WiP [Work in Progress]

Thoughts and ramblings of a Filipino author

Enough already…

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image from http://love.catchsmile.com

i think youngsters these days have less good examples to learn from compared with our generation when we were their ages. why? well, with the difficulty we all experience in life, not a lot of families can afford to have only one parent working while the other stays home to look after the kids. left to their devices, kids pick up stuff from the TV, the internet, their friends and let’s face it, not everything they learn is good for them. ganoon na nga ang sitwasyon, bihira pa na may naroon to make sure that the youngsters absorb only what can help them grow and improve as individuals.

of course, there might be, for some, older relatives (aunts/uncles, older siblings, yaya, tutor) who are requested/tasked to take over some parental duties; and sure, not all parents are ideal either. but whatever the case, parents are still the best givers of guidance for their children.

and so we find kids, teenagers, who are constantly griping about life. who complain endlessly about what they don’t have or can’t achieve or who doesn’t love them. and while they have our sympathy, one simply can’t empathize with them for too long or at all because they seem to enjoy wallowing in such depression. we, as the older more experienced generation, try to give advise on what to do, how best to react, why things turn out the way they did and that sometimes, it’s okay to be not okay. sometimes, or more often than not, our advice falls on deaf ears.

and then there are the tweens who are just as bad, some even worse.

what, backbone doesn’t exist for these people? no one has taught them how to have a backbone? *sigh* how sad.

why am i writing a blog on this? because i’m kinda tired of how instead of giving encouraging words, these tweets and FB statuses actually evoke further heartache. rub the salt in much deeper, why don’t you?

in these times of troubled minds, let’s just help each other, ya? let’s invoke good vibes instead of bad. again, it’s okay to be not okay, it’s just not okay to make a lifestyle out of being not okay.

My Agenda 2013

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It’s the new year. Uso na naman ang new year’s resolutions and/or things I want to accomplish. Of course, inggetera that I am, makikigaya ako. Not that I’ve never written down resolutions before but well, I’ve kinda stopped kasi I guess if there’s no list, then I’d have every excuse not to accomplish anything. But not this time. This time, I want to accomplish what I’ll write down as my 2013 agenda. Really. So I’ll make my goals simple.

image from http://mommynadia.blogspot.com

On Writing…

I want to be able to finish twenty-four manuscripts. That’s two manuscripts a month. I’d been targeting twenty-four manuscripts a year since two years ago. I haven’t even been able to reach even half that goal. Yeah, pffft! But really, I do want to achieve this as this means I’ll be able to pay up a lot of backlogged payables. ehehe… So, to start off, I have lined up, for January, those two manuscripts that have been hanging for the past three or four months. Darnit, yes, it’s been that long. And I need to finish editing that translation, cutting down at least 32 pages, in the next two days. Whew…

How do I do this? I mean writing the new work… I will devote regular hours from Monday to Friday to writing, finishing at least 3k words daily. Or more, if I can. Parang office lang. May routine.

By the way, I just want to clarify. MS count is based on 1 MS = approximately 20k words (or thereabouts) or 96-98 pages. So if I finish a story for a Premium book, I’ll count that as two manuscripts accomplished.

On Reading…

I think one of the reasons why I’d been having difficulty writing is because I’ve kinda skipped my reading. I have stacks of books at home, all under the someday I will get to read you pile. Well, that someday has got to be today. After my daily writing hours, I shall spend the rest of the day reading a book. Whether or not I finish the book by the time my eyes are ready to pop out doesn’t matter. I just need to read. Tom Clancy, here I come!

Personal…

I. Need. To. Lose. Weight. Seriously. I know my back problems, my knee and ankle problems are all because I’m too heavy for my frame. And that heart flutter I’d been complaining about? Nah! It’s not because of a naked Joe Manganiello. It’s the extra weight. Still. Besides, dad and mom challenged me to lose weight. Sabi ni Mudrakels, kailangan pumayat ako in the same percentage na ililiit ng bagong kotse ko (na bibilhin nila for me) mula kay Pjay. If you’re not familiar, my old car, Pjay is a 3-door 4WD Pajero. I’m getting a Hyundai i10 as a replacement. From SUV to teeny tiny 4-door sedan. It’s like asking me to slim down to how I was 13 years ago…  So, we’re talking XXX humongous pounds. God help me.

The Kitsch Girls and I are going ot Korea with some friends this May. And I’m hoping to accompany my sweets Elise to HK/Macau in August but we’ll probably have one of our Baguio-PMA lamyerda hopefully before I go back to Dumaguete (did I mention I’m currently in Manila?) this Feb. Oh, and we’ll joyride the PNR to Naga, too, likely sometime June, when I get back from Korea. I’d like to be able to go back to Singapore, too, and just play yaya to my pamangkins. Celebrating my birthday there sounds like a good idea…

That’s about it, I guess. I won’t talk about lovelife. That part is something that I prefer to just leave to fate.

