Today we are pleased to be joined by Ronnie Lee, an Outskirts Press published author. Below he shares a few details about an exciting milestone in his career as an author.
I shall start though with my trip to Jerusalem in October 2010.
Between the 19-25 October 2010, I went to Israel for the Jerusalem International Conference on Integrative Medicine and had a wonderful time, both at the conference and on the tours. I am an Ambassador for Outskirts Press and so I took some booklets and distributed them to a gift shop and another publishing contact who was based in China. I also had brought my own book The Science Of Life and my manuscript that I had bound locally, in Hong Kong, for the conference that I wanted to give to the organizers. I did manage this at the end of the conference and so most of my objectives were met. I had also found great theories for my medical biology studies and so the whole trip was a great success. Whilst I was there, I met some really nice and kind individuals who I began to know and discuss the issues that concerned us. The first lady I met was Cristina from Canada and we toured together for the first few days. Another person was from Hong Kong, Lawrence whom I had never met before but he had immigrated to Canada for work as a chiropractor. But also I had met Tali who lived in Jerusalem and she started to show us the sites around the great city.
By the time I had seen the sites in the first couple of days, I wanted to see if could deliver my book to the Hebrew University Library for them to approve in their catalogue as I had already had my first 8 books accepted into the Hong Kong Central Library. When I told this to Tali she said she knew a librarian there and could submit my book to see if it could be approved. I eagerly agreed yet there was still a lot to do at the conference. By the time it was over, I said I would send Tali The Science Of Life as I had already given my original one to the organizers of the conference.
When I had arrived back into Hong Kong, I sent Tali The Science Of Life and soon after she received it, she gave it into the Hebrew University Library. I had given her a herb book later for being so friendly to me whilst I was in Israel as she studied herbs as a hobbie.
Later as we connected on LinkedIn and Facebook she emailed to say it had been accepted into the Hebrew University Library. This was on the 28th February 2011 and I felt so ecstatic because it was such a historic and important university because it was founded by Einstein and had his general theory of relativity stored in it as well as it being in the greatest Holy City in the World. It was a great success!
Then a few days later on the 2nd February, my poem ‘Christmas Day’ was published in Outskirts Press Facebook Anthology called ‘Fandemonium’.
Then today, literally a few hours ago, on the 3 February, I had news I had reached the Finals of the Reader Views Literary Awards for my 7th book, Philosophy : Back to Basics and that the winner would be announced later.
I waited and a few hours later, only this morning on the 4th February 2011, was informed that I had come 3rd in the ‘poetry’ genre, which is a difficult genre to win. I was given an award with an ‘honorary mention’ in the list.
My amazement and astonishment at this week’s events creates a milestone in my life’s work adding to its honor of being a writer, a poet and a philosopher, and the privilege of being related to some good and great people both socially and professionally.
I sometimes think I have lost my way and that life has too much to overcome but I realized that there is always hope somewhere along your destiny even if they are just glimpses at a time but I know that if you work hard enough, and put your trust in the Lord and have faith in life and bravery in yourself, then you can not just progress but succeed in ways to your dreams.
I have not always imagined these events but I have wanted to write a book through my early twenties and had imagined honors along the way.
I realize love is not always an individual truth, but also a united truth. It can come singularly or as a community. Sometimes it doesn’t come at all by anyone, but in these cases you have yourself, the environment and God on your spirit. It is then you realize the importance of life. The honors are great as it shows you made your good influences and worths in your life through your choices and actions showing a person as intelligent, beautiful and respectable. But in the midst of wilderness with only a pen and paper, you realize the honor is in your own courage. The week has been a great honor and success seems to make your destiny, work and life finalized, giving satisfaction and stopping regrets. These are all important yet we must be prepared to work hard, love readily and think realistically. Beyond our honors we still have to survive, be healthy, happy and hopeful both singularly and as a community. This reality keeps us humble. It is the reality of a writer wanting to know a way to cope with life and to make life easy and happy yet the words that come out are only stabilizers for my mind and crutches for my spirit. It has been a successful day and this is my blog. It is a blog of a tremendous week that I will remember with awe, love and happiness. It is a time of hope for me.
Ronnie Lee.
Ronnie was born in Hong Kong. He is a Chinese poet and philosopher who is achieving his enlightenment through truth, knowledge, and reason. From his Western education, he has developed his style of poetry to incorporate modern philosophy into a foundation for universal understanding.
Are you planning on self-publishing a book and having a success story like Ronnie’s?