David Seow's Blog, page 46
June 5, 2013
AFCC DAY ONE, PART TWO
You might be wondering what happened at the airport last year. Ok here goes, I arranged to meet Leonard Marcus at the airport so I checked and doubled checked the timing of his flight, just to make sure that I wouldn't be late...but guess what? I was! His flight arrived earlier than expected and when I got to the airport he was nowhere to be seen. I flew into one of my regular Dave Seow panics and called Kenneth up to explain I had lost his keynote speaker and was just beginning to hyperventilate when Leonard approached me. He was calm, cool and collected; I was frazzled, panicked and dishevelled. I don't have to tell you just how poop-inducing that experience was and I certainly did not want to experience that again. So I got to the airport extra early.
Leonard Marcus at last year's AFCC
I recognized Wendy from her photos from her Facebook and Twitter pages -I mean if I didn't, how hopeless could I possibly be? (No need to answer that). Wendy and Tom were as nice and gracious as could be and it was a thrill to meet them. As the department of motor vehicles has deemed it best that I do not possess a driving license in the interest of public health and safety, we cabbed it to their hotel.
As some of my friends have told me I should not subject people to the complete David Seow experience upon a first meeting; I need to give people some time to brace themselves before I go full throttle. But that didn't happen in this case. Poor Wendy and Tom were subjected to my incessant rambling from the moment we stepped into the taxi. Our cab driver, meanwhile, found it necessary to yak into phone without using his headset throughout the drive. He either did not know it was illegal to do so, did not care, or maybe he was just trying to KILL us!
Tom survived the Airport taxi ride and the David Seow Experience.
And so did Wendy.Thankfully we all got to the hotel with a pulse and Wendy and Tom checked in, and I headed back to the library to buy some books. My book browsing was interrupted by a very interesting musical interlude.
The first day of AFCC was over and there were four to go...
Leonard Marcus at last year's AFCCI recognized Wendy from her photos from her Facebook and Twitter pages -I mean if I didn't, how hopeless could I possibly be? (No need to answer that). Wendy and Tom were as nice and gracious as could be and it was a thrill to meet them. As the department of motor vehicles has deemed it best that I do not possess a driving license in the interest of public health and safety, we cabbed it to their hotel.
As some of my friends have told me I should not subject people to the complete David Seow experience upon a first meeting; I need to give people some time to brace themselves before I go full throttle. But that didn't happen in this case. Poor Wendy and Tom were subjected to my incessant rambling from the moment we stepped into the taxi. Our cab driver, meanwhile, found it necessary to yak into phone without using his headset throughout the drive. He either did not know it was illegal to do so, did not care, or maybe he was just trying to KILL us!
Tom survived the Airport taxi ride and the David Seow Experience.
And so did Wendy.Thankfully we all got to the hotel with a pulse and Wendy and Tom checked in, and I headed back to the library to buy some books. My book browsing was interrupted by a very interesting musical interlude.The first day of AFCC was over and there were four to go...
June 4, 2013
AFCC Day One
I got to the National Library about two hours ahead of Kristina Thornton's launch of her book and app the Wee adventures of Shabu Shabu. Now Kristina went all out for her launch producing T-shirts, bunny ears, goodie bags and face painting for the kids. I don't even want to ask how much it all cost her.
Anyway Kristina was waiting at her booth and her co-creators Ola and Michael were no where to be seen- they were late!! Anyway I decided to keep her company for a bit, especially when potential customers came her way. I don't think I was too good for business because they kind of split after I spoke with them.
Anyway Kristina had a good turn out at her launch and there were lots of kids and just as importantly there seemed to be a lot of sales.
I met up with Emma and we headed off to Bras Basah Complex so that Emma could print some promotional materials for her up coming best seller. Auntie Susanna was also at the print shop printing stuff when we got there and we all decided to forgo the buffet for chicken rice instead.
Emma at AFCCAfter lunch I headed to the airport to pick up Wendy and Tom. I made sure that I got there extra early just to be safe and to avoid a repeat of what happened last year...To Be Continued....
