Conversation
BREAKFAST WITH …
GERARD IVALAOA AUTHOR WHO WROTE A BOOK ON HIS MOBILE PHONE BY MARY ASEARI |PHOTOGRAPHS: GODFREEMAN KAPTIGAU
Why have you chosen the Port Moresby Nature Park cafe for breakfast? It’s a beautiful, quiet and peaceful place to start the day with fresh air. It’s a good spot for writers like me to jot down our thoughts on paper while sipping a warm cup of tea.
would run to the nearest tucker shop to charge my phone at an affordable price of one kina as I didn’t have access to electricity at home. How hard was that? When I first started writing the book it was really difficult as I had to overcome and adapt to factors such as the lack of electricity and the bad state of my phone. But as time passed, I used these negative factors as a sort of fuel to help drive my passion and hunger in writing, completing and finally publishing my book.
Do you usually eat breakfast? I consider breakfast to be one of the most important meals of the day because I like starting my day filled with energy. Tea or coffee? I’m more of a tea person. I think tea is more affordable and healthier than coffee. What have you ordered today? I’ve ordered a fish burger. It’s a really delicious and hearty meal and will keep me going for the rest of the day. You’ve written a book on your phone. Why? I wrote my book 70 Reminders of Excellence on the phone because I didn’t own a laptop at the time. I had the passion and the goal to write and publish the book, so I had to improvise with the resources I had available. My phone was the resource that I had on hand. It was convenient and affordable. I could write down my ideas for my book on a writing app whenever they struck me, and I 8 PNG NOW AUGUST 2021
How many words? It has 85,000-plus words.
When I first started writing the book it was difficult as I had to adapt to factors such as the lack of electricity and the bad state of my phone.
Did you self-publish or have a publisher? The book was published with the Shane Baiva publishing company. What’s it about? The idea of the book came from the reminders that my mum used to give to me daily when I left home for school. She’d remind me on how it was important to study hard, to put God first and to help and respect friends and people in general. In the book, I share these daily reminders as a form of motivation for young people, especially students, because I believe that it is motivation that unleashes the potential that students have. The book is not just about academic excellence or studying: it entails leadership,
