WiP [Work in Progress]

Thoughts and ramblings of a Filipino author

BLOG TOUR: Maybe This Time by CP Santi

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maybethistime BANNER

Title: Maybe This Time: Stories of Love and Second Chances
Author: C. P. Santi
Genre: Contemporary romance / Short stories
Length: 16,000 words (3 stories of approximately 5k+ words each)

An accidental reunion . . . a sneaky plot . . . things finally falling into place.

Maybe This Time contains three heart-warming stories of love and second chances. Because when fate gives you a break, you grab the chance to finally make things right.

In Sweeter by the Second, when paintings conservator Rina David arrives for the Arts Festival in the heritage town of Jimenez, she’s reunited with Tony, the guy she once loved and lost. Now vice-mayor of Jimenez, Tony wants Rina back in his life and will do everything he can to convince her that they belong together.

1-sweeterbythesecond“I like seeing you in my bed.”

I frowned at the man who stood by the foot of the bed, a smug look on his face. “You like seeing me bedridden?”

Tony laughed and sat down. “Oh, Rin. I’ve forgotten how literal you are.” Shaking his head, he traced the bedcover’s crochet patterns with a finger. “No, I mean I like seeing you here . . . in my house, in my room. Not bad after what—ten years?”

I smirked. “Talk about delayed wish fulfillment.”

“Well, you’re here now.” Tony looked me straight in the eyes and smiled.

At that moment, I swear I felt weak at the knees.

Er . . . not entirely true. I’ve been feeling rather weak for the past three days—the effect of a bad case of food poisoning (damned roadside shawarma craving).

Ignoring the way my heart hitched in my chest, I rolled my eyes at him. “I knew it. This was all a plot to get me here.”

Tony chuckled. “Nu-uh, this is all on you, Miss Piggy . . . wandering off by yourself . . .”

“I wasn’t alone. Mimi was with me.” I was defensive. I’d just wanted a few hours by myself—to cope with Tony’s sudden reappearance in my life.

“Refusing my offer to drive you . . .”

“You had work!” I protested.

“And eating street food when a perfectly good dinner was waiting for you here.”

“I’m paying for my sins now. Happy?” Believe me, visiting the toilet every few minutes was torture.

“Tonying, stop pestering Rina.” Manang Dalma, Tony’s housekeeper came in the room and put a tray of steaming lugaw on the bedside table. “Here hija, see if you can keep this down.” She helped me sit up and handed me the bowl and a spoon. Frowning, she shooed Tony off, “Go and eat or your breakfast will get cold.”

“Opo.” Tony saluted her before he turned to leave. “Take good care of my girl, Manang.”

Laughing, he ducked to escape the balled-up napkin I threw at him.

 

2-exorcisingmyexPamela Quiroz hatches a plot to get her parents back together in Exorcising my Ex. But will a romantic Valentine’s Day dinner succeed in reconciling Geno and Viv? After all, it’s been more than fifteen years since they first got together and they aren’t the hormone-driven teenagers they once were. Will wine and cheese balls still do the trick?

3-meanttobeTorch, meet hand. Arne Weichmann has been waiting twenty-one years for Bea. Is it finally the right time to make his move and convince her that they are Meant to Be? He hopes so. Because he doesn’t think he’ll survive losing the one person who brought warmth and sunshine to his life.

Book trailer links:
(1) Sweeter by the Second >>> https://youtu.be/_lG4xj-quik
(2) Exorcising my Ex >>> https://youtu.be/zYV-cRG6GME
(3) Meant to Be >>> https://youtu.be/p9F7a0an4dM

Goodreads page:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30285920-maybe-this-time

About C. P. Santi:
C. P. Santi is a Filipina author based in Tokyo, Japan. She is a wife to an engineer / indie songwriter and a full-time mom to two energetic boys. She loves cooking and baking, and enjoys feeding people, gorging on chocolate, watching J-doramas, belting it out in the karaoke box, and running around the house playing tickle tag. She also loves dreaming up stories about the people she meets.
In another life, she is also an architect and academic.

