Gloria Ng's Blog

A recent Netflix binge unlike any prior involved a multitude of documentaries that expose precarious environmental conditions that have possible solutions. Below are the highly recommended picks. David attenborough: A life on our planet This film starts out with flourish only nature can provide and the stark contrast in recent years that concerned the narrator. Grave facts about the current state of carbon in our planet's atmosphere would have left me worried and anxious about our plight as human beings. However, these facts were paired with possible solutions, including the international call to "re-wild" our planet. Buckle your seatbelts and prepared to be inspired. kiss the ground This film talks about the carbon cycle and how we each can find a way to trap airborne carbon in the ground. Farmers and ranchers can change the way they use land so that they can grow a diverse range of crops and still raise animals for meat. When done well, topsoil increases and that fuels abundance for harvest time and therefore generates even more income than government subsidies. Well worth the watch. brave blue world This film brings you on a world tour to different places that are struck with access to clean water and how each locality is solving that problem. A memorable solution involves collecting moisture from the air and filtering that liquid to dispense drinkable water into a cup -- something from apparently nothing! Why, truly remarkable! got more? If the above solutions aren't enough to inspire you and you'd like to escape to South Africa to learn from the wild, then you may enjoy My Octopus Teacher.

Here is a joke for you, from a programmer's perspective. Enjoy!

DAY 2 OF #NOTSMARTWATCH EXPERIMENT

Okay... So my Smartphone crashed and battery replacement will cost nearly half of what it will cost me to invest in a brand new (albeit not latest) model smartphone and I needed a time-teller called a watch, a notsmartwatch because heck why spend that kind of money on a smartwatch either?

Observation 1: I FEEL IMPORTANT. I feel as if I have somewhere to be, somewhere to go, something to do.

Observation 2: I FEEL OFFICIAL. I don't look like I'm some doofus who is only casually checking my smartphone to idly pass my time with text, voicemail, internet browsing, etc.

Observation 3: I FEEL ATTENTIVE. When I am actively caring for young kids, I look like I am actually keeping my eye on them instead of appearing to be whiling away on a smartphone or smartwatch... Because, you know that once you've checked the time on your smartphone or smartwatch and you notice that incoming text/call/voicemail/reminder/etc you missed... Well then... your attention will definitely be divided between your conceptual duties and your babysitting/childrearing duties.

Observation 4: I FEEL PROFESSIONAL. Face it. Even if you were only checking the time at work using your smartphone, it does come across as somewhat unprofessional. Your coworker may wonder where your attention really is. Your customer thinks that you're goofing off, not really working, and that they might be blown off or dismissed or dissed or whatever. Don't even get me started on your bosses...because you know what they'll think? Why, your computer has the time built into its taskbar...so why must you check the time on your smartphone/watch?

Observation 5: I FEEL BEAUTIFUL, ELEGANT. Okay, this observation actually really depends on the style category of the watch you chose or choose to invest in. I happen to have gotten one of those feminine Rolex knockoffs at the local superstore that makes me feel elegant when I wear it. Not bad for a $13 (post-taxes) watch, yes? ;-)

Observation 6: I FEEL I HAVE MORE TIME. I probably do have more time. Without access to a smartphone/watch, I spend less time browsing through all the emails, texts, voice messages, etc. In fact, I spend zero time on such things.

Observation 7: I FEEL FOCUSED. Checking the time on a notsmartwatch is a few-second endeavor that answers a what-time-is-it question. I fast-track the mental math to derive how much time I have before I need to get to the next to-do thing or to-be place. After checking the time, I can refocus and get right back to the task at hand.

Observation 8: I FEEL WELL-RESTED. The reduced exposure to blue light actually had me sleeping deeper. I woke up earlier and more well-rested! This goes back to Observation 6. I really *do* have more time. Caveat: since my smartphone/watch crashed I have only exposed myself to computer screen. Your results may vary if you still have access to excessive amounts of exposure to blue light.

Observation 9: I FEEL PROSPEROUS. A notsmartwatch keeps running and running and running... The only time I need to reinvest in it is to get a new battery for it in X amount of months/years. Saving money makes me feel rich.

Observation 10: I FEEL PREPARED. In case of emergency, such as earthquake or some other major natural disaster that cuts access to energy lines, etc, a notsmartwatch requires no such digital/electrical dependence. A notsmartwatch is an excellent addition to any go bag.

