Hey all! While Sarah Does Singapore is off for this season, check out my posts at N.E.Mation here!

Or you can watch the video that comes with that post too here:

Ps. YES, I did get in top three for the N.Emation ambassador competition.

PEOPLE! The post I wrote the other day about wanting to be N.E.mation’s ambassador?

HO HO HO HO! I am in it! …As you can tell from the title of this post. One of the 10 finalists to be the ambassador of N.E.mation 6!

What joy to be had! What loveliness of the email notifying that I, Sarah, would be one of the 10 people to document what’s happening during N.E.mation!

I AM ONE WITH NATURE AND THE INTERNETS!

I will be there when the students will be in their groups, showing off their pitches, HOPING TO BE QUALIFIED into the next few rounds where they will finally make an animation!

For those who are reading my blog for the first time, checking me out (ho ho)…

Hello.

I like animation, comics, pretty much any artistic endeavours with story! What I also like is effort. The effort that the students will do and go through their stubborness to get to the end of this competition!

It’s going to be thrilling, don’t you think?

I’ve done short films with a limited deadline with teams before and I’ve done animation for fun too.

I’m not:

• a fashionista
• a tech blogger
• some gossip blogger

So with that, I have to give you a warning that my posts are going to be utterly different that normal (if you haven’t read my stuff before).

For one thing, I have Octavius the octopus in some of my posts when I cover events (it’s hard to be ON camera when taking pictures too, non?). Another thing is that, well, I’ll want to learn more about the students there! They’re not just faceless groups vying for the top prize but they’re also individuals.

Oh, don’t forget to like the N.E.mation facebook page! That’s also where (besides the final student groups) you can vote for me for I want world peace to be the ambassador to go on a trip with the winner in the end.

I’ll keep this short for now. You’ll know about the participants of N.E.mation more when September comes and with that, me too.

Hey everyone! Remember the last time I went to check students out doing their works for the N.E. mation contest?

Or the time when I did my own little stop motion animation taught by Animagine?

If you didn’t, you can pretty much see the video above. It’s not very long anyway. What am I getting to this?

Wooh! It’s N.E.mation time again! The theme is NS: From Father to Son. I am so not qualified to enter the animation contest itself but what I AM qualified for is the contest to be an N.E.mation ambassador!

The N.E.mation! Ambassador 2011 will fly to DreamWorks USA with the Champion Team in June 2012, get S$500 CASH and a Canon DSLR camera. Total prizes worth more than S$6,000!

Two other finalists will each get a Canon DSLR camera, and the seven shortlisted participants will each get prizes worth S$300 each.

Oh man. The first time when I heard the N.E.mation contest, I was “WOOOOh!” and then I read the details and it was only for those in secondary school. BOO HISS. I merely missed that requirement by a year or so back then. Year after year, I did check out the entries when they were first on TV Mobile (who remembers that?) and then on their websites.

It was pretty simple the first time and as the competition came again yearly, the quality improved like heck since all the schools started to gain more experience in knowing what to do for their students. Like, the amount of time they’d spend to do it and who to contact to teach said students about animation as an external course or enrichment programme before the competitions even started!

So here’s the thing. IF I CAN’T JOIN THE CONTEST ITSELF, it would be COOL if I got to the be the ambassador, non?

In the spirit of animation submissions EVERYWHERE. This is my blog post on the last day of the competition’s submission.

Also, a little video.

Heck, if I’m the N.E. Ambassador, you know I’ll go insane in documenting what the kids are up to. I have Octavius the Octopus to help me too in interviews, after all.

Hello everyone! I have joined the Ubud Flash fiction contest! It ends 24 September!

http://flashfiction.ubudwritersfestival.com/2010/08/a-million-years/

Click that! And give me a thumbs up! Only one person per click! If you’re on the same internet as your friend/family or something and they have voted, then you can’t click. SO PLEASE DO IT AT SOME OTHER LOCATION, AARGH.

That is all. Help spread the message!

Yes, my fellow fictioneers. Scholastic is giving out an Asian book award!

The main details can be found at their website here: http://scholasticbookaward.asia/

However, here are the short details!

Deadline: 31 December 2010

Entry submissions:

a. An official entry form, duly filled in.
b. Six copies of the manuscript (in case of a paper submission).
c. A recent photograph in soft copy on CD.
d. A short biography in not more than 100 words in soft copy on CD. In case of a translation,
the biography of both the author and the translator must be submitted.

Prizes

- Winner gets $10,000 and a plaque! The manuscript might also be considered for publication by Scholastic Asia!

- First and second runner ups get a plaque and advice by Scholastic Asia on editing it for publication!

Anyway, it says you can send the submission via email but that is slightly redundant or risky considering it might get “lost” in emails since you still have to send physical copies of your photo and bio on a CD. Plus, you still have to send in the entry form too anywho. The address is available on the website.