Social Media links:
Blog: http://thejapayukichronicles.blogspot.jp
Twitter: https://twitter.com/arkiCpsanti
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CPsantiauthor?ref=hl
Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/user/cpsanti
Instagram: https://instagram.com/arkicpsanti/

#HeistClub: The Launch

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In November 2015, author and indie publisher Mina V. Esguerra facilitated an online workshop organized by Bronze Age Media and sponsored by Buqo and Enderun’s The Study.

The challenge for the Filipino author: Write tales of dark pathways and mysterious psyches, misdemeanor and trouble, dread and doubt. The story should be a Case # 1 (there’s a hint of a sequel or better yet, a series), set in the Philippines, and written in English.

#HeistClub came alive with writer-participants being guided by invaluable tips and lessons from mentors Jennifer Hillier (author of Creep and Freak), F.H. Batacan (author of Smaller and Smaller Circles), forensic anthropologist R.J. Taduran, life/non-life insurance executive Kevin Uy, Juliet Grames of Soho Press, and Atty. Andrea Pasion-Flores of Jacaranda Literary Agency.

At the end of the month-long workshop, sixteen crime stories were produced. They were released in three ebook bundles on Buqo in late January this year.

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#HeistClub: Why We Run

  • Bayawak’s Trail by Justine Camacho-Tajonera
  • The Fraud Hunter Book 1: Chasing an ATM Schemer by Racquel Sarah A. Castro
  • The Retreat by Yeyet Soriano
  • Come With Me by Michael Recto
  • Inertia by Sette Luis

#HeistClub: What We Fear

  • Till Death Do Us Apart by Irene Recio
  • Soul Makers by Jee Ann Guibone
  • Classified by Georgette S. Gonzales
  • High Stakes by Ana Valenzuela
  • Dressed to Kill by Cassandra Javier

#HeistClub: What We Hide

  • Snakehead by Bianca Mori
  • Sampaguita by Mark Manalang
  • Let’s Play Murder by Farrah F. Polestico
  • Corpus Delicti by Porcupine Strongwill
  • The Flame Squad: Sly Prince by Jessica E. Larsen
  • The Gung Ho Lady by Arlene Manocot

Come June 25, 2016, the sixteen stories will be officially launched to the public. Most of the #HeistClub authors will be present at The Study by Enderun, 4th Floor, The Podium, Ortigas Center, from 6 to 9 in the evening. Interviews, reading of excerpts and swag await guests.

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Ten of the sixteen will also be launching the standalone versions of their crime stories on Buqo, Kindle, Smashwords, and in print.

For more details, check out our Facebook Event Page and our Facebook Fan Page.

BLOG TOUR: Old Enemies Make The Best Lovers by Kate Sebastian

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Christy Martinez may have been a nerd and the number one victim for the mean girls in her high school, but she’s since grown up, gone to college, and carved out a successful career for herself. Now in her late 20s, she’s put high school behind her, only to be blindsided by a blast from her past.

She and her friends have planned a much-needed vacation, but she finds out at the last minute that they’ll be joined by uber rich and gorgeous Kyle Quinto. He just happens to be the guy who played a cruel trick on her in high school, breaking her heart and making her a target for bullying in the process.

Can Christy forgive and forget? Because Kyle is a whole lot of hot.