BOTTOMLINE RECOMMENDATION: A notsmartwatch is an excellent investment. So treat yourself. Treasure yourself. Get a notsmartwatch. Today. This PSA is brought to you by NSFW (Now Smart-Free Watchmom).

Want more of my insights? Check out my outdated Patreon page to sponsor my written expressions! http://www.patreon.com/gloriang

A wonderful alchemy occurs when people come together for a common cause: to write down, share and reflect about their life experiences. Although the book launch occurred about two months ago on November 12, 2016, I was once again struck by the synergy of how seamlessly the editor-facilitator strung together the book readings and the progression of the stories in this collection.

Each successive piece bulit upon the previous. The end product became greater than the sum of its parts. So true that, thanks to the Community Memoir homepage, "A story is the shortest distance between two people."

I would add: A story is also the shortest distance between two people across time.

One of the reasons it took awhile for me to post about this book is because the book is only available in print at the moment. I kept waiting for the ebook version to come out and realized that digital version won't be out yet. So you can purchase a print copy at the Community Memoir Project webpage.

My own contribution to the book is a piece called "The Yin and Yang of Loss." Below is the final version of the cover of the stand-alone work of the same name that I plan to publish later this month. Unsplash | Matthias Heil The topic of grief and loss takes time. I have found myself wanting to expand on the work that I initially contributed to the memoir anthology. I am about halfway through the illustrations in the book. I also plan to add a section at the end to generate discussion. Thanks for staying tuned.

...And here we are -- from the day of the book launch event. :-)

...and there is no pain reliever (e.g., Tylenol) in the house.

Yes, this is a 2 AM post due to a 1:30 AM wake up call to miserable wailing in the night. I've lost track of just how much the kiddo weighs at this point. At the last check-up at the doc's, the kiddo was 61+ lbs, which would have put the dosage to 12.5 mL (2.5 teaspoons) of the pain relieving medicine (if we had it in the house).

The first thing I did was not to look up the actual dosage to the above nonexistent meds in the house but to look up "holistic 'tylenol' for kids." I had no idea what my search engine results would fetch. Other terms I suppose that I could have looked up would have been: "home remedies for growing pains" or something else along the same lines.

Anyway, the first thing I saw were scary articles on the internet that warned people from using acetaminophen in the first place! Shocked, I clicked on an article or two, as you could see from the purple vs. blue headlines in the search results. I didn't get past the first three search results to find out some startling stats from that first article I clicked on. Below are the main things that stood out to me.According to a six-year study in Hepatology, "researchers found that 42% of 662 cases of acute liver failure in 22 clinical settings were caused by acetaminophen poisoning, and 29% of the individuals suffering from acetaminophen toxicity died." According to an article on Medscape, overdosing on acetaminophen causes 56,000 emergency room visits, 26,000 hospitalizations and 458 deaths annually.Acetaminophen can cause changes in liver function, contribute to liver toxicity, liver problems or outright liver failure. in the liver and cause liver toxicity. Children's livers are far smaller than adults. The search results listed all kinds of things, such as seasonal allergies and autism and a product recall.Within three clicks I found my next search term: "anti-inflammatory foods." The results drew ​a sponsored ad, a highlighted box with a poster featured, and the organic results of the search phrase I entered. My eyes immediately zoned in on the featured box between ad and results. 
Seeing that the information in the box was from a reputable source (Harvard University), I went down the checklist to see what kinds of groceries we had in the home.

​Tomatoes. We didn't have tomatoes in the house. If we did, they had already been blended with onions and bell peppers for a soup base and stocked in the freezer. Out went the first item.

Olive oil. We had plenty of that. I gave my kiddo a teaspoon of olive oil. Then I went down the list and crossed out the rest.

Dark green leafy vegetables. We only had kale in the house, which took too much time to wash and cook and soften the stalky part of the vegetable. I suppose I could have given the kiddo raw kale greens (as opposed to the stalk). In all honesty, I did not think of the raw kale option amidst the on-demand wails at my ears.

Nuts. We did not have almonds or walnuts in the house. Out went that option.

Fish. We had frozen salmon, canned tuna and canned sardines. I put the salmon on the stove, then thought better of it and opened a can of tuna to heat up. All the while the kiddo was roaming the house, totally miserable and grieving from the pain in the knee in particular.