This cat has nothing to do with the award but I just wanted a graphic to separate the short details with what I think could be done. OK! My opinions and thoughts!

If you’ve read through the website, you need to remember that it needs to be set in an Asian setting! It is called Scholastic Asian book award for something. Keep your things in a listed order and don’t forget to submit all the things needed!

Even though it might cost more in post and printing of your submission, it’s best to do it instead of email because in the end it might get lost when your soft copy is sent separately from your hard copy stuff.

Oh and a tip? Print 1 of your manuscript and then get it photocopied at a shop. It’s always cheaper to get one printed at a shop and then the rest photocopied instead of printing all of the copies. It saves much moolah like that.

And that’s pretty much it. No word limit but try not to make it too long! Children should be your target audience and keep your language simple!

Howdy ya’ll. It’s that time of year again! The time where I go ahh that it’s nearly the mid year and what have I done and what costumes am I gonna make? Oh right, well, cosplay season is coming soon but meanwhile, literary wise and competition wise we have…

• The Singapore Literature Prize
• Script Frenzy
• 48 Hours film competition 2010 (Singapore)

Here we go!

Singapore Literature Prize 2010
Calling for Submissions from authors and publishers

The National Book Development Council of Singapore is pleased to announce that the biennial Singapore Literature Prize (SLP) will be awarded this year. The SLP 2010 is open to Singapore citizens and Permanent Residents whose works of fiction (novels or short stories) and poetry have been published in Singapore or abroad between January 2008 to December 2009 in any of the four official languages – English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil.

The closing date for submission is 24th May 2010, by 5pm.
For more information, please contact Jade Yong at jade@bookcouncil.sg.

Script Frenzy is an international writing event in which participants take on the challenge of writing 100 pages of scripted material in the month of April. As part of a donation-funded nonprofit, Script Frenzy charges no fee to participate; there are also no valuable prizes awarded or “best” scripts singled out. Every writer who completes the goal of 100 pages is victorious and awe-inspiring and will receive a handsome Script Frenzy Winner’s Certificate and web icon proclaiming this fact.

Just go check out their website! It’s a fun thing to do and oh yeah, I’m the municipal liaison for Singapore for this. It’s totally free anyway.

The 48 Hour Film Project, the world’s largest timed filmmaking competition, will tear through Singapore  April 30th – May 2nd, challenging Singapore filmmakers to complete the entire filmmaking process – from writing and casting to shooting and editing – in a mere 48 hours.

Registration is now open! Register your team today at the following link! http://www.48hfp.com/singapore

Exciting Event Updates:

We have exciting news to share: Avid has signed on board as a sponsor and will donate a Media Composer 4.0 for the City Winner and the Audience Choice Winner!

There is great stuff on the horizon for this year’s 48 HFP,  please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions. Singapore@48hourfilm.com

As for me, I don’t think I’ll be in it this year. HOWEVER, there’s going to be something else done though, heh heh.

Here’s the sitch. I need your help in voting for me before the deadline of the 24th March. Let me do the important details first.

To vote, you need to register. Yes, I hate when you need to register to vote especially when the form is lengthy.

Register here: http://www.360withoutborders.com/register.aspx (the link will open to a new window once you click that)

Yes, it’s lengthy and you don’t have to put your real phone number there cause why should they need it?! but please register so you can vote for me.

The second step is to find me. The website is HORRIBLY user unfriendly, PLEASE, please get through this though and find me at http://www.360withoutborders.com/NMAQuest/contestants.aspx . Some other contestants that I read who are asking votes from their friends have also stated this so yes, please get through. At the moment of this POST, I’m around page 4 however depending on how many votes I have, I’d move up and be on a different page! Ideally I should be on page 3 or less because there’s 15 top audience votes and 10 judge picks for a finalist of 25 people.

Vote for Sarah Coldheart! You’ll see my icon with the pink hair and horns from the last Nanowrimo Kick Off party. It should be obvious.

If the website is erroring on you, PLEASE try again later at least before the last day of the 24th. I can’t find the “contact” page to inform them if the website is broken so please be patient with this.

WHY do I want you to vote?

I’m putting it upfront, a copy paste of the prizes for me if you will.

Each *SCAPE New Media Ambassador will win:

• the title of *SCAPE New Media Ambassador 2010
• one return trip to London sponsored by Hard Rock Cafe (Singapore)
• one year StarHub mobile subscription (worth $6,000)
• one year Creative Services contract with GRID MMS at $500 per month

AND a private Golden Village movie screening that each winner can enjoy with 20 friends!

There you go but I don’t want to be an ambassador because of the prizes here. I want to be an ambassador because of YOU. Or rather the building. EVEN if I don’t win overall ambassador, I want to be top 25 so the people there will remember me, WHY?

