Elizabeth Gilbert on Writing

Here's a video I snagged from Benjamin Parzybok (Couch). I don't necessarily agree with everything that Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love) mentions but still a good talk:

Realms of Fantasy - Good News for International Authors

This just came in and gives you one less reason to not submit to US markets (if you're living outside the US). Oh, and the submission guidelines for Realms of Fantasy can be found here.

From Slushmaster:

Hey Folks,

You may recall a recent flurry of activity on my blog regarding postal submissions vs. email submissions in the world of short story submissions. I left the comments threads open to discussion, but I stressed that you shouldn’t expect any change in Realms of Fantasy’s submission policies. I meant it too. But that didn’t mean change was impossible.

Shawna and I have discussed the matter, and we’ve decided to implement the following change: if you are submitting to us from outside the U.S.A., if you provide a working email address, we will reply to your submission via email. If you want your manuscript returned to you however, you must still provide the necessary postage. An editorial response will be included when we mail your submission back to you. Otherwise, please feel free to take advantage of this change in policy.

While this policy change does not address all the concerns people have raised regarding postal submissions, it does accomplish the following:

1) If you live in a country that doesn’t have or makes it difficult to procure International Reply Coupons, this will no longer be a problem.

2) If your country does have IRCs, it hopefully means fewer trips to the post office.

3) After we’ve reviewed your submission, it should mean a faster reply time.

4) Provided you don’t wish your manuscript returned to you, you are no longer responsible for the cost of providing return postage.

We will honor those submissions currently in the slush employing IRCs, as well as those in the mail that have yet to reach us. We’ll even honor those sent to us in the future, but for the time being there is no need to use them anymore.

I say “for the time being,” because right now Shawna and I have elected to make this change an open-ended trial period. We want to see how everything unfolds over the next few months. We expect it to go smoothly, or we wouldn’t be making this change at all. So assuming there are no unforeseen hitches, there is a very real possibility we will make this change permanent. If this happens, I will announce as much on my blog. If the experiment proves unsuccessful, I’ll also announce as much on my blog, meaning Realms would then go back to the old method. Should this happen, we will honor any international submissions in transit without return postage. We would also provide an unspecified grace period for international authors while we revert back to the old way.

Please note: THIS DOES NOT MEAN WE ARE OPEN TO EMAIL SUBMISSIONS. At this time, Realms of Fantasy has no plans to open up to email submissions. If you opt to send us your submission via email anyway, it will be deleted unread.

Please also note: THIS CHANGE IN POLICY ONLY APPLIES TO INTERNATIONAL AUTHORS. If you live in the U.S. and fail to provide postage for our reply, your submission will go unanswered. If you live in the U.S. and are currently grumbling how unfair this is, please remember that international authors will still be spending more money than you to submit their stories to us, and it still takes longer for their stories to arrive, meaning we end up reading your masterpieces first. The least Realms can do is make an honest attempt to accommodate the international community in this one regard.

This trial policy is effective immediately, so you can start taking advantage of it at your earliest convenience.

I hope this answers all of your questions. If I’ve missed anything, feel free to ask about it in the comments thread. If you do have a question, please read the comments thread first, to make sure the question hasn’t been asked already.

Thank you.

Greg van Eekhout on Writing

Just listened to the latest episode of Adventures in Scifi Publishing and here's one statement from Greg van Eekhout that struck me:

Shaun Farrel: What encouragement do you have for people who still haven't had those sales? What do you have to say to them as they're still banging their heads?

Greg van Eekhout: What I told myself is that I want to do it, I know it's possible to do it, it's probably just a matter of time. The limiting factor is the amount of energy and spirit I have to continuously fail, and writing--not just publishing--writing itself is a process of continuous failure. Every time I write a sentence, it's not the pristine sentence I had in my head. It's a failure. Every time you submit something and it doesn't come back with, you know, yes Banana, we'll give you money for this. It's failure. It really is, it's very easy to quit.

What I keep telling myself is that every day that I write, every day I don't quit, I beat the thousand people that quit that day, and I beat the ten thousand people who never even tried that day.

Now there's not a thousand people who quit everyday probably, not ten thousand who never try. It's not literally a contest but especially when I was in my 20's and just really trying to get into that first publication, framing it into that kind of competitive nature actually helped me but it's not actually a competition. You don't have to take out other writers in the kneecaps or anything like that. Just keep trying, keep trying as long as you're getting some fun or joy or satisfaction from it, keep doing it. And honestly, if it's making you miserable, stop. Life's too short to do something that makes you miserable. There are many, many other things you can do that will be fulfilling. Do those things but otherwise, keep going.

