Sunday, January 27, 2008

MPH LitBlogger's Club yesterday


So finally it was Tunku Halim and me on the podium. There were about 25 - 30 people there, quite a full house and standing room only (with the usual empty chairs in front and in the inaccessible middle) . . . thanks to TH who really pulled them in, yay! (Okay, I must admit I arm-twisted at least 8 people to be there, including my colleagues.)

MPH also took the opportunity to launch TH's novella, Juriah's Song, which really had a great faux book gimmick to go with it, along with string cutting and all.

For my session, I dragged Lydia Teh, TH and Chua Kok Yee up with me because I was afraid of boring everybody if I were go by myself. We spoke about writing and rewriting and what a horrible taskmaster I am for making everybody write and rewrite.

RTM2 was there also for 'Hello on 2', which is I presume a morning show. So they interviewed each of us individually - TH, me, Lydia and Kok Yee - and I was so glad I wore something decent to appear on TV and that I didn't go in T-shirt and slippers. I don't actually remember what I said because I had to talk non-stop for 10 minutes, but I remember holding up my 2 books and shaking them ever so often, and even filming a little teaser in which I went, "Hi, I'm Xeus, and you're watching 'Hello on 2'. "

Then of course we all went for lunch and gabbed about everything and everybody. I realise Lydia and TH are so much more prolific and ambitious than I am - they have so many books and projects lined up, and when they asked me what I had in store, I had to admit I had only 2 :(

Ah well, it was great to meet up with everyone again. (And yes, Kenny too although he was late!) Thanks Grace for being there in spirit although you couldn't physically be present, and I wrote you a lovely message in your personalised copy of DC2. It was great to see Lyrical Lemongrass and Daphne there too and I thanked her personally for plugging DC2 in Star, and she had news for me - Michael Cheang is reviewing DC2 for Star. (And I went 'Yikes! He's tough!')

Okay, what do you think of this title for a humorous anecdote collection type of book: 'Don't stand too close to a naked Malaysian'? I tried it on everybody there and they hated it!

30 comments:

Argus Lou said...

Great to hear you had an interesting time with the publicity talks.

Hope the momentum gets going for DC2, so that we can get moving with DC3. ;-)

The title is too long. Like your proposed title for your children's novel. Perhaps it's time to run a blogger competition for your Malaysian anecdotal book title?

Artemis Hunt said...

You can tell I'm a sucker for long titles, Argus :)

Will run it as it gets closer. But like Eric said, he likes the title.

Lydia Teh said...

Hi Xeus, next time I go to the litbloggers' no t-shirts! But at least my t-shirt is a nice shade of green. Tunku Halim is the prolific one, not me. I've got to learn from both of you, he for abundance, you for speed.

Naked Malaysian is too extreme. Where can you find a naked Malaysian in public? I've seen one before - an unsound guy wondering not far away from my kids' school.

Artemis Hunt said...

Hee hee Lydia. But it was a very nice T shirt.

I'll run the title contest later.

Argus Lou said...

I'll put in my advance entry:
"There's No Naked Malaysian"
if you want so much to put in the word. ;-)

Artemis Hunt said...

Hee hee Argus. How about Help! There's a Malaysian on the loose!

Argus Lou said...

Again too many words. Four (or five) is OK. Check: "Honk! If You're Malaysian", "Gravedigger's Kiss", "A Hundred Years of Solitude", "Gone With The Wind". ^_^

A lovely exception would be "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil".

Artemis Hunt said...

But Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban had so many words!!

Oh girli, I'm not going to Switzerland after all. They asked me to pull out because they were overbooked.

Argus Lou said...

'Harry Potter' is the series or franchise title while the real title is 'Prisoner of Azkaban'.

Oh, dear. And I was so looking forward to showing you the hissing swans and kissing swanky la-di-das.

Artemis Hunt said...

So it should be Billy Lang: Can Punch Holes Thru Mountains?

Ha ha ha.

Me too, I was looking forward to swans and your great kaya making. Sigh. Maybe I'll get another opportunity. But I'm going to Prague the week before. No fun tho. Work as usual.

Argus Lou said...

"Billy Lang --
Punching Holes Through Mountains" or "Hole Through Mountains" maybe. ;-)

Ah, maybe I/we can meet you in Prague and do a bit of exploring together. Email me the dates, please.

