Tuti And I - Part 1: Working with Al-Ameen and getting the book out.

In The Name of Allah, The Most Merciful, The Most Compassionate

It would have been wonderful if I had scanned the raw version of 'Tuti And I' and shared it via my blog. Unfortunately, I did not get down to doing that. Anyway, if anyone is interested to know, the first penned version of 'Tuti And I' still exists in the hubby's notebook. Back in Singapore after 'That Lombok Backpacking Trip', the hubby and I got down to business. I do not remember whether I had mentioned before that my brother-in-law was the initial connection to my publisher, Al-Ameen. He has been working with Al-Ameen on various projects one being an illustrator for book covers that Al-Ameen publish. So the brother-in-law introduced us to the heir of Al-Ameen, Luqman.

One of the challenges that I faced in the process of putting this book together was that, it was quite a chore to facilitate direct communication with Al-Ameen and receive immediate responses because Al-Ameen was based in Malaysia KL. As a result, the hubby and I had to travel up and down KL quite a bit. We spent December hols in KL due to work and keeping up to date with al-meen and my illustrator. Sometimes, over the weekend after a busy week, we had to go to KL too. It was tiring! It was really kind of Luqman to have come to meet us for our very first discussion about 'Tuti And I'. On top of that, we received good news from Luqman that Al-Ameen was looking out for children's books in the English language to publish. I was on top of the world! I mean, I could not believe that the window of opportunity was so near within my reach! Luqman told us, it would be better if we could make a trip up to KL to speak to Che Mazlan, the boss of Al-Ameen.

We got ourselves a brilliant illustrator, Iman, who was an illustrator and creative artist in his own right! He had his own way of working and I must admit that he had put in a spot many a times with his delay in meeting deadlines. Iman had a terrible thing going with deadlines. Please, do not get me wrong. Initially, I found it difficult to adapt to Iman's working style. When he first read my story, he was bursting with ideas! I was intrigued but eventually, I got lost in his ideas and thoughts. He was too complex and quick for me to keep up with. Believe it or not, he MIA-ed for a period of time. Then when we managed to contact him again, he revealed that he had spent a few days in the jungle to learn about the colours of the leaves and branches in order to be able to bring that into his illustrations for 'Tuti And I'. Even at the very last minute when it was time for us to hand in our final manuscript for the contract to be signed, Iman was still working on last-minute changes in his drawings. Once I got to really understand him, I did not feel the jitters about meeting deadlines anymore. I eventually understood that Iman needed his own time to work and work to the very best. Up till now, I cannot imagine having someone else as my illustrator. Nobody could depict 'Tuti' and his surroundings as well as Iman could. Iman's a prodigy.

So, with the opportunity practically knocking at our door, did we manage to get 'Tuti And I' out?

Tune in to 'Tuti And I - Part 2: 'Tuti And I' is real!

I thank Allah first and last for without His Mercy, nothing is Possible, nothing is Blessed.
All praise and thanks be to Allah, My Lord - Jaslina