Don’t be scared off by their [...]]]> A few weeks ago, I got wind that this article had featured The Steampowered Globe (available from our publisher) had been featured as a Singapore book of genre fiction that people should be reading. The article is on the Budding Writers League, a new site for local writers.

Don’t be scared off by their name – while their target audience includes younger writers, it also welcomes everyone no matter what the age. Sign up for an account, then you can post your stories for comments and suggestions by others on the site. I admit, some of the criticism can be a bit pedantic, but in a well-intentioned way.

The site’s quite new so they might be a bit light on content, but they do have a BWL Mentorship Programme! It’s pretty neat. So far they only have one mentor (the wonderful Joyce Chng, whose Wolf at the Door series is excellent and highly recommended), but perhaps in the future the programme will expand.

The Happy Smiley Writers Group (us, basically) have been contact with the BWL. We’re looking forward to working with them in the future. (:

For more information, check out their website and their Facebook group!

(More pictures)

Remember the last time we went prawning? Yeah, the time [...]]]>
Tally-Ho is a semi-regular column of my adventures with the Adventure Crew (and sometimes other people). We figured that Singapore can’t be all that boring, and are determined to show other folks how fun Singapore can be… if you know where to look.

Remember the last time we went prawning? Yeah, the time everyone caught a prawn except me. Well, we decided that wouldn’t do, so off Avariel, Sarah and I went to change things!

Well no, not really. But my goal was to catch a prawn to make things right.

This time we went to a different place: East Coast Prawning, which is at East Coast Park and considerably smaller than Bottle Tree. It’s more of a chill place rather than a family funtime place, but their rates are lower and they’re less crowded.

Prawning involves a lot of waiting.

The procedure is the same, really: pay for your time, get a rod and some bait, then sit down and hope the prawns are hungry.

She even brought a book to keep her busy

And much to my delight, they were! Within about an hour I caught my very first prawn!

YAY PRAWN

It was a really big prawn, too. It ended up being the biggest prawn of our lot. Still makes me grin thinking about it. :D

And then, I caught another one!

Me: 1, Prawns: 0! Ha!

The universe provides, ha. One for the first prawning outing, a second for this. I consider the prawns and I even, now.

It wasn’t just me though. Sarah caught a prawn too!

Sarah and her prawn

Then Avariel did! The universe provided for all of us that day, prawning-wise.

Prawns for all!

Bwahaha. Oddly enough, we were the only ones around the pond to catch anything during the two hours we were there. There were other folks there too, but I didn’t see them catch anything. Maybe a bit of that legendary Sarah luck rubbed off on us.

Then came the actual act of cooking the prawns. That… didn’t go so well.

Unlike Bottle Tree, they didn’t have an electric grill; at East Coast it’s all old-school, and by old-school I mean charcoal, fire starters, and matches.

This fire lasted all of ten minutes.

We suck so much at lighting a fire, it’s not funny. We had to ask the prawning folks to help us, ha.

On the way to nom-ability

Maybe not the most evenly cooked, but we got there eventually.

So yes. I consider this a major success for me, because I caught two prawns in two outings :D

I’ve neglected to blog every day because I have a major school report due on Friday, but.

Day 5: Back on track, baby!

Broke 10,000 words in two marathon writing sessions today. About half of it was done at today’s write-in, which is always productive for me, and the rest was done in [...]]]>

I’ve neglected to blog every day because I have a major school report due on Friday, but.

Day 5: Back on track, baby!

Broke 10,000 words in two marathon writing sessions today. About half of it was done at today’s write-in, which is always productive for me, and the rest was done in a pretty intense 2-hour session at night.

I am so happy I’m back on track! And ahead by a day, even. Whoo!

I wrote some 900 words before class today, then on and off during breaks and suchlike. A bit tricky, but I think this sort of pace works out quite well. We’ll see if I can keep it up.

Day 2: On track

1,667 words a day doesn’t seem so scary suddenly.

So I’m doing NaNoWriMo again! Which comes as no surprise, considering that I’m one of the MLs in Singapore, hah.

Day 1: On track!

I am also attempting to blog daily about my progress, in a sort of unofficial NaBloPoMo thing. But also because I want to keep track of things for myself.

