David Seow's Blog, page 16

Closing the Book on Writing

I have come to the decision that I will not be writing for the foreseeable future. Thank you for your support for all these years, but it's time that my life take another direction from writing children's books among other things. People say why post this here if I want to quit quit quietly and just don't say anything. I'm sorry but that's not the way I rumble. I have said this before many a times, and I've come back to it only to be constantly let down by it. This time I have truly reached the end of my tether. Writing has not been enjoyable for me for many years and when you've reached that stage where it constantly does not bring you any joy; frustration and disappointment are ever present, and you lose all sense of self let alone any measure of stability for yourself and those around you, and if makes you a complete and utter basket case, then you know that it's a part of your life you have to let go of. If something becomes gangrenous you have to amputate it. I've held on to it for far too long and I've finally come to the final chapter. I have to close the book, put it on the shelf of life experiences and move on. Thank you all for understanding, being patient and supportive and putting up with me. Thanks goes to My long suffering family: my parents,my family; My long suffering publishing family: Edmund and The Epigram team, The Book Council family, The Kino Family who have always put up with me rearranging their book shelves, The NAC, Everyone at SCBWI, Closetful of books and my fellow writers and my friends. I'm attending my last AFCC this year and I hope to see some old and new friends there. After 18 years and 39 books one cannot say I haven't tried. 
smile emoticon  And it's ended on a bright note. I've never had as much publicity as I've had for A Royal Adventure. So thanks again, Everyone. Lots of love

Sunset

Inferno Red Carpet Event (Singapore)

Hollywood heavy weights Tom Hanks, Ron Howard, Melissa McCarthy and Paul Feig and Antoine Fuqua were in Singapore for the Sony Pictures Summit and in addition to the Sands for Singapore Charity Festival.
 While I couldn't attend the Ghostbusters event, my friends who did told me that Melissa McCarthy and Paul Feig could not have been nicer. They went above and beyond in their interaction with the fans, even taking time to pose for photos and sign autographs for fans who spotted them in the lobby of Marina Bay Sands.

Reporters waiting for the stars to arrive
Ron Howard, Irfan Khan and Tom Hanks also obliged fans who bumped into them in the lobby but things were certainly different when it came to the red carpet for Inferno.  While the Ghostbusters event was widely hyped there was hardly any publicity about the Inferno red carpet.


Tom Hanks at the Larry Crowne Premiere in 2011



I met Hanks in 2011, when he attended the premiere of Larry Crowne and at that time he was very accommodating on the red carpet and I hoped that he still would be. According to Mike the Fanboy nowadays he just waves at fans on the red carpet.
Organizers tweeted that fans could catch a glimpse of the stars at the Race to Inferno event, but they didn't indicate the time or the location, only saying that fans should check back for updates. Now Race to Inferno, from what I understand, was a race to unlock clues at the MBS resort and the winner or winners would win the trip to Italy. From what limited intel I gathered, and I could be wrong, only selected bloggers were invited to participate.

Irfan Khan
 My friends Caroline, Ray and I kept on checking the tweets and facebook page but we couldn't find any updates and this made things a tad confusing and more than a bit frustrating. 

So after spending the better part of the day trying to figure out the location to no avail, I decided to head home.  It was then that I saw the red carpet set up at the Arts Science Museum, Even though it was only an hour before the event, I managed to secure a spot at the front of the barricades. Event staff handed out Inferno posters, presumably to be autographed by all the stars.



I called my friend Ray who was on his way home and  he immediately rushed back when I told him I was saving a spot for him on the red carpet.  It was a really small red carpet and there were only fifty fans on one side of the carpet; on the other  there were a slew of TV journalists from around the region. 


So after about waiting an hour, one of the shortest waits on a red carpet I've ever had, Tom Hanks, Ron Howard and Irfan Khan appeared in quick succession and we led straight past the fans and to the waiting press members and there were a lot less fans than there were press members from the look of things.



As a children's book author I like to give my books to the celebrities I meet as a souvenir for their children or grandchildren or even themselves. Why do I do it?  #1) I'm a genuine fan and I appreciate what their work and I'd like to give them something that I've created that I hope they will enjoy #2) I always figure that they hardly have time to go shopping for their kids, so I had copies of my books for each of the stars. Most of the stars are very kind and gracious about accepting them (Matthew Settle was particularly kind) but some e.g Sharon Stone and Colin Montgomery have not been. Let me just explain here in Asia when someone offers you a gift, you accept it graciously. If you reject a gift, it's seen as 'not giving face' to the person gifting the gift. And 'Face' in this part of the world is a very big deal. 'Loss of Face' is the ultimate insult.


Finally Tom Hanks came over in our direction, he turned and waved to us and then continued attending to the journalists.
I held out my book, saying I had a souvenir for his grandchildren, hoping he would come over.  He ignored me but his minder turned around, looked at me with annoyance took it from me without a word of thanks before turning back to focus on the reporters. I am now beginning to wonder if she tossed it in the trash once they were out of sight.

And though all the fans shouted for him Tom just took selfies and signed autographs for the reporters, ignoring our pleas before he was whisked off. I know he's usually Mr nice guy. But to pose with the privileged press after they already had their time with him at the press con and the one on one interviews and to ignore his genuine fans at an official movie event, who unlike the press do not go on press junkets or may not even travel abroad and may never get the chance to see  him again well, I thought that was kind of mean-spirited. Sorry. Maybe he was having a bad day and he's entitled to one as we are all. His minder said there was no time. We found this strange as Ron Howard and Irfan Khan were still being interviewed and they remained on the carpet for the next 15 minutes or so.