AFCC DAY ONE
I got to the National Library about two hours ahead of Kristina Thornton's launch of her book and app the Wee adventures of Shabu Shabu. Now Kristina went all out for her launch producing T-shirts, bunny ears, goodie bags and face painting for the kids. I don't even want to ask how much it all cost her.
Anyway Kristina was waiting at her booth and her co-creators Ola and Michael were no where to be seen- they were late!! Anyway I decided to keep her company for a bit, especially when potential customers came her way. I don't think I was too good for business because they kind of split after I spoke with them.
Anyway Kristina had a good turn out at her launch and there were lots of kids and just as importantly there seemed to be a lot of sales.
I met up with Emma and we headed off to Bras Basah Complex so that Emma could print some promotional materials for her up coming best seller. Auntie Susanna was also at the print shop printing stuff when we got there and we all decided to forgo the buffet for chicken rice instead.
Emma at AFCCAfter lunch I headed to the airport to pick up Wendy and Tom. I made sure that I got there extra early just to be safe and to avoid a repeat of what happened last year...To Be Continued....
AFCC DAY # ONE
I got to the National Library about two hours ahead of Kristina Thornton's launch of her book and app the Wee adventures of Shabu Shabu. Now Kristina went all out for her launch producing T-shirts, bunny ears, goodie bags and face painting for the kids. I don't even want to ask how much it all cost her.
Anyway Kristina was waiting at her booth and her co-creators Ola and Michael were no where to be seen- they were late!! Anyway I decided to keep her company for a bit, especially when potential customers came her way. I don't think I was too good for business because they kind of split after I spoke with them.
Anyway Kristina had a good turn out at her launch and there were lots of kids and just as importantly there seemed to be a lot of sales.
I met up with Emma and we headed off to Bras Basah Complex so that Emma could print some promotional materials for her up coming best seller. Auntie Susanna was also at the print shop printing stuff when we got there and we all decided to forgo the buffet for chicken rice instead.
Emma at AFCCAfter lunch I headed to the airport to pick up Wendy and Tom. I made sure that I got there extra early just to be safe and to avoid a repeat of what happened last year...To Be Continued....
Asian Festival of Children's Content 2013
Sorry for the lack of updates recently, but I've spent the last week attending the Asian Festival of Children's Content and what a festival it was! I know that a tremendous amount of work and effort as well as great deal of care and consideration went into putting this event together so kudos to Exec Director Mr Rama, Asst Director/ Festival Director Kenneth Quek and the Festival Angels Celine, Faith, Filzah, Mra, Prema and Vasantha.
I was really looking to this year's festival and I was rather relaxed actually because I wasn't sitting on any discussion panels - it was fun being on a panel with Shamini Flint and Emily Lim but it was nerve wracking because I keep on wondering how on earth I would measure up to those two kids' lit powerhouses.
Shamini Flint, Emily Lim and Moi
Last year my book There's Soup on my Fly was dramatised at the Literature Lecture and while that was a huge honour and privilege I was on the edge of my seat anticipating the audience reaction to the story. Thankfully it all turned out well.
All I had to worry about this year was the book launch of my latest book Emma's Elephant.
As far as I was concerned I had it in the bag because Catherine Carvell would be the moderator, Emma Nicholson would read the story and I would just kick back and relax and not do anything at all. Ok, I was slightly concerned that no one would show up and we would just end up launching the book for ourselves, and ourselves alone. Anyway more about that later.
I was also really looking forward to the festival because with Mio Debnam, Corinne Robson, Marjorie Coughlan, Candy Gourlay, Kathleen Ahrens, Holly Thompson, Dianne Wolfer, Naomi Kojima, Norm Jorgensen, Chris Cheng and many, many more would be attending the festival once again. I was especially looking forward to meeting Wendy Orr, who I 'met' a couple of years ago on twitter and facebook. So Catherine and I decided it would be a perfect time to take Wendy and her husband Tom our for a classic chilli crab dinner. But first we had to decide on where. There was only one thing to do...a food tasting!