It’s that time of the year again! That’s right, it’s the Nanowrimo kick-off party again!

Date: 29 October 2011, Saturday Time: 6.30pm – 8pmish Venue: Multipurpose Room at B1, National Library at 100 Victoria Street

RSVP here! We’ll have cake and nibbles as usual. If you’re younger, it’s totally okay [...]]]>

Poster by Seriously Sarah

It’s that time of the year again! That’s right, it’s the Nanowrimo kick-off party again!

Date: 29 October 2011, Saturday
Time: 6.30pm – 8pmish
Venue: Multipurpose Room at B1, National Library at 100 Victoria Street

RSVP here! We’ll have cake and nibbles as usual. If you’re younger, it’s totally okay to bring your parents if they’re worried we’re creeps. It’s also okay to bring your kids but you’ll have to care for them.

Feel free to bring friends, even if they’re not doing Nanowrimo! :D

Which is [...]]]> Have you ever borrowed a hardcopy book from the library? If you have, then you know that the dust jacket is always wrapped and secured to the hardcover, uh, cover.  This is so that the dust jacket doesn’t go missing so the book is always easily identifiable, and the dust jacket is protected.

Which is pretty nifty! And I’ve always wanted to do that, but only recently I figured out how it works. You can actually buy the proper supplies from library or archival suppliers like Gaylord or Demco. I don’t have that many hardcover books so it wouldn’t be practical for me.

Or you could go the DIY route and use common items to do it yourself! It will definitely cost you less than ordering supplies and unless you’re really keen on protecting your books in the super long-term, it probably won’t make too much of a difference.

What you need:

• Roll of plastic (the thinner, the better – I’ll explain later)
• Paper – size will depend on how big your book is (also, the thinner the better)
• Sticky tape
• Scissors

I already had all of them, but it should cost you less than $5

Instructions under the jump!

Step 1

Remove the dust jacket from the book and lay it out completely flat on the plastic – that includes the flaps. Try to use the thinnest plastic that you’re comfortable with. The dustjacket should be facedown, that means the design on the table.

The plastic needs to be wider than the dust jacket, but it should be slightly shorter than the dust jacket – about 2cm on each end is enough. So your plastic will be 4cm shorter (on the long side) than your dustjacket.

Cut the plastic to size.

Step 2

Fold the top and bottom of the plastic over the dustjacket. A ruler might be useful because you want to make it as snug as possible. (Don’t tape it yet!)

Step 3

Place your paper underneath the plastic flaps. I used normal printing paper, but I think tracing paper would be a better choice. The size of your paper will depend on the size of your book, but the paper must:

• Long enough to stretch at least 90% of the plastic’s length
• Wide enough to reach the plastic flaps that you folded in Step 2

My book was really thick, but two pieces of A4 paper were more than enough. Tape the plastic to the paper.

You should end up with this:

Click for a bigger version

Step 4

Now get your book and fold the dustjacket over. You’ll see why I recommended you use the thinnest plastic and paper you can find, but if not, read on.

When you open the book, the dust jacket will move. If your paper and plastic are thick, the tape will dislodge or the dust jacket will too stiff to conform to the shape of the hardcover. The dust jacket will get all crinkly.

Tape the wrapped dustjacket to the front of the book.

That’s right, to the front of the book, not to the front of the dust jacket. Unless you don’t mind, in which case it doesn’t matter.

Ta-da!

Step 5

Admire your work!

That’s it. Pretty easy, innit?

You can also customise your book by putting something between the dustjacket and the wrapper if you don’t like the design of the cover or whatever. I figure you could even design your own if you’re so inclined, then get it printed and wrap it up so people can’t tell if it’s the original or not.

Any suggestions? Leave them in the comments!

A little delayed, but here’s the recap of day 2! Also very picture-heavy, so you have been warned.

I met up with Sarah, Joelyn and Avariel in the afternoon before heading to the hall, where we had a bit of time to wander before heading to the Walk of Fame for Andrew Bell.

Avariel [...]]]>

A little delayed, but here’s the recap of day 2! Also very picture-heavy, so you have been warned.

I met up with Sarah, Joelyn and Avariel in the afternoon before heading to the hall, where we had a bit of time to wander before heading to the Walk of Fame for Andrew Bell.

