Category: writing

this is huge i think

Back in October I sent an entry to the Pinoy Story Writing Contest, backed by the National Book Development Board (NBDB) and the Filipinas Heritage Library (FHL).

I remember pestering a friend about which MRT station I should get off on to get to the NBDB building (“Eto ‘yung pink na building di ba? Sa may Q Ave?“). In the end I decided I was too lazy to walk and just sent the entire thing via courier. A little more than a hundred pages, this tome called Lower Myths: Two Stories. I wished it luck and bid it adieu.

Near the end of November I heard that an awarding had been held in Greenbelt. Strangely enough, the NBDB website still didn’t carry the complete list of winners.

I looked at my manuscript (soft copy) again and wondered, So okay. You didn’t win. What the fuck am I going to do with you now?

* * *

Yesterday I received a text from Ms Dianne of NBDB, saying I should call the NBDB office.

Apparently I won.

Horror/Crime, Suspense category.

WHAT.

* * *

I’ve contacted Ms Anne of FHL. Let’s see what happens next. Publication? I don’t know.

Howee. ♥

may ilaw na!

Ohai sparkles!


I think that cauldron-like thingy is supposed to symbolize knowledge (or something), but it just looks sinister. Ergo, cool.

(This, on the other hand, is sinister and not cool.)

Friday was dinner and then Quezon Hall to view the lights, Saturday was dinner and a short visit to Sarah’s. There was a man there at another table; I was pretty sure he was a writer and that I saw him at the Palanca Awards, but fuck me if I can remember. I’m so bad with names. (I can’t even recall the names of the people we were drinking with.) (Oh, I remember Bai – did I spell that right? – and Melai – did I spell that right?) (Melai worked in the media too and knew my Journ friends at GMA so that’s cool.)

Somewhere between Friday and Saturday was a marathon of True Blood and Sex and the City and a quiet break with The Beauty Myth and Holidays on Ice and a gazillion notes on three stories (one in-progress) and a poem. So, so, so many notes. Now if I can only string them fragments together.

BUT I’ve heard that Jaykie’s sister left a bag of chocolates with my name on it, because you know if you like it then you should definitely put your name on it, so life is good. Thank you.

really quick

Today, in the (e)mail:

 

Dear Eliza,

We are delighted to accept your story, ‘Monsters’, for publication in Philippine Speculative Fiction 5.

Kindly accomplish and submit the attached


I’m on it, I’m on it!

(Howee.)

♥

book swap!

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More photos here

Tagged along with Kate and Andrea to meet up with Kat (known online as purplerevolt – I believe she writes really well). Book swap night! I got Kat Revolutionary Road and Big If, and I got Clinton Palanca’s Landscapes and David Sedaris’s Holidays on Ice.

* * *

While rummaging through old notes (I was looking for my earlier jottings for a story I wanted to write) I found the notebook containing the very first drafts of the Reportage poems.

It’s funny how you forget the amount of work that went into your pieces. How in the world was I able to survive writing all these lines?

It boggles the mind.

How easily the land accepts departuresvictims

The Christian God brought ten plagues

notes

Perhaps there is beauty in holding your daughter close

prayer

The reporter stands

reportage2

reportage

The poems are now available on the Palanca website! Click here.

Er, the formatting’s making me OC, but what the hell, at least the collection’s complete. ;)

Thank you Ms Catherine Walder for the head’s up, and for the kind words about “I Am the City”. (Eeeeh. ♥)

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More photos here

Home. Finally. Cake from the sister, Vicky Christina Barcelona in the DVD player, goofing off with the brothers. Parents are both well. Jaykie as (virtual) company. “I Am the City” accepted by Expanded Horizons for their November issue. (I’m a “repeat author” y’all!) November 1st came and the sun was up and about, oh yes, the day looking ridiculously beautiful. Good times, good times.

Thanks to all those who greeted me.

Let’s talk about the weight gain later.