I'm now off to break some kneecaps... (I keep a sledge hammer hidden in my backpack)

Essay: You’re Not Reading Enough Short Stories

Every Wednesday, I have an essay on any topic that catches my fancy!

I’m one of those people who’s been fortunate (or unfortunate, depending on how you perceive the entire incident) to pursue a degree in Creative Writing. My one criticism of my four year course is that I feel I didn’t read enough stories. Majority of my classes were focused on the craft of writing—and I had great teachers. However, little were the classes wherein we tackled either short stories or novels. Which is a big shame.

Now I don’t pretend to speak for everyone but I can only talk about my own writing process. What inspired me to write in the first place was by reading books. How I learned to truly write is by reading books. Aside from actually writing, one indirect way I strive to improve myself is by reading books. It seems like a simple formula yet it’s all too easy to take for granted.

One of my goals is to churn out well-written short stories. Yet the fact of the matter is, especially early on in life, I wasn’t reading short stories. I don’t know why but aside from children’s books, most readers get weaned on novels. I’ve talked to some aspiring writers of the short story format and many of their reading lists involves novels. Which isn’t bad (at least they’re reading) but a short story writer uses different tools (although some tools overlap) compared to a novelist. That’s not to say you can’t learn from novels, but I’d expect a short story author would learn more from other short stories.

A problem I think is that many aspiring authors really want to write novels but instead end up writing short stories. It could be the time and length constraint involved in writing a novel. Or perhaps an effect of the local writing scene where there’s greater chances of a short story being published as opposed to a novel. Or if you’re taking a writing class, the reality that your teacher will never ask you to submit a novel but instead require his or her students to submit short stories for evaluation.

Format however matters. Let’s take the genre horror. Now horror for me is unique because you can pin down one consistent intent among all horror writers: to scare the reader. It can elicit other emotions throughout the narrative such as pain, grief, or joy—but a good horror story needs at the very least to disturb the reader once you reach the end. How this horror is executed varies depending on whether you’re a novel or a short story. An author will use different techniques in scaring the reader in a novel where the suspense might be long and protracted. In a short story, there’s more room to experiment and one can deliver an impacting tale that might not have otherwise worked in a longer form.

Lately, I’ve been trying to immerse myself with short fiction, to learn what works and what doesn’t. I just find it peculiar that there is a lack of enthusiasm for reading short stories among aspiring short story writers in the Philippines, unless it is required reading for their classes.

Here’s one word of warning however. One pitfall an aspiring writer might fall into is to simply keep reading (or researching as the case may be) and never end up writing anything. I’m not saying reading is bad but if it’s your goal to become a writer, then you’d better pick up that pen and start writing. What you’ll eventually write might be horrible but that’s part and parcel of being a writer.

My other caveat is also to be wary of reading bad short stories. That’s not to say you shouldn’t—sometimes, the best way to learn how to write is to examine how a technique or method doesn’t work. But I’m the type of person who tends to absorb what they read and if you read too much horrible fiction, they might seep into your writing. I remember when I first started writing seriously, my stories were filled with needless adverbs drawn from reading too much Tom Swift.

So, to aspiring short story writers, what short stories have you read lately?

Daniel Abraham on Plot

I'd have plugged this sooner but...

Report on the Symposium: Plot

Brownie points if you can identify all the fantasy references.

Repeat After Me: Ideas Are Not Stories

So I'm reading the Tales of Enchantment and Fantasy anthology and I run across a story entitled "Graveyard Shift" by Andrea L. Peterson. Of course when I read the introduction editor's preface, I already suspected "Graveyard Shift" was a story that had a similar concept to a story that I was writing*. Suffice to say, if I had to pitch my concept while in an elevator, I'd combine the words "call center" and "vampires".

Anyway, moving back to the blog entry that's not supposed to be an essay**, panicking or getting downtrodden is a common reaction among aspiring writers (and, uh, some published writers that I know of). Here's a helpful mantra: ideas are not stories. Let me repeat: ideas are not stories!

First off, kudos to Peterson for her story. Second--and here's the important lesson--there's more to a story than just the idea. A well-written story isn't well-written solely because of the idea. Heck, even the most mind-boggling sci-fi idea won't make a good science fiction story. What makes a story work is the writing. Some people call it the discourse, the execution, etc. And you know what, even if me and Peterson were working on the same concept, we'd still end up with entirely different stories.