Chilli Crab
There's a chilli crab restaurant across the street from Catherine's place so we decided to try having dinner there the week before. The cereal prawns were nice and fresh and we were almost convinced to make a reservation...in fact we did, but then the other courses came and to put it mildly they were incredibly lame.
Cereal Prawns
Emma and Catherine, the food tasters.
And so our search continued. Emma came on board and we decided the best bet was Jumbo Seafood on Clark Quay. With that sorted we were ready for the festival to start.
I was really looking to this year's festival and I was rather relaxed actually because I wasn't sitting on any discussion panels - it was fun being on a panel with Shamini Flint and Emily Lim but it was nerve wracking because I keep on wondering how on earth I would measure up to those two kids' lit powerhouses.
Shamini Flint, Emily Lim and MoiLast year my book There's Soup on my Fly was dramatised at the Literature Lecture and while that was a huge honour and privilege I was on the edge of my seat anticipating the audience reaction to the story. Thankfully it all turned out well.
All I had to worry about this year was the book launch of my latest book Emma's Elephant.
As far as I was concerned I had it in the bag because Catherine Carvell would be the moderator, Emma Nicholson would read the story and I would just kick back and relax and not do anything at all. Ok, I was slightly concerned that no one would show up and we would just end up launching the book for ourselves, and ourselves alone. Anyway more about that later.I was also really looking forward to the festival because with Mio Debnam, Corinne Robson, Marjorie Coughlan, Candy Gourlay, Kathleen Ahrens, Holly Thompson, Dianne Wolfer, Naomi Kojima, Norm Jorgensen, Chris Cheng and many, many more would be attending the festival once again. I was especially looking forward to meeting Wendy Orr, who I 'met' a couple of years ago on twitter and facebook. So Catherine and I decided it would be a perfect time to take Wendy and her husband Tom our for a classic chilli crab dinner. But first we had to decide on where. There was only one thing to do...a food tasting!
Chilli CrabThere's a chilli crab restaurant across the street from Catherine's place so we decided to try having dinner there the week before. The cereal prawns were nice and fresh and we were almost convinced to make a reservation...in fact we did, but then the other courses came and to put it mildly they were incredibly lame.
Cereal Prawns
Emma and Catherine, the food tasters.And so our search continued. Emma came on board and we decided the best bet was Jumbo Seafood on Clark Quay. With that sorted we were ready for the festival to start.
May 21, 2013
The Asian Festival Of Children's Content
THE MUST ATTEND EVENTOF THE YEAR!!
If you are an aspiring children's book author or illustrator, this is THE event of the year. It's one of the BIGGEST, not to mention one the BEST conferences for children's book authors, illustrators, publishers, editors, parents and teachers around. You'll get to mingle with publishing gliteratti like authors and illustrators, including Wendy Orr, Dianne Wolfer, Mio Debnam, Kathleen Ahrens, Chris Cheng, Yusof Gajah, Norman Jorgensen and James Foley. Attend master classes by masters of the craft. Like duh, that's why they are called master classes, if they weren't masters they would just be called classes! You'll also get the opportunity to meet agents and publishers. Jump in to find out what Project Splash is all about. Attend free events like Celebrating our Stars, where Singapore's very own Jessie Wee will be honoured with a lifetime acheivement award. And--Drum roll please - you'll find out who won the Hedwig Anuar Children's Book Award and the Singtel Asian Picture Book Award. My money is on the winners so you can pay me now. Watch the dramatization of Emily Lim's Prince Bear and Pauper Bear and if you're so inclined, you could attend the book launches of Sarah Mounsey's Purple Paw Prints on the Magic Sofa, Kristina Thornton's Wee Adventures of Shabu Shabu, AJ Low's Sherlock Sam and my latest book Emma's Elephant and many, many more...so what are you waiting for. Register TODAY...Like NOW...THIS INSTANT. Stop reading this blog and click this link here, people!