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Not the best start to a road trip…

“You don’t mind sitting up front, do you?” Victor asked Christy. He smiled. “I’ll introduce you to Kyle.”
“Actually,” she said, glancing toward the car, where she could see the outline of her nemesis’s head and shoulders on the driver’s side, “we’ve met. Ages ago. He was a couple of years ahead of me in high school.”
Victor’s eyebrows winged up, and he grinned. “What a coincidence.”
“Not a happy one,” she muttered.
“Sorry?”
“Nothing,” she said hastily. “I’m all good.”
He closed the rear door on the SUV and led the way back to the front, where he opened the passenger side door. “Hey, Kyle, this is Christy. I think you know her from high school? She’ll be sitting up front so my girl and I can neck in the backseat.” This was punctuated by a “Woohoo!” from Tracy, which had Christy grinning even as she came face-to-face with the specter of her high school horror days.
Even though a dozen years had passed since she’d last seen him, she still recognized Kyle Quinto. And she was sorry to see that his Facebook photo—in which he’d looked buff, tanned, and absolutely yummy—had been a recent one. A small part of her had hoped he’d be fat and balding prematurely, but he had a full head of black hair any woman would enjoy running her fingers through, and the white button-down shirt he was wearing did little to hide his flat stomach. She was doubly glad she’d gone shopping that week.
He was wearing shades, so she couldn’t see his eyes. It was too bad because she would have liked to be able to gauge the sincerity of the roguish smile he gave her. “Christina Martinez,” he drawled. “Now that’s a blast from the past.”

Read/Buy Links:

Amazon (Kindle): http://bit.ly/OEMTBL-Amazon
Barnes & Noble (Nook): http://bit.ly/OEMTBL-BN
iBooks: http://bit.ly/OEMTBL-iTunes
Smashwords: http://bit.ly/OEMTBL-Smash
Buqo: http://bit.ly/OEMTBL-Buqo
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/OEMTBL-Goodreads

Author Bio:

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Kate Sebastian has been crafting stories since she was tiny. She spent her childhood reimagining classic fairy tales and inventing new ones, then having her dolls and stuffed toys reenact them in elaborate sets she built by rearranging the furniture in her house.

She earns a good living as a writer, editor, and online content admin but decided to try her hand at writing romance since she reads so much of it.

For more updates, visit www.katesebastian.com, like Kate’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/katesebastianauthor and follow her on Twitter @ImKateSebastian.

Follow links:

Website: http://katesebastian.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katesebastianauthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ImKateSebastian
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8202657.Kate_Sebastian
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Kate-Sebastian/e/B01AZLX1U4

Your editor is your worst best friend

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I have been asked:
1) Mabait ba akong editor? (Am I kind as an editor?)
2) May mare-recommend ba ako na mabait na editor? (Can I recommend an editor who is kind?)

I have no idea what things authors consider that would make an editor mabait (kind). I think to some, it means the editor almost rewrites the work to beautify it, effectively relieving the author of revision labors. To others (or in this day and age, this would be most young writers), it means only some or hardly any comments or corrections are given, most preferably none at all which assures the author that his/her work is intact.

Intact regardless of quality.

Editing an English language document

From www.emaze.com via Google images

Dear up and coming authors, an editor who does nothing to your manuscript does not care about you or your work. No, sirree. Because to be effective, an editor must be ruthless and unforgiving. To be of help, s/he has to be detached from your story (and you) so s/he can nitpick every grueling detail so that your manuscript does not end up with loopholes and issues that you missed and which s/he should have addressed.

Dear up and coming author, if you do not care for an editor, that means you care not for your manuscript although I have to hand it to you, you have more than enough care for your ego. Yes, you are being egotistical by wanting your manuscript to remain intact. Because that means you are shielding your work from scrutiny and therefore any issue, loophole or mistake will remain because you do not know they are there. Or you do not care that they are there.

I am an author before becoming an editor which is why I understand that our manuscripts are our babies. That is why we are protective of them. But we also do bring our babies to doctors, to pediatricians who diagnose and ensure the health of our children. If your child is found to be sick, wouldn’t you want meds prescribed for him/her? Vitamins? Therapy? Wouldn’t you want your child to get better?

Of course, you do. And you should.

An editor is to your manuscript as a pediatrician is to your child. We all want what is best for our baby/ies. No parent or doctor (a legit one, mind you, because there are unlicensed quacks around) would intentionally bring harm to your baby. Remember that. And while your editor can be your worst nightmare, s/he can also truly be your best friend.

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