Two stories later, I'm reading "The Sniffles" by Carljoe Javier, which is this comedic story that involves a deal with the devil. Sounds familiar? The entire incident (two concepts of mine, not necessarily the story) gave me a big LOL. And again, it doesn't matter if the concept is similar to my story "The Devil is in the Details". Because Javier wrote an entirely different (and enjoyable) story. Kudos to him too.

So what happens when someone else comes up with a similar concept as you? Don't panic, take a deep breath, and remember: ideas are not stories.

*My story is crap. I've gone through my third or fourth draft and I'm still figuring out how to make it work.

**If I wanted to turn this into an essay, I'd expound at how people really enjoyed The Matrix (not the sequels!) not because of the ideas it presented but rather how it utilized those ideas in the film... and the cool fight scenes.

Essay: Intimidated by Giants

Every Wednesday, I have an essay on any topic that catches my fancy!

Whenever I meet aspiring authors (or even writers who have publishing credentials), I often tell them to submit their stories, either to the various publications or writing contests. There are two excuses that I often hear: one is that I don't have enough time. This essay isn't about that particular issue. The other--which has grown to become a pet peeve--is that they're afraid of the competition. Now they don't always say that outright. Sometimes, they just mention "but so-and-so is joining". Now being aware of the market and the competition, in any industry, is good. Being intimidated by them--as far as the craft of writing is concerned--isn't.

No matter where you are or whatever kind of work you're involved in, there'll always be giants in the field. Sometimes, it's best not to against the proverbial giant: during the EDSA Revolution, you could lose your life. In business, you're not only placing your finances at risk but that of your employees and customers as well. But when it comes to the field of writing and submitting to markets and competitions, the only thing at stake is your ego. That's not to say your ego isn't precious but if you're not willing to risk that, what are you willing to give up to achieve your goal? (And while we're at it, let's be honest: not everyone will like your story. If you can't take criticism, don't write.)

Writing, in my opinion, is a very unconventional field. In business for example, it's not uncommon for corporations to not only build themselves up but either directly or indirectly drag down the competition. The fiction market doesn't work that way. In fact, writers encourage fellow writers to write more and to submit! It's not even uncommon for established authors to train and mentor new writers--even if doing so is actually building up the "competition". The math is simple: the more people who joins a contest that I'm participating in, the less chances I have of winning. If I help other writers improve in their craft, that's one additional person who might be vying for the same slot I'm aspiring for. But do writers act that way? Some perhaps but most of the writers I encounter don't behave like that. I think first and foremost, writers are readers and rather than simply desiring to see their name on the printed page, they want to read good material. If this comes from people other than themselves, then so be it. (And let's be honest, reading your own material gets old too quickly. There's a lack of surprise for example.) Hence we have this community that encourages and trains fellow writers.

As for the giants in the field, there are two kinds. On one hand, we have those that act like the bullies you had in class, intimidating the rest so that no one stands in their way. At the other end of the spectrum are the benevolent mentors who attempt to impart all their knowledge and wisdom to the next generation. If you meet more of the latter than the former, then good for you. But if we as writers are to improve and hone our craft, we'll inevitably be clashing with those so-called giants, whether participating in the same competitions or vying for the same slot in a publication. There is no endeavor that comes easy or doesn't have competition. However, unlike business, there's no real cost to failing except a bruised ego. And as far as giants go, if they are truly worthy of their reputation, make them earn it. You're only as good as your last work after all and if the giants are truly worthy of their renown, they'll prove it by the excellence of their stories rather than because their peers conceded beforehand.

If you're joining a competition or market because you're afraid of the giants, then I have two questions to ask. The first, is it satisfying winning a competition (assuming you won) or qualifying for a publication where there was no challenge? And my second question is how dare you assume that your fellow writers aren't giants in their own right? They may not have the reputation to back up their skill level but that doesn't mean they lack talent or aren't as worthy as the giants you sought to avoid. And the last thing one has to remember is that somebody has to start from somewhere and one can only grow and develop by attempting to accomplish something rather than conceding before trying. If you don't submit a story, there's absolutely no chance that your story will get accepted. If you do submit it, well, the worst thing is that you get rejected but you still have a chance, no matter how small, to succeed.

