The story behind Memoirs of a Doctor:
In Dec 2019, I had an accident resulting in a neck injury, compression cervical myopathy, and spastic tetraplegia. Miraculously, by the grace of God, I recovered uneventfully, after surgery and rehabilitation. In January 2020, I retired from my medical practice and decided to take up writing as a hobby. I had a lot of time to reflect, think, meditate, and write. This kicked started my writing journey in March 2020. Meanwhile, my children also encouraged me to write my autobiography before it is too late. I had not told them about my story because I had been quite busy with medical practice during my working life. I had to tell my story before it is too late. Life is very fragile and unpredictable. It can change with the twinkling of an eye.
James 4:14, “you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes”.
The accident and retirement gave me the inspiration to write my memoirs. As the campfire song goes, “It only takes a spark to get the fire burning”. First, I had to think of a title. I played around with several titles until I remembered the film show “Memoirs of Geisha”. So I entitled my autobiography “Memoirs of a Doctor”. I searched the Amazon website on “Memoirs of a Doctor” and there was no book with the same title. This title was easily searchable and should be relatively easy to be discovered when it is published on Amazon later on. Then I added the chapters and the outlines. After this, it was like filling in the blanks. The whole undertaking from a blank page to a printed book and published as a paperback in KDP Amazon took me slightly more than 6 months. The experience was challenging, fruitful, enlightening, and enriching. I learned many new skills, met new friends, reconnected to old friends, revisited my past, and enlarged my worldview. Finally, my story is out there for my family to keep, to treasure, to tell it to the grandchildren, and the great-grandchildren. Simultaneously, I had also written and published 2 other Christian books in KDP Amazon for the church. So, the past 12 months of my retirement had been excited, busy, fruitful, and productive.
Challenges encountered:
First, I had to overcome my inertia, inadequacy, fear, and procrastination. I had to focus my attention on the task at hand and write out the first paragraph. I had to research into my past by going back to my hometown, interviewing people who knew me when I was young, my family members, relatives, friends, school classmates, school teachers, and so on. I had to take a step back into history and relive the past all over again, to bring back memories from my subconscious mind. I also attended seminars on book writing, joined an author group, researched on google and youtube on memoir writing. Armed with all these, I was ready to proceed.
Advice to aspiring authors:
Everyone has a story to tell. Your story is powerful, valuable, life-changing, and priceless. Write your story before it is too late. Start writing your story even when you are young. Start by writing your diary or journal. Every 10 years, you can look back into your dairy and write your story. This is probably the best approach to take. In the course of your life, so many interesting events happened along the way. Do not worry about the grammar and style. Just write out the draft manuscript. Editing and proofreading will come in later. Join an author group on Facebook. Learn what other authors are writing and get tips from them. Join in the conversation by contributing to the chat and replying to the chat. Add comments, reply to comments, make yourself known and be a part of the community. Start your website and blog to get a following.
Plans for future writing:
At this point, I need to take a rest and a breather until I get another inspiration. The journey had been very tiring and exhausting. No doubt, I will be embarking on my next book soon.
How to purchase:
Tel or WhatsApp: 0125391180
Email: chansingkoh@gmail.com
Price : RM 35, excluding shopping charges.
Discount code: Dobbs
Nett price after discount RM 28, excluding shipping charges.
Reviews:
Rob from USA:
Dr Koh provided glimpses of his life through the years in a short, loveable, and easy to read book. I enjoyed his reminiscing about the kind of life he used to live in cities and villages in Malaysia before the arrival of social media. His varied experiences as government, private, and military physician is a novelty in itself. A truly Malaysian experience.
Carol:
Dr. Koh has portrayed an excellent abstract of his life-story defining significant times such as childhood and adolescence, and the times he was touched by the grace of God. It is an interesting book, full of the spices of life, touching, sad and sweet reminiscences of his past that will stir the heart of any reader. It is extremely well-written with a few sweet little poems here and there. Passionate touches of God in his life gives one great inspiration and encouragement to strive on.
Jun:
Received your book and straight away read it. Could not put it down as it was an interesting write-up and easy to read. Congratulations.
Chow:
A delightful book, with the flavors of life, touching, sad, and yet sweet reminiscing of your life, interspersed with the hand of the Lord’s anointing! Praise God for your family and you. An excellent piece!