Berries. We did have frozen blueberries, but using the powerful in-house blender to liquefy these berries to enable fast assimilation and absorption would have woken up the husband. I was going to use the blueberries as a last resort, if the kiddo was still in pain. Remember the salmon and tuna I had on the stove? Well, as soon as the tuna heated up (within five minutes), I gave the kiddo one or two tablespoons of it, since the rest of it was touching the raw salmon. The kiddo dutifully ate the tuna.

Since I had to stay at the stove for the salmon to be thoroughly cooked, as I was standing there the wailings stopped and the kiddo was entirely happy to go to bed. The raw salmon often takes about twenty minutes to cook. I'd say that I was a third of the way there when the kiddo retired to bed.

All in all, if I were to put a time frame to this debacle, the anti-inflammatory foods worked within twenty minutes. Not bad, eh?

Like my posts? Please support my writing at Patreon.

Rage has three weights, two directions and only one way out, which is through. We know we are through with rage when the same trigger that used to push on our buttons no longer elicits any charge from us. We no longer fly off the handle. Instead, we feel immense appreciation and gratitude for the weightlessness, the lightness, the freedom that we feel. This book is about that offloading process of lightening up.

As a holistic health practitioner in one of her past occupations, Ng shares her six-step healing process of shedding those weights through working definitions, personal anecdotes, and exercises designed to move us past reaction and into responsive action. Turn rage-IN’ to OUTrage that affirms the sanctity of life and settles at nothing less than peace, love and compassion for all living beings--especially ourselves and the people who surround us.

Feel lighter by going through the process of LITRRR (pronounced as lighter) to alchemize reactive rage into responsive action.

THE ALCHEMY OF RAGE is informed by holistic health educator Gloria Ng’s personal and professional experience in the healing arts for over a decade.

Note: Due to the nature of some of the exercises in this book, please consult the medical advice of physicians in matters relating to your health particularly with respect to any symptoms that may require diagnosis or medical attention.

Exclusive iBooks preorder price is $1 off regular price!
Get it here!

You know how sometimes you find the perfect box, the one that you think describes you to a tee and can communicate that across to someone perfectly well ...

...only to find that every time you think you've found the perfect box, then you find some way to break out of it? 

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. So a couple months ago, I thought I was writing self-help memoir and genre-blending nonfiction. Now, I don't really know what that label is.

So, the reinvention of self continues...

My latest post is about On-Call Oral Healthcare for Tooth Abscess.
#healthyteeth #teethforlife #toldyouso #kidscanlearn #itsnevertoolate #constantselfimprovement

I can hashtag even more. Wouldn't you? Especially if you were called up at 4 A.M. in the morning, R.E.M. time?

Well, you can read more here.

Gloria Ng is boxing her way out of another cardboard box. So glad to recycle, reuse, refresh and renew in spirit with Earth Day. You can support her writing on Patreon.

Over four years ago, one day after Christmas, a fellow mother and I met to brainstorm about a book project. About four months later, this baby was born -- an anthology specifically for the new mother and the swift delicate changes that affect her, her home, her family, her baby. Today, four years later, I'm offering three free ebooks to three lucky winners! See below for more information. :-)Entry-Form

​Support here: http://www.patreon.com/GloriaNg

HELLO, EVERYONE!Thanks for stopping by. I'm really excited to jumpstart my genre-blending nonfiction on PATREON.COM to fund my latest project in self-help memoir.

For those of you not familiar with Patreon, it's a subscription site for people to support artists on a recurring basis. In essence, you'll be a patron of the arts, someone who supports artists and get special attention from such artists in return.WHO I AM (aka WHERE I COME FROM) Check out my Author Page on AmazonI've had many hats up to this point in life before I returned to my first love, one which I found in third grade during a week-long thematic unit on careers.

At the beginning of the week, I had struggled to find my calling. All my classmates seemed so certain that they wanted to be doctors, dentists, lawyers, or whatever their parents did.

Unlike my peers, I didn't have a ready answer. I didn't know what I wanted to do when I grew up. I also didn't want to do what my parents did for a living, because they often came home grumpy. I wanted my work to be something I felt passionate about, something I liked to do.

By the end of Career Week, inspiration struck.

I was an avid reader.

I loved stories.

Everyday I'd come back from home with a backpack stuffed with so many books I could hardly zip it shut. (Yes, it was heavy.) I even spent many recesses indoors (yes, I was that girl) to help the school librarian shelve books, color code spines, organize the card catalog (antique, isn't it?), and play doctor by taping up pages after a tumble or tear.