And if you're the type that fears confrontation, writing is the perfect medium for you. Why? Here's one secret. Editors and judges don't reject people: they reject stories. Your story is not you. You write stories and better yet, you can revise stories. Heck, you don't even have to be in the same room when the editors and judges read your story. You just get handed the acceptance or rejection slip. Is that honestly so bad?

Musings

The updates are late because the Internet at home went pffft! at the most opportune of moments. Here are some quick musings:

1. Turning off your Internet really gets much writing done. So to aspiring writers, my tip to you is surf less and write more!
2. Had my short story critiqued along with three other stories last Saturday from the Lit Critters. The reception was awful and being separated from the text for several months, I agree that it’s crap*. One helpful thing to bear in mind is that as an author, I’m interested in getting my work critiqued because I know there’s room for improvement. If I thought the story was perfect, I wouldn’t have it critiqued, I’d shop it around to publishing markets.
3. While my story didn’t fare good, that’s not to say that was the case for the other three authors. The other two needed some revisions before they became good stories. One story however was so amazingly written that I think it’s ready for the international market and might even be nominated for an award pending some revision on the author’s part (which is to say while it’s already a great story, it’s this close to being the best story out there).
4. One pet peeve of mine is hearing other aspiring (and even existing) writers thinking that they can’t compete with other writers and use it as an excuse not to submit to writing markets and/or competitions. Guys and gals, while it’s great that you’re honest about your skill level, you’ll never get better unless you try. You’ve given up even the battle has started**. When my aforementioned story did not work, I said that I still didn’t have the chops to narrate the story effectively but I qualified it by stating “for now”. Just because I can’t do something skillfully now doesn’t mean I’ll remain that way forever. I’m striving to get better (although whether that happens one year from now or ten years from now remains to be seen) and I’m not using intimidation as my excuse not to submit to other markets or –gasp- not to write at all. Besides, who knows, you might be better than you think.

*Which is to say it’s unpublishable in its current form but nothing revision and editing (although in this case I think an entire rewrite is needed) will fix.

**Also, what are you saying about the “competition”? That previously unpublished writers have no talent? People have to start somewhere!

UST-CCWS Now Accepting Applicants for Writing Workshop

Just a plug which I got from my email:

The University of Santo Tomas Center for Creative Writing and Studies (UST-CCWS) is now accepting manuscripts for the 9th UST-CCWS National Writers Workshop to be held in Baguio City this summer. The workshop is open to writers who have not been awarded fellowships to any national writers workshop.

Entries should consist of six poems, or three short stories, or three creative non-fiction pieces in either English or Filipino. They must be submitted in five copies (one original) in short bond paper, together with a soft copy in MS Word format stored in a CD or a diskette. In lieu of the applicant’s name, a pen name should appear in the manuscript. In a separate legal envelope (marked with the applicant's pen name, the category and genre he/she has joined) should contain his/her resume with complete contact details, a 2x2 ID photo, and a certification duly signed by an institution/company senior that the manuscript is authentic. Entries can be mailed or hand delivered to UST-CCWS, 1st Floor, St. Raymund’s Bldg, University of Santo Tomas, Espana, Manila.

The panel of critics is composed of the UST-CCWS staff which include Dr. Ophelia Alcantara-Dimalanta (director); Dr. Cirilo Bautista (senior associate); Eros Atalia, Carlomar Arcangel Daoana and Manolito Sulit (junior associates for poetry). For this year, they will be joined by guest panelists who are themselves established writers.

Fifteen fellowships are available. Writers from the Dominican network of schools, colleges and universities are encouraged to apply. Deadline is on February 29. Interested parties may call 406-1611 loc. 8281 (Tuesday to Saturday), text 0915-3228404 or
e-mail aldimalanta@gmail.com.

Writing Markets Here and Abroad

Bhex has made a list of speculative fiction writing markets here.

Safety Net

Some days, I wonder, why don't I submit fiction to international publications? Are local publications a crutch, a complacent place where I am not intimidated by the process?

Of course while such an epiphany is enlightening, I need to start writing some actual stories for me to attempt submitting them. As it is, my completed stories were already published last year and a few await revision depending on the review of my peers.

Plug: Write or Die Non-Fiction Series

From Read or Die (1, 2)

It's a long plug, so you can just visit Read or Die's website for the details. Here's the relevant snippets however:

Maria Isabel Garcia, winner of the 2007 National Book Awards for Essay for her groundbreaking book “Science Solitaire” (Ateneo Press) and noted science columnist for the Philippine Star, will kickstart the Non-Fiction series on January 12, 2008 (Saturday) in Powerbooks Greenbelt from 2PM to 4PM.

