow/poi. It’s such a lovely and invigorating exercise/dance. Am wondering if I could just focus on this. Going into the 50s and changing my career paths. Perhaps this will be the fulfilling one where it gives me joy (and a workout, at the same time). Not that writing sff isn’t fulfilling – it is, but sometimes, most of the time, sff is exhausting, ...

Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit!

Not an April’s Fool joke!

March was my birthday month – turning 51 was ok. A trip with the family to Vietnam was rejuvenating and I had a medieval overdress made.

What do I have in store for April?

Pre-orders are love!