1. i am a writer now. I do lots of writing. yay!
2. it is a happy sight for me to be able to write poems and nonfiction. actually, i also have some fiction, but it is still under heavy editing and stuff.
3. years before, i looked up at the people who get published in young blood three, four times. i looked up at people who get published. so i worked my ass hard. i worked so hard that i cried at my rejections and failures. then i learned how to steel myself against them. the first lesson that i learned in writing is that one can get rejected 100 times before getting accepted. there is no glamour in writing, there is only blood, tears and a metric —-ton of —-ing sweat. Add fear for some spice…
4. the only thing that has been lacking as far as I my immediate targets are concerned, is that i do not have a book. i try to improve my art. i read a lot, i try to keep myself abreast of today’s issues and i try to keep an open eye. writing requires knowing the age that one is in – after all, even though literature may not necessarily give a message – we are still the product of the age that we live in, no?
5. now, i want to be a writer who does impact on people’s lives. if i succeed in this, i would be super, duper happy.
6. i started writing because i had almost no friends. i started writing as a way to push back against the ideals of the old generation, those ideals that do not have currency in this world today. i started writing to express myself.
7. the next step for me is to finish my Master’s Degree in Creative Writing. as if it will give me job security in this age when people put MBA, PhD, LPT, MD, BRP, LPG and all those abbreviations at the end of their names together. hahahaha.
8. so far, i got published in Young Blood, Young Star, ALPAS Journal, the Philippines Graphic, tons of gaming sites (though to be honest, i just write for one or two of them now and focused my free time on doing writing outside of games), some magazines abroad and as i said, i want to get my book published soon. then one day, maybe a best-seller or two, so that i can just sit down at home and write and do it as my job!
9. i also like playing computer games. some may find the combination of a writer, gamer and a teacher weird. but hey, at least i try to be responsible – or look responsible and own up to the things that i am accountable for.
10. i am not a saint. it irks me off when people put too much expectations on me. i am not someone whom you would want to put on a pedestal. i hate it when people make different standards for me. why can’t i be the person that i am? if you do not like me and the real “me”, then —- off and go back to your nest.
11. i am not keen to be characterized under a ///label/// writer, such as ‘local writer’, ‘young writer’, etc. i would rather be simply a writer. and if God wills it, then maybe, just maybe, a good writer.
12. i am just a person who tries to have a simple life. i want to live in the province if my writing can keep me alive. i have no intentions whatsoever of being a starving writer. —- that.
13. #UPFight #AlabUP #BawalUmiyakUP #NowhereToGoButUP
14. my favorite author is George Orwell. i do not know why i like him, but i have read “Keep the Aspidistra Flying”, “1984”, “Down and Out in Paris and London”, “Animal Farm”, “Homage to Catalonia”, “Essays” and a ton of other works that he has written. he is real. i like the reality of his writings. in this age of “big bro”, he is very effing relevant.
15. i have a ton of books at home. they are so plentiful that i sometimes lose track of them. i spent thousands of pesos buying them. guess it is one of my few vices, along with playing too much computer games, travelling a lot and eating tons of dessert.
16. give me dessert and i will be a happy man.
17. going back to 10, this does not mean that i am closed for improvement. in fact, i love learning new things and unlearning things that are wrong. let me learn at my pace, okay? i totally detest it when someone forces me to do so.
18. being a human, i am also partial. i am subjective. i pretend that i am objective, but in reality, i have a lot of biases. one of them is a girl named Melike. i love her. i am willing to go beyond for her. well, hi Bitanem! <3
19. i want her to be happy. i also want to be happy. together. yay!
20. i still believe that the world is a simulation where each one of us has a different set of objectives to finish. i also believe that writing is a never-ending journey. i want the journey to be positive, beneficial and something that will, again, make me and the people around me happy – plus make them think about things. that is what writing, or in the old people’s tongues, “Belles-lettres”, right?
21. if i get readers, that will be great. if i am able to change one reader’s perspective, then that’s good enough for me. i know that not everyone can be Stephen King or Haruki Murakami, so i am realistic. i just hope that the way to go is up and when it is time to go down, it will be graceful and fruitful!
22. thanks for reading 21 items of crap about writing, myself and some odd issues. hope you enjoyed it. hahaha, so classic, no?