Please come! Ms. Garcia is one of the most fluent writers I’ve had the pleasure of reading. She’ll be talking about science writing, an interesting and—in the Philippines—a fairly novel genre of creative non-fiction. Science teachers are especially invited to attend and to invite their students along. There’s more to writing about science than dry equations and abstruse observations about the world around you.

---

January 12 (Saturday): Maribel Garcia
Science Writing
Powerbooks Greenbelt, 2-4PM

January 20 (Sunday): Isagani Cruz
Writing Literary Criticism
Powerbooks Greenbelt, 2-4PM

January 26 (Saturday): Butch Dalisay
Creative Non-Fiction
Powerbooks Megamall, 2-4PM

PGS Special Halloween Issue: Call For Submissions

From Philippine Genre Stories:

After the PGS holiday-themed issue, let's try, at the suggestion of award-winning writer and PGS contributor Yvette Tan, a Halloween-themed one. In fact, seeing as the workload for PGS is piling up, and it's becoming harder to manage things as both publisher and editor, I've accepted Yvette's offer to let her be the guest editor for this special issue due out near Halloween 2008.

Since stories of the supernatural are what grabs Yvette's attention (and what flows from her pen most of the time), editing the Halloween issue seems like a perfect fit. The guidelines:

- Submissions have to be of the horror/suspense genre. Ghost tales and stories of the supernatural are welcome. Cross-genre tales are also welcome (think "Alien", the first one, which is really more horror with a mix of scifi). Trying to mix horror with other genres like humor, fantasy, or romance is also welcome.

- Horror tropes, whether local or international, are welcome, but preference will be given to tales with a fresh take. Feel free to set your story anywhere, or write about any topic you want, but be aware there are things that have been done many times before.

- It's all right to use in your story mythic creatures, settings, or items that are not copyright protected (like kapres, aswangs, werewolves, vampires, El Dorado, the Fountain of Youth, etc.). But stories with such that are still under copyright protection will be rejected.

Pure, original stories, with original or copyright-lapsed characters, items, and settings, are most welcome. :)

- Send your submissions to pdohs(at)yahoo(dot)com. All stories will then be forwarded to Yvette Tan.

- Deadline is June 30, 2008, about six months away from the date of this post.

All previous horror/suspense submissions that are currently pending will be automatically forwarded to Yvette for this special Halloween issue. If you have any questions, just leave a comment here. Thanks!

1UP Call for Submissions

From Banzai Cat:

"This is a call for submissions for 1UP. 1UP is a multiformat collection of works by writers of the video game generation. Submit your fiction, non-fiction, poetry, comics, and any other form that the video game generation might choose to tell its stories to carl.javier@gmail.com and juncruznaligas@gmail.com"

What's not mentioned is that the deadline is on Jan. 31, 2008.

Essay: Post-Christmas Reflections

Every Wednesday, I have an essay on any topic that catches my fancy!

I find it ironic that after months coming up with essays on a weekly basis, I've run out of ideas for a topic. Well, that's not quite true--I have lots of essays I want to write about but I'm either saving them up for a different segment or they're commissioned for other publications. And all this time, I wanted to avoid talking about the elephant in the room--namely Christmas and the recently concluded holiday.

It's not that I don't like Christmas--I do. In fact, it's the perfect excuse for me to greet people I wouldn't otherwise have greeted and give my friend gifts (because some people decline gifts unless there's a special occasion). Rather, I find the topic of Christmas to be too cliche, too expected, too predictable. But at the end of the day, one cannot avoid writing about it, whether you're for it or against it. It's simply an influential part of our culture which one can't ignore simply because we want to. At the very least, it's a day away from the office or a day one returns to your family. I have friends who've lived separately from the parents and siblings only to return these past few days as if two days in a year makes up for the other three hundred days they're away (and sometimes it does).

For me, gift-giving has been an integral part of the holidays mainly because I am genetically inclined to express my love and enthusiasm through gifts: I'm the type that believes the one who receives the most joy isn't the recipient but the giver. Last week, I was racking my brains for the perfect gift for friends--not necessarily the present that they want but rather something they never realize they wanted yet makes perfect sense when they receive it. Can't say I always succeeded in that endeavor but when all else fails, I can always give them something that's on their wish-list.