Avariel is a big Google Android figurine fan, and Andrew Bell is the artist who designed them, so of course she had to get his autograph. We waited at the side for her photo op.

Avariel in line with her special blank Android

Bell was really awesome though, he drew on everything that you’d ask him to sign. While awesome, this naturally made the line quite long – we waited about an hour and a half for about 10-15 people? But it was totally worth the wait, cos he was so nice to be drawing in the first place.

I was pleasantly surprised when I found out he’d drawn on my book, which I’d asked Avariel to help me get signed.

I think it's adorable, don't you?

Kids under 12 enter free on Sunday, so there were a lot more kids around than on Saturday. We saw quite a few around the Walk of Fame area!

The littlest Stormtrooper and Cap

I’m told that the little Stormtrooper made the armor with his dad, who I assume is part of the 501st Legion. And firmly on the other end of the adorableness, someone came to the con as Pedobear.

Pedobear?!

He was pretty popular among the adults, for obvious reasons. I didn’t even know you could get a Pedobear head, and coming to the con on the day when kids get in free is both brilliant and downright ballsy. Congratulations, Pedobear!person, yours are made of steel.

I don't recognise the character, but this was one of the most impressive costumes there that day

And as we were walking about, we bumped into Ezio – the same person you might remember from last year. We recognise each other now, and every time I bump into him I always seem to be in a Mario costume – this year it was Dr Mario. Our photo is becoming almost like a tradition, haha.

Ezio and Dr Mario

And of course the Artists Alley and grafiiti walls were impressive!

[Show as slideshow]

And because Nintendo was back, I got my obligatory Mario-Dr Mario-Luigi photo!

Nintendo's back at the con, yay!

Afterwards, I was thrilled to get Paul Levitz’s autograph. I get the most amusing messages in my book sometimes, and he was so nice!

Paul Levitz!

I also got pictures in front of the DC and Marvel booth walls, which were really impressive. I love that the Big Two actually came down this year, bringing with them some great guests, and I would love to see more at next year’s STGCC.

Marvel wall

The DC wall, featuring post-relaunch versions of the characters!

We were doing our shopping when our little group was separated, but when I found them – in a corner of the hall, with some other friends they’d randomly found – I was in for a pleasant surprise.

The Doctor and Amy Pond were there! I’m a huge Doctor Who fan, as many of you can attest, so I was delighted. More’s the pity they hadn’t come on Saturday when I was the TARDIS, otherwise we would’ve been unstoppable!

Doctor and Dr!

When we saw each other, the Doctor and I pointed our props (sonic screwdriver for her, pill for me) at each other and went “DOCTOR!”. It was a bit surreal, but I was delighted. This Doctor had a companion, in this case only Amy. No Nose or Mrs Robinson, alas.

Amy and Octavius make an Ood

We were just there chatting when Lady Mechnika, of which I have no photos, approached us and asked if the Doctor and Amy would like to participate in a mobile photo shoot outside. We sort of tagged along.

The Doctor and Amy in the spotlight

Later I found out the mobile studio was by The Neo Tokyo Project; you can see the full gallery here. Check out their website for a lot more STGCC photos!

We even got a group shot!

While outside the con hall, we bumped into more friends. They just so happened to be all cosplaying DC characters, so it wasn’t planned or anything, and the photographers had a field day with the funniest impromptu photoshoot I’ve ever been to. There were shenanigans. Many of them, all very funny.

[Show as slideshow]

Was I pleased? Oh, yes. This con was a good one, but there is still a lot of room for improvement. I did like that the Artist Alley was bigger this year and lots of great local artists were there – my favorite is probably Wendy Chew aka Mashi, who does the most adorable characters ever.

Of course there’re a few things I would like to see changed or improved for next year, which include the timing (August is no good), better cosplay competition rules and more focus on gaming (digital or analog) and Western comics because the anime/manga fans already have AFA.

The absence of major organisations in the industry, namely GnB Comics and Movie Mania, was very much felt – something that I think they need to take into account. Also, where were my Gachapon? It took me a year to save enough $1 coins for my gachapon and there were none! I was scandalised!

But overall, STGCC was pretty solid. Here’s to more in 2012!