Jordan Spieth at the Singapore Open

It's been a couple of years since Barclays pulled out as the official sponsor of the Singapore Open, and golf fans have lamented the loss of  the tournament that saw the likes of our own Mardan Marmat, Adam Scott, Ernie Els and  Phil Mickelson hitting the greens here. 

Mardan Marmat Photo: Wikipedia Commons

Adam Scott 

Adam Scott

Ernie Els

Phil Mickelson

Phil Mickelson

Fortunately for golf fans, SMBC stepped in as the new official sponsor and the tournament came back swinging with top draw players like Darren Clarke, Singapore's own Mardan Marmat and the top ranked golfer in the world, Jordan Spieth!

Jordan Spieth

Over the past year the Spieth has won two of the most prestigious tournaments on the circuit: The US Open and the US Masters. And come summerr he'll be going for the ultimate trophy in Brazil: Olympic Gold! He even has his own LE Bobble head that was given out to the first 8,000 attendees of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am. I seriously want one!

When I found out Spieth was the headliner of this tournament. I booked my season pass and swung by the golf course in the hopes of meeting him. 

My friend a Ray was already waiting at the autograph zone and after a two hour wait, Spieth spoke with the press and came over to sign autographs for all the fans who were waiting. We almost missed out on getting an autograph because a camera crew was blocking us. We quickly ran around to the other side of the zone and were able to get sign our items before he was whisked off in his golf buggy.

Jordan Spieth

Ray wanted to get a selfie with Spieth so we hopped in a cab and sped on down to the tournament's official hotel. After about a twenty minute wait, Spieth arrived and graciously agreed to pose for photos. 

Two days later, I  went down for another round of golf and observed that he was just as kind and gracious with the fans as he was the day before. He's not just the #1 in the rankings but with his gracious attitude he's become # 1 with the fans as well. Long may that continue. Hey, I may actually write a children's book about this inspirational young man's journey to the top. Would you read it?

Guess what came out today?

At the Printers

Emma, Soefara, Stephanie and I spent the morning at the Saik Wah press to watch the printing of the next Sam, Sebbie and Di-Di-Di book: At the S.E.A Aquarium. Here are a couple of pictures we took while we were there. The book will be ready in about a week so it will probably be out in the bookstores in a fortnight.

I suppose waiting for a book to come back from the printers is akin to a soon-to-be-dad waiting for his child to be born: you hope your kid will be happy, healthy and safe. Well, in my case, you hope that there won't be any missing pages. haha.

From Underwater World Adventure to At the S.E.A. Aquarium

The story is now set @ the S.E.A Aquarium

I first started writing the Sam, Sebbie and Di-Di-Di series back in 1997 and the books were first published in 1998. Underwater World Adventure was the third book in the series to be published. When I first started writing the stories, which feature my niece and nephews as the main characters, I had no idea if they would be published or not; I just wrote them to entertain my niece and my nephews. 

Of all the stories, Underwater World was my favourite by far and the thing is that I didn't start writing it from the beginning, I started with a line "Have you seen our brother Di-Di-Di?" and the plot evolved from that line. 

It took me some time and a lot of prayers and I managed to come up with a story that I was happy with. Of course, I had to do several redrafts before I was ready to show it to anyone.

Working draft of Underwater World Adventure (1998)

And when I got stuck I would sketch out my ideas. Here's one of the sketches I did when I was trying to craft the story. I had already written Sebbie's First Day of School and A Singapore Christmas and Underwater World Adventure was the third story in the series.

I approached a publisher with all three stories and surprisingly they said yes on the spot and they asked me to come up with an additional three more stories. After that they asked me to write an additional six stories so that there would be a total of 12 stories in the series. And that's just what I did.

As the years passed, the kids grew up--as kids tend to do--and the books gradually went out of print.  But then, as things would have it,  I met with my current publisher to discuss the possibility of revisiting the series in some capacity. We  finally started work on the new books earlier this year. I have to say I was really happy with the old books, but I am even happier with the new ones. What still surprises me, 16 years after the originals were first published, is the fact that occasionally  people will tell me they bought their kids those books all those years ago and their kids loved them. Now that's something! Now I only hope a new generation of kids will feel the same way.

My concept sketch for one of the spreads.

The spread as it first appeared in print.

From At the S.E.A. Aquarium. Illustrated by Soefara Jafney 2013

Sneak Peak: At the S.E.A. Aquarium

If I haven't mentioned it already, I'm really thrilled with my revamped series of books with Epigram and I really love my illustrations. Here is a sneak peak of two of the Soefara Jafney's illustrations from At the S.E.A. Aquarium. I love them!!