REGISTER HERE
If you are an aspiring children's book author or illustrator, this is THE event of the year. It's one of the BIGGEST, not to mention one the BEST conferences for children's book authors, illustrators, publishers, editors, parents and teachers around. You'll get to mingle with publishing gliteratti like authors and illustrators, including Wendy Orr, Dianne Wolfer, Mio Debnam, Kathleen Ahrens, Chris Cheng, Yusof Gajah, Norman Jorgensen and James Foley. Attend master classes by masters of the craft. Like duh, that's why they are called master classes, if they weren't masters they would just be called classes! You'll also get the opportunity to meet agents and publishers. Jump in to find out what Project Splash is all about. Attend free events like Celebrating our Stars, where Singapore's very own Jessie Wee will be honoured with a lifetime acheivement award. And--Drum roll please - you'll find out who won the Hedwig Anuar Children's Book Award and the Singtel Asian Picture Book Award. My money is on the winners so you can pay me now. Watch the dramatization of Emily Lim's Prince Bear and Pauper Bear and if you're so inclined, you could attend the book launches of Sarah Mounsey's Purple Paw Prints on the Magic Sofa, Kristina Thornton's Wee Adventures of Shabu Shabu, AJ Low's Sherlock Sam and my latest book Emma's Elephant and many, many more...so what are you waiting for. Register TODAY...Like NOW...THIS INSTANT. Stop reading this blog and click this link here, people!
REGISTER HERE
May 5, 2013
A Day with the Duchess
Concept sketch of the Cover.Hi as you all know by now I've just returned from London from the London Book Fair where I was plugging my books. Here's the latest book I'm working on which my long-time illustrator Enrico Sallustio, "A Day with the Duchess" .
After this book's publication, I have four Sam, Sebbie and Di-Di-Di books scheduled to be republished with Epigram. Then I shall be taking a long overdue hiatus from writing. Thank you all for your kind support and for visiting this page.
Cover design for A Day with the DuchessMay 4, 2013
Departure Day
I woke up at around 6am on my last morning in London. Kenneth and Celine decided to start the day early. Kenneth wanted to go to the Shard and Celine wanted to go shopping for art craft supplies. I decided to wander around the neighbourhood. We agreed to meet back at the hotel at 11am because we only extended the stay in one of the rooms for two hours beyond the check out time
So we met back at the hotel at 11:00 and Kenneth and Celine moved their luggage to my room and checked out of theirs and then we went for lunch, after which it was time to check out of my room. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 8:30pm which meant we had to be at the airport at 6:00pm. So Kenneth booked a transport for about 5:30pm.
With three and a half hours to spare, we went to the textile museum and walked along the riverfront, did a spot of last minute shopping and went back to the hotel in time for the transport to pick us up for the airport. Our trip was over!:( But I can't wait to go back to London again. Perhaps maybe before the year is out. Anyway, thanks to my travel mates Kenneth and Celine for putting up with me on this trip. It was no easy, task I'm sure. And thanks to the NAC and everyone involved with the fair.
Kenneth Quek and Celine Chow in front of the Shard.
The Shard
So we met back at the hotel at 11:00 and Kenneth and Celine moved their luggage to my room and checked out of theirs and then we went for lunch, after which it was time to check out of my room. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 8:30pm which meant we had to be at the airport at 6:00pm. So Kenneth booked a transport for about 5:30pm.
With three and a half hours to spare, we went to the textile museum and walked along the riverfront, did a spot of last minute shopping and went back to the hotel in time for the transport to pick us up for the airport. Our trip was over!:( But I can't wait to go back to London again. Perhaps maybe before the year is out. Anyway, thanks to my travel mates Kenneth and Celine for putting up with me on this trip. It was no easy, task I'm sure. And thanks to the NAC and everyone involved with the fair.
Kenneth Quek and Celine Chow in front of the Shard.
The ShardMay 3, 2013
London Day Eight
Celine was meeting up with an old friend of hers on our last day, so Kenneth and I decided to head to the Light Show at the Hayward Gallery, SouthBank. No photos were permitted, but it was an interesting exhibition of different light installations. Some were visibly better than others but that was to be expected. Honestly, It was quite inspiring, one day I may become an installation artist if I don't end up electrocuting myself first. Hey, if that happens my books may actually sell!