Tom Hanks obliges the reporters but ignores the fans



Signing for reporters but ignoring his fans. His minder is seen holding my book

Mr Hanks may have thought signing on the red carpet wasn't worth his time. From what I heard he did sign for the invited guests at a private event later than night!
When Irfan Khan was done with his interviews, he came over, signed and posed for selfies with the fans. And though Ron Howard was being rushed, he did the same thing. I told Mr Howard that I had a souvenir for his grandkids and he replied it wasn’t necessary but when I explained that I was a kids’ author and I already had the books with me, he graciously accepted them. I hope he enjoys them.


I realize that the reporters are important to plugging the movies, but it’s the fans who actually pay for the tickets so at this event there should been more focus on the fans from Tom. Thanks to Ron and Irfan, the red carpet event wasn’t a total wash out. Click to Link to watch the video of Tom Hanks and company charming the reporters. One reporter kept repeating that it had been 13 years since the release of Angels and Demons. The movie was released in 2009. She's obviously not good at math.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH VIDEO

Imagine Native Launch at the S.E.A. Aquarium

One of the first stories that I had published all those many years ago was called Underwater World Adventure. When my publisher Epigram books was republishing a new and updated version of the Sam, Sebbie and Di-Di-Di series, they wanted me to change the story to feature the S.E.A. Aquarium instead and so that's just what I did and that story was At the S.E.A. Aquarium.
A couple of weeks ago I was invited to read the sequel Return to the S.E.A. Aquarium which is available at the gift shop at the attraction but strangely my book At the S.E.A. Aquarium isn't available there yet. I hope that's rectified soon. 
TV and movie star, Edmund Chen was also at the launch to read his book 'My Little Red Dot". I told the affable actor that though we had never met, we were former workmates at Mediacorp about a millennia ago.
Everyone participating at the event was allowed two passes to launch and Pastor Joel and Pyro kindly came to support me during the reading and Pastor Joel also took the photos you see below. Thanks, Pastor Joel and Pyro for coming! 
I was very grateful that they took the time to come down before going for their long-planned church retreat. Thank you to everyone who came to my reading at the launch. I hope you had a good time.

ISCOS Book Corner Launch

A couple of weeks ago I had the honour of being invited by Patatas and  Industrial & Services Co-operative Society LTD (ISCOS) for the launch of ISCOS's new book corner.  Please check out both both their websites on these following links: The Patatas & ISCOS and support the fantastic work they are doing. Thanks!!

©ICOS

Bye

After I have fulfilled my current writing obligations. I will not be writing for the foreseeable future. Thank you for your support for all these years, but it's time that my life take another direction from writing children's books among other things. People say why post this here if I want to quit quit quietly and just don't say anything. I'm sorry but that's not the way I rumble. I have said this before many a times, and I've come back to it only to be constantly let down by it. This time I have truly reached the end of my tether. Writing has not been enjoyable for me for many years and when you've reached that stage where it constantly does not bring you any joy; frustration and disappointment are ever present, and you lose all sense of self let alone any measure of stability for yourself and those around you, and if makes you a complete and utter basket case, then you know that it's a part of your life you have to let go of. If something becomes gangrenous you have to amputate it. I've held on to it for far too long and I've finally come to the final chapter. I have to close the book, put it on the shelf of life experiences and move on. Thank you all for understanding, being patient and supportive and putting up with me. Thanks goes to My long suffering family: my parents,my family; My long suffering publishing family: Edmund and The Epigram team, The Book Council family, The Kino Family who have always put up with me rearranging their book shelves, The NAC, Everyone at SCBWI, Closetful of books and my fellow writers and my friends. I'm attending my last AFCC this year and i hope to see some old and new friends there. After 18 years and 39 books one cannot say I haven't tried.  smile emoticon  And it's ended on a bright note. I've never had as much publicity as I've had for A Royal Adventure. So thanks again, Everyone. Lots of love

Book of the Week

A Royal Adventure is Epigram's Book of the Week! Thanks, Epigram Books!

SCBWI SUMMER READING LIST 2016

A Day with the Duchess makes it on to SCBWI's Summer Reading List

A Royal Adventure

After a slight delay, A Royal Adventure is hot off the press and ready to be shipped. Thanks to my publisher, editor and illustrator for making this happen and thanks to everyone who has supported it.




For the moment they are available at Epigram Books and Closetful of Books

The Asian Festival of Children's Content 2016

It's that time of year when the biggest and brightest names in children's literature hit our shores for the annual Asian Festival of Children's Content which is being held at the National Library Building from the 25 -29 May 2016.

Though the National Book Development Council of Singapore is a relatively small organisation, the team there has successfully organised one of the biggest children's literary events in the region for the past couple of years, bringing literary glitterati from around the world for a week or talks, workshops and evening events and award ceremonies. 



Chris Cheng
Emily Lim
Chris Nixon
Ken Spillman
Naomi Kojima
Leonard Marcus
AJ Low
Susanna Goho-Quek Dave Liew
Sarah Odedina
Shaun Tan

Cynthea LiuThe festival includes a parent's forum and a teachers congress as well as the ever popular Asian Writers and Illustrators Conference, where aspiring authors will get the chance to pitch their manuscripts to the likes of Sarah Odedina, editor of the Harry Potter series!! 


You'll get  a chance to listen to industry heavy weights like Chris Cheng,  Kathleen Ahrens, Leonard Marcus, Naomi Kojima, AJ Low, Cynthea Liu, Ken Spillman,  Chris Nixon, Rilla Melati and perhaps even get to chat with them during lunch or tea breaks. This year Academy Award winning author-illustrator Shaun Tan will be conducting a Skype session, so you'll be able to ask him anything you'd like. Within reason, of course.

Whether you're a parent, teacher or an aspiring author, the Asian Festival of Children's Content is one event on the literary calendar that you don't want to miss. So sign up today. Click the link below for more information

Details for Asian Festival of Children's Content Here.