The Chinese, on the other hand, have a more practical, if sometimes counter-productive, attitude towards gift-giving. It's been a tradition to give money--yes, actual cash--as presents. The only qualification is that you put them inside red envelopes which signify good luck and prosperity. Forget about gift certificates which is really money in disguise, you give cash so that the recipient can buy themselves the gifts that they really, really want. And best of all, there's no guilt attached to the fact that you're giving actual money. I mentioned that it's sometimes counter productive mainly because in the context of the family, everyone else is asking how much the other person gave. For example, my aunt might give me P120 for Christmas. My mother would then ask me how much my aunt gave and she'd match that amount when she's giving money to my aunt's child. You can think of it as the Law of Conservation at work--except it applies to finances. The money we give out literally comes back to us--or at least we keep it in the family.

As for me, I spent most of Christmas, well, writing. There's five days to go before the end of the year and you'd think it should be a time to relax. Yet for me, that's five more days of reading books, writing reviews, finishing essays, and hopefully start a few short stories. Christmas typically warns me that the year is over yet these past few days, I know it isn't. I also ponder on the morbid possibility that I might not live long enough to witness 2008 and try to get as much things done as possible. The latter half of 2007 has been a big turning point for me but that doesn't mean I should stop there and simply be content with that. That's not to say I'm not taking the time to breathe and appreciate what I've accomplished so far but there's also a feeling that there's more I can still write about, there's still more that can be achieved.

And in case you haven't heard it from me, happy holidays!

A Long Random Musing on Reading vs Writing, Guilt, and Others

My friend Bhex is currently in New Zealand and she has a long entry on her encounter with the library there. What I like about Bhex is that we can peacefully contradict each other and bounce off each other's ideas.

Like her, I share her frustration with the country's seemingly inadequate libraries (but to clarify, that's not to say that we don't have good libraries lest I offend my librarian readers; it's either they simply don't suit my particular tastes, they're difficult to get to, they're not well publicized, or there's a significant bar of entry such as enrolling in a private school or university). And honestly, I don't have a practical solution to solve that dilemma. If it's any consolation, there are librarians out there discussing about the matter such as The Filipino Librarian and Zarah (check out her coverage of the Spec Fic talk at Xavier's Library [1, 2, 3]). And as I've written before, emerging technologies is making education a lot easier such as the potential of eBooks (to which Bhex will contend that not every Filipino can afford a computer--which is true--but I think the potential is for future libraries to stock computers where documents can be read).

Another of her complaints is the lack of "customer-friendly sales schemes" from bookstores and publishers but I think the lack of customer service is a symptom of the Philippine culture as a whole rather than limited to the book industry. One thing I noticed in comparison to my travels abroad is that the Philippines has good human customer service--that is the employees go out of the way for you and is evident by our lack of self-service gas stations (there's always somebody there to refuel your car) but we lack good product customer service. What's good product customer service? Things like refunds or -gasp- customer satisfaction. I mean in countries like the US, there is such a thing as returning a commodity because it didn't meet customer satisfaction. There's nothing wrong with the product but it was returned nonetheless. Of course I don't blame Filipinos for lack of such a service. The Chinese businessman in me is wondering at all the potential abuses of such a policy. Suffice to say, other cultures trust their customers and we don't (it's best left to your opinion whether that's true or not).

But my main point however is that despite both conditions, it's not an excuse not to develop good writers. Now Bhex believes that in order to develop good writers, people need to read good books. Numerous times in my blog, I've espoused writer, write, and write. But at the end of the day, I'm not contradicting Bhex's idea. I mean what inspires people to write after all is to read. And Dean said it himself in his novel-writing seminar that seminars and the like don't teach us to write but we all subconsciously learn how to write by reading. Yet I also think there are limitations to simply reading in the same way that a teacher can be good at teaching (how to write) yet never be a great writer himself and a great writer never being able to become a good teacher. Suffice to say, reading is not writing. I can read all the books in the world and never become a competent writer. Likewise, I could have read little or a lot of "trashy" books yet become a competent writer. There are several explanations for this, everything from the act of writing hones your craft to becoming conscious of the act of writing. But let me simply say this: in order to be a good writer, one must strike a healthy balance between reading and writing. I can't imagine a writer who never reads although I can imagine a prolific, talented writer who seldom reads just as I can imagine a prolific reader who seldom but skillfully writes. The thing is, there are several avenues to becoming a good writer and there is no one formula to guarantee success for everyone. The best anyone--including myself--can give are suggestion and hopefully it applies to you. And here's a secret: not all avenues to writing have been discovered. In fact, the "rules of writing" are really just guidelines. New techniques, new methods are being discovered as different writers try out new stuff--sometimes out of ignorance. But yes, I have a bias on writing as opposed to reading. Because I've been stuck on the latter in the past. You might have read all the important books that need to be read and gained the knowledge how to write the best novel--but until you actually write it down, all that potential is useless. And let me tell you, at least for writers like me, we always feel inadequate, we're always worried that what we write is never good enough. And so we might never write what we want to write, or worse, write it down but never show it to anyone else, perhaps hoping that one day it will be discovered and published by one of our friends and relatives and be a famous writer post-mortem. Or I could make do with what I have now--insufficient as it may seem--and start writing, other people's opinions be damned. It might not be the perfect document but at least it's something. And if I don't get it right now, I'll try again. And again. And again. (To sum it up, it's Gabriel Marcel's primary reflection vs secondary reflection.)