Anonymous said...

The title's brilliant. Who cares what those aunties say. :-P Teehee!

Nice seeing everyone that day! Hope to bump into you when you're not so busy one of these days, Xeus.

Artemis Hunt said...

Argie baby, have to work day and night in Prague, arggh!!! It's no walk in the park, or should I say in the Prague!

Lyrical Lemongrass, it was lovely to see you. We must do lunch again sometime.

Argus Lou said...

Ha ha, I can picture you scrunching your face and telling your ex-Swiss boss: "You know, sir, it's no walk in the Prague!"

Hey, Lyrical, who u callin' an auntie, huh? Wait till I snip your stalks. ;-)

Chet said...

There's already a book called "Don't Stand Too Close to a Naked Man" by Tim Allen.

Artemis Hunt said...

I know, Chet, it was a okay on Tim Allen's title. Eric thinks it's great. But everyone else thinks it stinks except me and Lyrical Lemongrass!

Anonymous said...

"It's no walk in the morgue" sounds good too. But totally irrelevant.

Hey Aunty Argus, if you snip my stalks, I'll eat your dog. Hmmm. That didn't come out right.

It's 1.00 am. I think I'd better go to bed. @_@

(Yay to the Naked Malaysian)

Anonymous said...

You can say, "It's no walk in the morgue," if it's an easy task you're handing to a subordinate. (Isn't it nice how we clutter up Xeus's blog with irrelevant/irreverent stuff?)

Niece Lemony-Snippet, it's a good thing I'm not looking after someone else's cat, isn't it? ;-)

(Endangered Species: Naked Malaysian)

Artemis Hunt said...

Girls . . . girls. . . all this talk of stalk-snipping and aunty dog-eating is making me faint. Such violence we have in our food habits :)

Anyhow, Argie Bargie, I have another trip to Barcelona coming up in late June to early July, this time I'm going alone so there'll be fun! No noisy clients to take care of and no colleagues either.

Argus Lou said...

We'll see how it goes. Barca is a bit far from here and I've been there before.

Artemis Hunt said...

Okey dokey. I've never been to either Barca or Prague.

Kak Teh said...

wow! what a spread! alas our GUiT gatherings are so modest - no big names. But enough so sell books. Wish we could meet - i was busy running around. may be next time.

Artemis Hunt said...

Kak Teh, really missed you. Next time then!

Tunku Halim said...

Xeus,

What? You don't like my "Sex and the Naked Malaysian"? :)

Maybe too frisky for MPH!

Artemis Hunt said...

TH, like it, like it! Dont know about Eric liking it tho!

Kak Teh, this is a very small world. I was at a reunion dinner last night, and my uncles were talking about GUIT! Apparently they were in VI with your husband!! And Richard and Julie came to stay with them, and Richard said he had dinner with you last week! They asked me how I know you and I told them.

Isn't it a small world?

And oh, everyone thinks GUIT is so beautifully written!

Kak Teh said...

xeus, you mean you are related to Victor? Oh my God, Oh my God, oh my God!!! yes, we had dinner with richard and Julia before they left for Malaysia...yes, what a small world. we didnt get to meet up with victor and asma - the trip back was so hectic. and of course i didnt get to meet u and lydia and th!
next time lah and we'll have a lot to talk abt!

Artemis Hunt said...

Yes, Victor is my uncle! And I stayed with Richard 20 years ago when I was in UK, that time it was not Julia but another wife :)

Come back next time and we will all do dinner together!

I'm taking Richard and Julia to dinner when they come back from Bangkok after CNY. This is a very small world!

Anonymous said...

Try another title - without the naked Malaysian!

gRaCe said...

heyyy... u all made me feel so sorry that i wasn't there on the last Litblogger event. Y'all had so much fun!! Sob sob... =(

Thanks a lot, Xeus for signing the book for me...i've yet to get it from LL tho.. now i cant wait to get it from her to see what u've written. Heheh... ;o)

we gotta meet up for lunch or sumthin one of these days, ya? ^_^

Anonymous said...

who r u actually?we have to do your bibliography for our assignment,but there's nothing much bout you..adoooyai!