However, the school library was only so big. l eventually ran out of my favorite kinds of books to read (e.g., biographies, series, fables, myths, legends, folktales, lore). What else could I do?

*Gasp*

Of course!

(hands smack cheeks, mouth in an O, brows raised, eyes wide, silent scream)

Why didn't I think of it before?

Why, I could write stories.

That moment--when inspiration met expiration--was immense and unparalleled bliss. Cloud nine. Hands down. Swoon. Hands over heart. (Okay, I wasn't ever that dramatic. In real life.)

I was so overjoyed, though, to discover my calling that I barely contained myself when I explained to my mother what I wanted to be when I grew up. Because I lacked the proper vocabulary to tell her in Chinese, I used the English word: author.

Mother blinked, then asked me what an author was. When I explained what it was in Cantonese, elaborating that an author writes stories for people to read, the beginnings of a grimace formed on my mother's brow-furrowed face.

"What kind of people do that?"

At a loss for an answer, my only defense came when I rescued a new acquisition from the school library. I'd especially kept the books as wrinkle-free as possible. These babies were sacred.

The book I retrieved was a freshly re-released paperback from Gertrude Chandler Warner's Boxcar Children series. I dutifully--gingerly--showed my mother this prime example of someone who actually had a career in writing stories.

"She's an author!" I answered proudly, buzzing with enthusiasm.

"Who do you know actually has that kind of job?"

Obviously, of course published authors are published. What my mother meant was: Who in our (immigrant) community of (Chinese) people (in the U.S.A.) did thatfor a living?

Of course, I couldn't think of anyone. In fact, every story I'd read so far was largely written by non-Chinese people--by Americans. White folks.

Translation: If you're not a white person, can you actually be an author?

My mind drew a blank. My shoulders sagged. My chest caved in. No one I knew wrote anything, not the next door neighbor, not anyone we had met, not anyone we knew.

"Can you really make a living from this?"

That last question became the proverbial nail in the coffin for me, one that sealed the writing career gateway for the next thirty-ish years of my life. I never saw writing as a viable career anymore. In the space of minutes, I internalized and relegated creative writing to the level of a childhood hobby.

Nevertheless, the eight-year-old me then fumbled for an answer and replied, "I can do what this author did. I can teach kids during the year, then write during the summers." Thank you, Gertrude.

I knew I'd settled. I had accommodated my vision, my calling. I'd given up on myself, my dream. Yet, I mustered the biggest smile I could, even though inside every sense of pride and zealous awareness had deflated to despondency.

Thirty-ish years later, I've come full circle. I've embraced the part of myself thatsings when I put words on the page, on the screen, in print. I love creative writing, its transformational power of making peace with our pasts and being fully present for our future. I also absolutely adore and find it utterly breathtaking when I myself as a reader am struck by the the amazing impact a writer speaking one's truth can have on readers.

And so, I write. I have to. I must.
WHAT ART I'VE PRODUCED THUS FAR Check out my Author Page on iBooksI am a writer who loves putting my work out there as soon as I'm done writing it. The immediacy of indie publishing gives me real-time organic feedback from readers. That is why I am indie, not traditional, and haven't looked back.

Besides, what I feel called to write varies and often isn't considered marketable because of the genre-blending. Mainstream publishers wouldn't know where to put me and my current work.

That wasn't true over ten years ago, when my personal narratives were anthologized in a few traditionally published books. The most popular book that still makes some sort of bleep today is Yell-Oh Girls! Emerging Voices Explore Culture, Identity, and Growing Up Asian American.

I also dabbled in children's fiction since. Name Games: A Multicultural Children's Story was initially published as Name Games in an award-winning international literary magazine called Skipping Stones. The story stars a Nigerian American girl whose best friend is Chinese and whose name could be interpreted as something derogatory in Spanish. I loved exploring the cross-cultural spaces that our increasingly globalized urban areas pose upon our children in this story.

Since 2011, when my first bilingual children's nonfiction picture book came out, I have been independently published in ebooks, audiobooks, and paperbacks. I went on to edit an anthology of writings for new mothers, addressing in particular the tough and delicate challenges of the fourth trimester and first year postpartum with Baby #1. This book went on to make two #1 Amazon Bestselling Lists in Motherhood and Parenting.

I've even blended genres in my latest work, Birth Formations , which integrates lessons learned in the healing arts, in mindfulness, and in birth.WORKS I'D LIKE TO PRODUCE Subscribe to my newsletter for new release updatesI am a genre-blender, a creator of new forms of expression. To be honest, none of the ebook retail sites house appropriate categories to define my work. I think that in-between space makes it difficult to earn more than two digits of royalty income per year from all my books.