This essay however isn't simply about promoting my writing beliefs and agenda. Rather, it's to explain at how not to make excuses for one's self. I do think that if you're really determined to become a writer, you'll find a way to acquire the books you need to read (whether it's taking a part time job, borrowing it from a friend, talking to a mentor, etc.) or in the event that you can't, try your hand at writing anyway. It's about taking a pro-active stance (and what I mean by pro-active isn't necessarily being hard working in persistent but more of creating opportunities instead of waiting for them) although that's probably hypocritical of me as I'm not pro-active at least as far as my writing is concerned. And then I can very well imagine my heritage being levied against me: how easy it is for me to say that considering that I'm not poor, that I had XX years of private education, that I met the right people at the right time, etc. That's all true but as I also said, that's my heritage just as you have yours. I mean sure, I have certain advantages, but I also carry my own weaknesses and burdens, just as other people have theirs. There have been nights that I've wondered if I could only have been more talented, perhaps born in an earlier or later era, etc. I can wonder about all these what-ifs and they'd probably make a great story but it does little to help my current situation. Maybe you're more talented of a writer than I am: that's your advantage. Maybe you're more experienced in the ways of the world, you can relate more with the common reader: that's your advantage.

Last but not least is the feeling of guilt. Bhex in her entry narrates at how she feels guilty about enjoying all the reading privileges in New Zealand. But my question is, aside from writing about it, what good would it do to dwell on the fact? It's not like you can suddenly juxtapose yourself with an impoverished youth just dying to read all those books. And honestly guilt plagues a lot of local writers, whether it's authors feeling the need to write about social realism or socially relevant texts to including Filipino locales, characters, or events in the works they write. I feel that guilt but it shouldn't stop me from doing what I need to do. Some writers, they get over this guilt and write what they want to write. Others, they reconcile themselves with this guilt and incorporate their agenda in their writing--some to their success, others to their detriment. For the most part, I don't think we should be hampered with guilt: either get over it or do something with it but don't wallow in it.

Before I end, I have two more statements I want to say but Dean said them better. In his paper on speculative fiction, Dean says that while realism us to write literature that matters (to which I disagree because speculative fiction can matter), it is the reader who selects what literature matters to them (which is something I cannot disagree with because as much as insightful or not this post might be, it's my readers or non-readers who decide its value). And in his talk on Read or Die's seminar, Dean says "It is one thing to be a lover of reading, like I am, like you are. But if we were all readers, there would be nothing to read if no one were to write."

Word Count is the Writer's Currency

I was listening to Michael Stackpole's seminar on Breaking Into Freelance Writing and one of the things he mentions (actually just a few sentences) is that writers use word count as a measurement. You don't use pages and based on my experiences in the publishing industry, I know how fickle page numbers can be: different typefaces and sizes, illustrations and photos, paper size and layout are all variables which alters the page count. Word count is indeed a closer approximation of how long an article, essay, short story, or novel should be although word count in itself is still imprecise (but it's the closest thing we've got). In some publications, they even pay you by the word so it is an important gauge any writer should familiarize themselves with. If you'll notice, a lot of submissions usually state word count to put limitations on the entries they're accepting. In some cases, specifications like margins, font and font size is indicated and that's perhaps the only time that it's acceptable not to give a word count of how long your submission should be. Notice that the latter is usually the practice in schools and universities, especially when it comes to term papers and thesis's. Nonetheless, I find word count to be a more accurate measurement, especially determining how long it takes me to write a certain project. Also, I find that word counts are less intimidating than page numbers. What most people don't realize is that a single 8.5 x 11 page of double spaced, font Arial or Times New Roman size 12 (typically the standard) is just around 300 words. Or a blog entry at around this length. Filling say, ten to twenty pages isn't that difficult. Simply imagine writing ten to twenty blog entries.