So there. My 2013 Agenda. Ulitin ko lang, God help me… 🙂

Thank you 2012

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Thank you 2012

so what was 2012 like?

i experienced two natural catastrophes in the form of an earthquake (February) and a cyclone (December). i got robbed of 500k … Vietnamese Dong (roughly equivalent to US$25) when the cabbie ran off with my change. i got my first taste of international flight outside of the ASEAN countries with my pilgrimage trip to Israel. i turned 40 and celebrated it kiddie style at a mcdonald;s fast food. i wrote my first gothic romance novel which got released exactly on my birthday. spent lovely quality time with my family for three glorious weeks for the holidays. unable to reach my quota of manuscripts for the year.

not bad.

and so, a few hours before 2012 comes to a close. i raise my eyes to the dark night sky and thank God for the months, weeks, days past. i will look forward to the light the new dawn brings and pray for blessings to litter the coming of the year. cheers to a brighter, better, bigger 2013!

Holiday Greetings

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Christmas-quotes-1

Of course, I’m riding with the bandwagon. Why shouldn’t I? It’s Christmas! The time to bring cheer, spread love, and think warm and happy thoughts about family, friends and loved ones. I’m going to do that now before I get busy with family stuff later.

First off… MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!! I wish you all the happiest this holiday season. And if you’ve one reason not to be happy… I guess all other reasons to be happy could cancel that out. After all, just being alive should make you happy, right?

So, how does one have a Merry Christmas? Let me count the ways…

Family
Had been more than a couple of years since we spent Christmas together on a vacation spree. Last time was in 2008 when we went to Hong Kong. This time, we spent it in Dumaguete and Cebu and now, in Manila. Thank you God, for bringing us together. Thank you for keeping us together in spirit the rest of the year. This goes for the rest of our family and relatives who are scattered around the country and the globe – my foster brothers, aunts and uncles, cousins, second cousins, etc. etc. to the nth degree of consanguinity.

Friends
There’s my BFF Queng (Carla G/Angel B), my sweets Denise (the Sentinels Diyosa Elise), the Bitches of the Oblong Table (Gay & Pam), my Wiccan Sisters (BARATBEYT!!!), Inday Ivy, friends from long ago who’ve stood by me throughout the years (my kumareng Dinky and my Powerpuff Gals Te & Koni, and more), new friends I found on Multiply, FB and Twitter who made my social world all the more colorful, the friends I’ve made in my new home in Dumaguete/Sibulan, heck, even the parents and the rest of the family of my closest friends are there… I can go on and on and name names and still forget to mention so many more. Hayy… Such blessings these people are. Such joy. 🙂

My Kids
I’ve mentioned this time and again. I’m single, never been married, never been pregnant, but I do have kids. Lots of them. I might not be as close to many of them as I am with some, I’m not in touch with all of them but some, but I still love them all. Mommy/Nanay wishes she can hug you all tonight. Virtual hugs will do for now, I guess. 🙂

My Job
Okay, so it’s not very lucrative but it’s my fault. I chose to go freelance but I’m just soooo…. lazy. ahehe! But my publisher, my editors, they’re still the best! I love you Bookware!

My life is blessed. Thank you, Lord. And as we await the coming of the New Year, I wish everyone a happy and love-filled season.

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

On Writing Love Scenes

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Our little miss editor, Apple Masallo has a new update on her helpful blog. I’ve copied down what she calls the ‘Love Scene Sins’ ® and I’m putting down some thoughts after each item.

1) Thou shalt add many ‘tension’ scenes before the LS takes place.

We are writing about people. Men and women who have feelings. They won’t just shed their clothes and start pumping without any sort of interlude. Even dogs sniff each other’s butts as a manner of foreplay before they get into it, ya know?

2) Thou shalt not add a love scene just for the heck of it.

One reader commented on one of my novels, cute lang, bakit walang LS? I said, kailangan ba? It works without the LS, why should I put it in? You see, yes, sex sells. But is that all you want readers to read from your work? What about the big story? What about the romance?

3) Thou shalt not use medical terms for body parts.

It’s not romantic to be reading about a hero running the skin covering his phalanges over the heroine’s mammary glands. Or maybe the heroine getting a kick out of biting the hero’s labium inferius oris. You get what I mean.

4) Thou shalt concentrate on the emotions and thoughts of the characters, and not on the mechanical descriptions of love making.

Readers need to feel with your characters. They have enough imagination to see the scene without you having to describe minute by minute what your couple is doing. You’re not writing a manual for lovemaking. Show. Don’t tell.

5) Thou shalt add more tender scenes like staring into each other’s eyes, touching faces, kissing nose or temple.

6) Thou shalt use ‘tamer’ words in place of the intimate body parts.

7) Thou shalt use English narratives when describing parts of the scene that may sound offensive or vulgar in Tagalog.

8) Thou shalt not write a love scene concerning taboo topics like rape, incest, infidelity, voyeurism, sadism, exhibitionism, etc.

9) Thou shalt not write too many love scenes in one novel.

For points 5 through 9, always put the ‘kilig’ in the intimacy. Remember we are writing romance, not erotica. Think Judith McNaught. Something like Judith Krantz is already too much. Taboo is waaaay over over overboard. Not a lot of people are comfortable reading p**p** or t*** or s**o. Yes, they’re body parts and technically, they’re not entirely bastos but you have to admit, they do sound vulgar in our language. We’re not saying don’t do it. Just look for a publication that caters the more extreme versions of love scenes.

10) Thou shalt write only what you are comfortable to read.

Or else, you will end up writing stuff that are less than favorable for other readers to read as well. This doesn’t just apply to writing love scenes. Applies to writing in general too.

So… what are you waiting for? Go write. 🙂

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