So I'll strive to describe what I am doing and what I plan to do at best.

Part memoir, part self-help, part Buddhist, Birth Formations: What Multiple Home Births Teach About Living, Laboring, and Mothering in the Now informs my next work about loss and gain that draws heavily from memoir and integrates applications and insights from Buddhism.

Besides the practical "proof" I've manifested out of Buddhist practice, I also have projects I've tabled indefinitely. This includes my reflections on parenting my children in their three homelands: Nigeria, Hong Kong (China) and United States of America. Someday, I'd like to add these reflections to the literature available on multicultural, interracial, and mixed race America.

Despite receiving my Diplomate in Homeopathy with a special emphasis in Flower Essences, I have yet to reconnect with the energy of flowers and share the gifts of their stories. That project hasn't quite taken shape yet, in terms of structure and core content.

In addition, I have some groundbreaking work to publish in feng shui astrology, a field in which I studied in an intense year-long classical feng shui program. I'm really excited to get this project off the ground.

I also have other children's books with text and translations that have yet to be put out in digital and paperback formats. Formatting text for publication requires far less legwork than formatting text and images. Even more legwork is required when the formatted text has foreign accents and/or characters that do not show up correctly in an ereader.

For the bullet point format, these are the projects I'm itching to produce:​raising children in their three homelands of Asia, Africa and Americalearning and integrating life lessons from flowersloss-benefit life analysis from a spiritual (Buddhist) perspectivesome groundbreaking stuff I'd really like to share about feng shui astrology from an intense year-long study of classical feng shuisome children's picture books, text already translated, but still in need of photography, formatting, editing, etc.Miscellaneous inspirations that combine photography, poetry and/or more!
So yes, I have a lot of projects in the works. That's great. That's exciting. That's cool. They keep me chugging along, showing me the light at the end of the tunnel.

However, as a full-time mother of young children who only gets to write when the kiddos get to bed, I am not operating at the pace and capacity I truly desire. Given my exhaustion levels and time constraints, I've had zero energy to arrange babysitting swaps, little money earned from book sales to hire babysitters, and definitely no peace of mind to even seek representation to sell and distribute my content to larger audiences.

The little time I do have I scrape together to put words to the page and get it onto a retail site to sell.
WHY I'M ON PATREON Patreon is a business model that supports artists.

On a monthly basis.

Although Patreon allows support for an amount per "thing," the monthly support works better for me. Because? Well...

Let's face it. I'm a mother of three young children. I won't be producing any quality end product anytime soon. So you won't be charged one big lump sum when a product is actually completed. Instead, you are investing something every month, in a sustainable way, to get me closer to producing product.

With the monthly prompting, support and accountability to produce, I feel encouraged, spurred and inspired to produce something. To get my creations out in the world. In an interactive and sustainable way.

Already, behind the scenes I'm doing a lot of things that have gone unpaid:Newsletter announcements, specials, new releases, deals, exclusivesWebsite updates, banners, images, hosting fees, domain renewals, forwarding/redirectsBlog updatesWriting, rewriting, editing, formatting, manuscript preparation for ebooksFormatting and production for audiobooksFormatting and production for paperbacksCover image research, purchase/attribution, graphic alterations, proper creditsUploading direct to retail sites and aggregatorsBusiness expense and income tracking for tax return filing purposesAnd SO much more!Essentially, if I were a business, then I'd already been operating in the red for years. The only thing that has kept me going, chugging, producing, is the necessity to create in order to stay sane. If I were to turn away from my art, I'd go insane, especially with the responsibilities I have as a full-time mother of three young children.

Ideally, I'd like to produce more than one book a year. With your patronage, I'd like to bump up my annual production targets. How awesome I'd feel when I can deliver up to 12 works (digital, audio, paperback, translations) per year!

Ultimately, I'd like to be able to write for a living. I'd like my art to support my family of five in a place that has quite a high standard of living. Okay, it's not quite New York City. However, the East Bay is definitely impacted by the economic push-pulls in a metropolitan area.