Because of YOU GUYS or rather for some of you, because of NANOWRIMO and fiction writing. It’s no secret that we operate on no funds or donations or whatever since Nanowrimo is a volunteer thing. We, the municipal liaisons would save money or if we are able to, we can try for grants from the NAC but now is a matter of SPACE. We need a space to hold our writing sessions and you guys are all ages thus we want something family friendly! NOTE THE NEW SCAPE BUILDING!!

ARE YOU GETTING THE HINT?

If I can be an ambassador or at least one of the most memorable people in the finalists, perhaps I can find out and get a space for Nanowrimo 2010 and for other fiction writing events too! After all, besides Nano, there’s Script Frenzy OR we can even have our own local writing sessions and stuff there. And hold on there, aren’t you YOUTHS too? (And if you’re not a youth, you’re still a youth at heart, darn it!)

Being an ambassador will not be TRA LA LA fun with the prizes, no. There will be duties and such to do too, you know how I can work this thing out.

RESULTS will be on the 27th March so that isn’t too long of a wait too. SO PLEASE, help vote!

EDIT: The website is up again! Also currently on page 4!

No, I’m not holding one. I’ve got two here that’s FREE to enter, deadline is in January/February and email submissions are allowed. Click to read more of the details of these two.

• Love Kills: My Bloody Valentine Short Story Contest
• The First Line

Right!

Love Kills: My Bloody Valentine Short Story Contest
Winning stories selected & edited by Jessy Marie Roberts
Email entries (via docx, doc or rtf attachment)
to: lovekills@pillhillpress.com

Pill Hill Press is excited to announce its first writing contest. Winning stories will be published in a print anthology. Winners will receive:

1st Place – $125.00 + 1 contributor’s copy of the book
2nd Place – $50.00 + 1 contributor’s copy of the book
3rd Place – $25.00 + 1 contributor’s copy of the book
Runners-up – 1 contributor’s copy of the book

For more info, check their website here. Their deadline is in January.

The First Line

(The line to start with:)
Working for God is never easy.

Deadline: 1 February 2010

Okay, for the first line contest, you got to check their website here to get the details. Basically, you continue that first line and for fiction, it is 300-3000 words. Submit it to: submission (@) thefirstline (dot) com. That’s it! You get $20 US if it gets in the spring publication!

Just so you know, I’m doing Nanowrimo this year and it’s chic-lit. The starting is rubbish and I mean it’s worse than my usual silly ones because I haven’t gotten into the groove of being silly or not taking this thing seriously. I write best when I just write but at the moment, it’s not writing that much since I’m being serious so baaah.

Oh yeah, I installed a new plug in on WordPress and considering that I’m on my eeePC, I don’t have Photoshop on it so I just edited these screens on Paint. Click on the pictures to view it in its original size!

So yes, apparently I fell asleep when I was typing for the day’s wordcount. I have the vague sense that I knew what I was typing when I was asleep in a way that I felt the spelling and plot progression was right. Awake self says, “No” to non-awake me though.

And it goes on from there… Yes. This continues on for about six and a half pages of 9s. I was wondering why on earth did I have 22 pages when my usual word count for around 6000 words would be perhaps half of that. Or maybe around 15 pages or something.

And then somehow, I managed to continue to type after pages of 9s! No, I’m not even sure what I was typing although the end bit of me amused me muchly. A background info though, it IS supposed to be in the first point of view so that much is correct, I suppose.

Now, thankfully, there were no spaces in between my 9s so yes… Technically it was just one word. Before I slept, I had around 6300 or so words so the rest of the bunch that made up to 6600s was… Well, you can see what it was. I didn’t even take a screen shot of the point where I fell asleep since you can see the logic progression from awake-me to non-awake-me writing. And somehow non-awake-me managed to use word count and update my own account on Nano anyway.

Good grief.

]]> http://www.seriouslysarah.com/blog/2009/11/05/and-i-typed-on-apparently/feed/ 0 http://www.seriouslysarah.com/blog/2009/06/23/meanwhile-the-nokia-music-store/ http://www.seriouslysarah.com/blog/2009/06/23/meanwhile-the-nokia-music-store/#comments Tue, 23 Jun 2009 03:46:09 +0000 sarah http://www.seriouslysarah.com/blog/2009/06/23/meanwhile-the-nokia-music-store/

Click the thumbnail! This is my entry for Nuffnang-Nokia contest! Basically it says to make a story out of the songs available in the Singapore Nokia Music Store! Okay, so my story’s a bit morbid but it’s actually fun trying to write something with song lyrics.

Somehow I guessed a lot of people will make some story about music but then it hit me really, what if you had a song list track as if trying to give a hint what was happening and the only way to express yourself was in code or lyrics? Duh, duh, DUH. Thus, read my “story”.

Also, I realized you CAN get a lot of music from their store and if you actually had their comes with music phone… Woah then. Anywho…

Shake Up With Nokia Comes With Music!