We decided to see a play at the last minute, so we tubed it to Leicester Square and booked tickets for one of the hottest shows in town -- Matilda. Then we stopped off at Foyles to browse the books and to have something to drink before Ken went off for a lunch appointment. I wondered around Leicester Square for a bit and checked out celeb hot spot the Ivy before taking the tube to Knightsbridge and high-tailing it to the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, where a very important personage was scheduled to make an appearance at the Walking with the Wounded South Pole Challenge press conference.
Waiting for the VIP
Prince Harry the VIP arrives
Prince Harry departsShortly thereafter I got a message from Ken, asking if I would like to meet for tea at the British Museum. As I'm rather directionally challenged, I took the tube to Leceister Square, did a bit of shopping at Foyles and asked the cashier for directions and I actually did manage to find it.
The British Museum
My teaI ordered the scones, jam and clotted cream but only managed to finish about half my order. After downing my cup of tea, we checked out the Rosetta Stone, which I haven't seen since I was 13!
The Rosetta StoneThen it was time to go to the theatre and Kenneth spotted a celebrity in the crowd: actor Chris O'Dowd, whom I met on my last day in London last year. He's fast becoming my last day in London celebrity. Kenneth advised me not to approach him, lest I get all fan boy crazy. Fortunately for Kenneth I agreed not to, since I did that the previous year.
The show, in a word, was fantastic. Thoroughly enjoyable and the song that I could relate to the most was 'When I Grow Up' because I still haven't.
After the show, we debated about whether to go for dinner, but we had been out for the whole day and we were kind of tired, so we opted to go back to the hotel by cab. The trip was over, we were tired and we still needed to pack and check out of the hotel by 2pm the next day. I finished the last of my packing and went to bed by midnight.
London Day Seven
So the fair was finally over and we had time to have a full English breakfast, which is something that I wanted since we arrived in London. So we all headed to a pub and ordered exactly the same thing. Well, except for the fact that I ordered a hot chocolate instead of a coffee.
My Big English Breakfast
Then it was back to the Jade to finish packing for our move to the Think Apartments Tower Bridge. Now the Think Apartments looked extremely good online and I was looking forward to the move, but from the moment we arrived at the wrong address, because they gave us the office address instead of the hotel address, things went down hill. The apartments looked nothing like what they do online, and furthermore, the corridors were shoddy and room numbers were plastered on the walls on a computer print out. Talk about major disappointment. The rooms had a view of the shard and were comfortable enough but other than that I would have to say that the Jade at Earls Court is miles better than Tower Apartments any time. I felt badly because I pushed for a change of hotel...
So after checking in to two rooms, only two were ready for check in at check in, we headed to the tube Station, then the over ground to Watford Junction an onto the Harry Potter Tour at the Warner Brothers Studios.
Celine and Kenneth by the cupboard under the stairs at No 4. Privet Drive.
The Great Hall
Butter Beer
At Olivanders at Diagon Alley
Buck Beak
Hogwarts
Celine at Hogwarts
My Big English BreakfastThen it was back to the Jade to finish packing for our move to the Think Apartments Tower Bridge. Now the Think Apartments looked extremely good online and I was looking forward to the move, but from the moment we arrived at the wrong address, because they gave us the office address instead of the hotel address, things went down hill. The apartments looked nothing like what they do online, and furthermore, the corridors were shoddy and room numbers were plastered on the walls on a computer print out. Talk about major disappointment. The rooms had a view of the shard and were comfortable enough but other than that I would have to say that the Jade at Earls Court is miles better than Tower Apartments any time. I felt badly because I pushed for a change of hotel...
So after checking in to two rooms, only two were ready for check in at check in, we headed to the tube Station, then the over ground to Watford Junction an onto the Harry Potter Tour at the Warner Brothers Studios.
Celine and Kenneth by the cupboard under the stairs at No 4. Privet Drive.
The Great Hall
Butter Beer
At Olivanders at Diagon Alley
Buck Beak
Hogwarts
Celine at Hogwarts