On Patreon, I've listed milestone goals, things I'm striving for in getting to a full-time livelihood in the arts:At $500 per month, your patronage will allow me to remove ads on my website, thus making the website self-supported. This frees me up to produce 2-3 things (e.g., written, audio, and/or visual work) per month. As a thank you, I can create an awesome, laugh-out-loud goofy, celebratory video to replace the ads!At $1000 per month, I'll get to update my website, have it more interactive. I'd get to produce 4-5 things (e.g., written, audio, and/or visual work) per month. As a thank you, every current patron will get an autograph copy of a digital poster of flowers paired with a poem!At $2500 per month, I can devote half my time to creative pursuits, thus quickening the completion of the backlog of awesome projects I've got in the pipeline. As a thank you, every current patron will get the first two free ebooks in a series of your choice.At $5000 per month, I'd be able to accomplish my ultimate dream -- to support my family of five with my art. I'd be over the moon! So many more doors will open for my books -- foreign translations (other than Chinese), audiobooks, foreign audiobooks, etc. As a thank you, every current subscriber will get two free audiobooks of your choice.REWARDS (aka MY THANK YOU GIFTS) Rewards subject to change; view latest list of rewards on PatreonBeing a patron of the arts means financially supporting an artist so that the artist can spend more time creating art. In return, the artists can pay more attention to their patrons, give the patrons first pick or limited edition art pieces, or deliver special on call work commissioned by patrons.

Patreon modernizes such a concept, allowing artists to receive patronage online. It's up to you how much you can pay. You can put a cap (e.g., no more than $15 a month) so you never go over budget. Your credit card is charged at the end of each month. You can cancel any time.

In return, I can offer special attention when different minimums are reached. I can deliver these rewards at the beginning of each month after credit cards have been charged. Your monthly tip every month is exactly what will get me closer to my goal every month. Each tip tier includes previous tiers' rewards. So if you were paying $3 per month, you'd get both the $1 reward as well as the $3 reward.
PATRON-ONLY FEED

​For $1 a month, I offer my gratitude and appreciation as well as access to my patron-only feed. I'll post my current inspirations (quotes/images/anything goes), writing progress, and early information on new projects as they develop. You'll also get to post your comments, too. This is interactive. Let's build community! ESSAY, EXCERPT, ADVANCE PREVIEW

Move up to $3 per month, and you'll get advance access to tomorrow's writings today. I'll be posting (several times a month) my creative writing at least one day in advance on Patreon. The piece could be an excerpt, an essay, a chapter, a photo with a poem on it. LIVE CHAT

Bump up to $5 per month, and I'll host a half hour live chat session every month. Come comment, ask questions, offer suggestions, and we'll have a blast! I'll post the top three highlights from the chat onto the Patreon feed a few days after the event. Q&A VIDEO/WEBCAST/MONTAGE

Spike it up to $10 per month, and you'll get access to a monthly Q&A video/webcast/montage, in which I'll feature intriguing/inspiring images and/or answer questions from my $10 patrons. I might cut/paste images and/or type up responses to questions in a .pdf instead of doing a video .mov/.mp4, whatever works best. MP3 READ-ALOUD

Make the leap to $100 per month, and you're essentially forming my inner circle of angel investors. Each month, I'll take the topmost favorite (most comments/most likes/most faves) post of mine to do an author read-aloud. You'll hear the tone, the pace, the wonder, or whatever feelings behind the words in the piece in an .mp3.  ​PERSONALIZED MP3 READ-ALOUD

At $500 per month, you are the lifeblood that keeps me chugging along and churning things out. Each month, pick your favorite post of mine and I'll do an author read-aloud. You'll hear the tone, the pace, the wonder, or whatever feelings behind the words in the piece in an .mp3.*** DRUMROLL *** 
TOP TIER REWARD IS A ​WAAAAAY PERSONALIZED THANK YOU!

Get to $1000 per month, and we'll need to talk. :-) No sense in giving a reward for something that won't be appreciated, right? We'll figure this out! Regardless of the amount you can offer in patronage, however, I am grateful for your support and appreciate that you put your dollars where your values are.HOW PATREON WORKSTo sum it all up, supporting my art on Patreon means that you agree to pay an amount of money for content I release on Patreon (let's say, $1 per post). You can CAP the monthly limit so you never go over budget.

The way I've set up my Patreon page, however, allows you to designate your support per MONTH instead of per piece of content I generate.

All patrons are charged at the end of the month. You can cancel any time during the month and be charged nothing.YOUR SUPPORT MATTERS!As a full-time mom of three young children, the only time I have to write is when I have enough energy to do anything after they've gone to bed. I admit, some days I'm so pooped that all I can do is sleep. When flu season hit, I was out with back-to-back fevers for an intense two weeks.

