Assalamualaikum, hi!
I will make this post a very quick one – just because someone asked me to share my writing journey through my NGL link. So I figured, eh, why not kill two birds with one stone? Answer the question, while also updating this blog of mine while I can? It’d be good for me to also document this on the blog anyway, considering how long the blog has been around.
About a month ago, I realized that it has been over 10 years since I first bought my domain – https://syazanazura.com. Then again, the blog actually started a couple of years before – in 2008, to be exact. My writing journey has been going on for 12+ years or so, and who knows how long I’d be writing for?
The official start of my writing journey.
Back then, I was in my second year of high school. The blog started off as most blogs – a personal online diary for me to share what I went through in school. I wrote about going to basketball tournaments, attending cousins’ weddings, and the fights I had with my friends. It was nothing that I would like the public to read about (’cause they’re so cringy), but then again, only a handful of friends and family members knew about my blog.
My blog name changed a lot over the years as well as I developed my personality in writing. I can’t recall them all, but the last one before I changed it to just Syaza Nazura was Silent Confessions – this was probably the longest I’ve ever kept a blog name until I decided to just use my own name.
How in the world did I come up with Silent Confessions, you may ask.
Well, don’t look at me. I’m not that creative at coming up with names. So, like what other sane people would do, I Googled up random blog name generators and used them multiple times until I come across the Silent Confessions suggestion and was like, “Eh, this is fine I guess?“
Finding my niche area.
Between 2008 and now, a lot of things have changed, of course. I’m in a different phase of life than I was before (and will be going through a new phase relatively soon – more to come!). My thoughts have (hopefully) matured as I go through life. I’m no longer writing just for my own self-satisfaction, though that is still a big part of why I write. I now actually have an audience – people who actually want to read what I share.
p/s – don’t ask me why. sometimes I still wonder why people keep on reading the stuff that I write. half of them feel like a 10-year-old kid can come up with, and the other half are probably just me ranting my mind out.
I think it was only in the past 5 years or so that I decided to focus my writing on topics that are related to students. In particular, graduate employability and personal development. And this is more than just on the blog through my Fresh Grad 101 & Study 101 series. My content on other social media (LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, etc) also shifted towards this focus. I realized that this was an area that I am highly interested to pursue as a potential career. And so, I wanted to take this time to explore the area informally through my writing and sharing.
Authoring my first book.
Ask anyone who writes and of course, most of them would say that they dream of publishing a book one day. Growing up, writing and publishing a book has been at the top of my wish list. But personally, it has always felt almost like an impossible dream. I never imagined it actually coming true, let alone before I reach 30 years old.
But, here I am – with a book out under my name at the age of 27 years old. This was a huge personal achievement, and even though I know it could’ve been better, I’m still happy for myself.
Of course, many, many thanks to my friend, Alia Fauzi, and her team at Flonerch for the trust in writing this book. They took a leap of faith in me, and I really appreciated all their help in creating the book as it is. Also, a massive thank you to Gerak Budaya for their faith in me by becoming my distributor. Next to publishing a book, seeing your own book at a bookstore is legit a dream come true. No words could describe how excited I was when I saw the books in stores.
Some things are still yet to be checked off…
Another thing that I have yet to check off my list was to have an author meet & greet, and to see my book at a physical book fair. Of course, Gerak Budaya brought my books out to two book fairs already. The first was the KL Alternative Book Fest in Pasar Seni, and the 2nd was the recent Pesta Buku Antarabangsa KL.
For the first book fest, they only brought a couple of copies to test the market. I came to the book fest on the last day, on which all copies were already sold out. So I was both sad and excited because, hey, people were buying my book!!
For the PBAKL, I was supposed to have a meet & greet session. But, as luck and fate would have it – I tested positive for COVID-19 on the morning of my meet & greet session. Like, what else could’ve gone wrong? I bawled like hell when I called my sister-in-law to let her know the news. But, what to do? Things like this happened, and you just have to suck it up.
Still hoping that one day we get to do the meet & greet – it’s just a matter of when…
Where would my writing journey lead me next?
I still have no idea where my writing journey will take me next. Is there a plan for a second book? Possibly – but not for the near future maybe. I can’t even stay consistent with my blog posts, let alone churn out yet another book. I do have an idea of what the next book would be like though, so at least that’s something. (hint: of course, it would still be a non-fiction book).
For now, I’m focusing my energy on my family, my career, and Aiman’s career growth. After all, he has sacrificed his job to accompany me to the UK for my Master’s. It’s only fair that I give him the opportunity to grow his career however he sees fit. And I also still want to explore my potential interest in the whole career advising field, although I’ve been taking a step back from it lately.
But this does not mean that I’m completely abandoning my writing – of course not. Writing has been, and will forever be, a big part of my life and my identity. After all, writing has helped me to discover who I am and what I enjoy and opened doors to new opportunities.
I wouldn’t have gotten here without my blog. Heck, one of my longest posts, Challenges Fresh Graduates Faced in the Job Search, was the reason I was invited to be a volunteer career coach with TalentCorp. This was the starting point in my exploring an opportunity as a career success facilitator.
Time to enjoy what the future has in store…
Whatever the future holds, I’d be looking forward to it – and I hope you are too. For those of you who have been following my writing journey from the old days – thank you from the bottom of my heart. No words could express how grateful I am for you and your support for all these years. You guys give me a reason to write, and I love hearing (or reading!) about how you’ve used what I’ve shared in your own individual lives.
Just know that I am forever rooting for the best in everything that you do. And, remember – you already have what it takes to succeed, you just need that one tiny little push to help you get there.
Until I see you again in the next post – take care & stay awesome!
p/s I have a NGL page here if you wanna send over anonymous messages or comments. Yes, it’s a trend now. Yes, it’s literally the same thing as my Ask.fm that’s pretty much dead now, except you can’t see my answers. And yes, I share every question (& answer) on my Instagram story so send over anything you wanna ask me <3