Aw-Struck

The Taipei-born and Malaysia-bred debut novelist Tash Aw, whose The Harmony Silk Factory is creating ripples, speaks to the New Straits Times on how his life has changed and what you need to become an author:

“... it takes a lot of really hard work...It’s a big sacrifice and you need a lot of discipline. When you work in an office, you have a structure to your day. Being a writer, you have to create that structure. You have to force yourself to sit down and work and that can be really really difficult. When I was working and writing, I had to wake up at six every morning and write during weekends. Needless to say, I did not have much of a social life.”

This is what he was doing the day before his agent found a publisher:

“It was 10 in the morning and Teletubbies was on. Feeling that my book was never going to get published. I wanted to ring my agent and say ’Look, just give the book away. If someone wants to pay £500 for it, they can have it. I just want my book published’.”