That's why I'm so excited to participate in Patreon. I'm looking forward to generating content, no matter how small, EVERY MONTH on Patreon from now on.

As you've seen above, I actually have quite a few projects in the pipeline. I hope I can get them out into the world as soon as I possibly can.

If you want to read just as long a version about who I am, what I'm up to, how I'd like to get there, and how you can participate to get all this awesomeness out there, then visit my Patreon Page: http://www.patreon.com/GloriaNg

THANK YOU!
:-) Gloria

P.S. Interested in my past work? Visit my author page at:
Amazon  |  iBooks

A nuts-and-bolts approach on how to actualize the New Age concept of living in the present moment before conception, during pregnancy, throughout delivery and in the midst of postpartum motherhood for the busy woman who desires to do and have it all.

Birth Formations: What Multiple Home Births Teach About Living, Laboring, and Mothering in the Now

Encapsulates over ten years of practice in the holistic healing arts and alternative health field to tackle the sensitive and controversial note that all of our reality rests on our ability to think things through.

The delicate and intense call of motherhood states unequivocally that:

"You can't think your baby out."

This book aims to break that one sentence down into doable parts. 

Part I: Beginnings

This section targets preconceived notions about how to create our reality/birth/presence/experience.

Parts II, III, IV: Births

These sections illuminate the lessons the author has learned and include exercises to process and prepare for delivery and a more smooth integration of these principles in daily life.

Part V: Beyond

This section gives you permission to fly. 

Available at the following online retailers:  iBooks  |  Kindle  |  Kobo  |  Nook  |  Play  |  Smashwords
Right before my youngest daughter turned one year old, I started feeling antsy. With a busy schedule as a stay-at-home mom of three young children, I had wondered when I would have the time to write down her birth story. 

Because hers was the birth that facilitated the peak of all my births, I wanted to honor it. I wanted to give it the time. I also felt as if I needed to consolidate the lessons I learned from the previous births in order to move onto hers. 

So I began documenting what I learned about a year ago. I was on a roll and zipped past both births before my thirdborn's birth. Then I got stuck and felt I needed to come back to this project at a later time when baby was older. I trusted this timing. I'm glad I did.

Birth Formations: What Multiple Home Births Teach About Living, Laboring, and Mothering in the Now is a response to the questions I've been asked by mamas of one and mamas of two who ask me just how I do it being a mama of three young ones who have yet to enter kindergarten.

I really sat with that question and crafted a response, shaping this book in a way that would answer the most pressing issues that I often hear about from other new and overwhelmed mamas.

The blurb at the left will inform you how I've structured the book. Because this is yet another book for the new mom, I'm conveniently calling it a sequel of sorts to the New Moms, New Families: Priceless Gifts of Wisdom and Practical Advice from Mama Experts for the Fourth Trimester and First Year Postpartum  anthology that I edited in 2012. 

Speaking of that anthology, it made two #1 Amazon bestselling lists on Saturday, February 7, 2015, in the Parenting > Motherhood category and the Personal Health > Healthy Living category.

New Moms, New Families anthology is available at:
iBooks  |  Kindle  |  Nook  |  Play  |  Kobo  |  Smashwords

Other news: 

For awhile, I have made my Cloth Diapering Made Easy ebook a complimentary download at all retailers as a way to encourage and promote widespread use of cloth diapers. The book is now available at a nominal price that will ultimately save people money if they choose to go down the cloth diapering route. 

I know I have not once regretted going all cloth with my babies. In fact, the very first set of cloth diapers I invested in for Baby #1 is still around right now to serve Baby #3. Not only that, I enjoy the convenience of not having to make a diaper run. If I get close to running out of diapers, all I have to do is just stuff everything into the washer and then put them into the dryer. That's easy, especially since both machines are in the home. 

Well, I hope you all have a wonderful 2015. Want to hear more deals? Sign up for my newsletter.

Cheers,
Gloria Multi-published, Amazon bestselling author Gloria Ng is an Oakland-based mother of three who writes on Owl Time. Her work has appeared in anthologies, including YELL-Oh Girls! Emerging Voices Explore Culture, Identity, and Growing Up Asian American. (HarperCollins, 2001) Seeing the lack of bilingual books to read to her children, she created the Mama Gloria Chinese-English Bilingual Books series. 

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