Blogging Routine

Lately I've been keeping a regular blogging schedule. There's several reasons why I do this:

First, it's because I love to write. Honestly, self-publishing has this instant gratification, especially when you have an audience. Blogging is merely the result of my writing rather than say, a desire to acquire income through blogging (which is why the site is ad free!).

Second, it's to exercise my writing muscles. Okay, my goal is to be a fiction writer (although I do have secondary goals or breaking into other writing markets, hint hint!) and while blogging isn't fiction writing (because I post little fiction in my blog), it is writing nonetheless (and I do write a variety of material here such as reviews, essays, and pseudo press releases). Blogging forces me to use those writing muscles and more importantly, to keep a writing schedule. That's why I have posts Monday through Fridays. The specific commitments isn't as important as the fact that I have a commitment to writing on some level.

Third, it's to get better. Honestly, I write a lot of crap or less-than-optimal documents. Sometimes, the only way you'll realize this is when you seen them in print. Right now, I'm spotting some weak spots when it comes to my book reviews and manga reviews so there's room for improvement there. As for my other blogging segments, it's always improving (take a look at my tabletop podcast coverage: my first coverage last August and my latest one this month). The improvement isn't necessarily by leaps and bounds but at least there's improvement, even if they're baby steps.

Fourth, it's my way of giving back to the community. For the most part, I'd like to think that most of my entries are doing a service or informative in some way. I mean I hope my "emo" posts are few and what dominates the most are blog entries which other people find useful. At the very least, if I don't succeed as a fiction writer, I can always be a reporter or columnist or blogger (but honestly I prefer to create content rather than just talk about 'em).

Writing Time

Every Wednesday, I have an essay on any topic that catches my fancy!

The great thing about the label "writer" is that anyone can claim to be one. No degrees, no exams, no licenses needed. There is one requirement though: to actually write. Of course having said that, writing is a very, very broad category. If you want to be more specific, that's harder. You can only call yourself a poet if you've written poems. I don't claim to be a novelist because hey--I haven't written a novel. But a writer, yup, I consider myself a writer. And I'm sure many people do too. So the question is, where's your writing output?

Now there are several reasons why "writers" will claim they haven't written new material (and by new material, I simply mean new material--it doesn't have to be award-winning or even finely polished) such as writer's block. One pet peeve of mine is the excuse that they don't have the time. Now my issue with time is that we all have the same amount of time: everyone works with 24 hours a day, not a minute more, not a minute less (faster-than-light travel aside). There are several qualities which make a writer great such as perseverance, talent, and (let's be truthful about this) personal networks. Now as individuals, we have those qualities in varying quantities. But one element we have in our control is time, or rather how much time we devote to writing.

I'm not the busiest man in the world but neither do I have all the time in the world to do everything I want. I work in a nine hour job and getting to my office takes half an hour on a good day. I update this blog on a regular basis--at the very least, people have proof that I have writing output, in addition to the stories that are in my hard drive (whether they're good enough to be published is something else). Today I'm trying to meet a December 8 fiction deadline but I'm making the time to write this article. Oh, and there's such a thing as eating and sleeping. Was this always the case with me? Admittedly, no. I had to give up a lot of things: I said goodbye to TV, gave up my weekday nights playing DotA, and I even ditched one of my two regular RPG gaming groups. The last one hit me pretty hard but it was a sacrifice I needed to do--at least if I was serious about my writing.

I've heard some stories from aspiring writers about how busy they are, everything from med school to studying for law. Now with the former, I know about those 36-hour and even 48-hour shifts. But there's still the rest of the week to write. As for law, well, you can give up one hour of sleeping time (either before you sleep or when you wake up) to write. Either that or find a day in the week where you can devote time to writing. My best advice is to learn "guerrilla writing". Now I know some people want to be in the proper "mood" to write. But guess what, that's what writing is about: writing whether you're inspired or not, writing when you need to do so rather than when you want to. Still, you're the writers and do what's best for you: as long as you find the time to write. As for the rest of the world, well, what excuse do you have?

My main issue about writing time is prioritizing it. It's seldom that you'll actually find the time to write unless you make time for it. Again, we all live busy lives. Procrastination is the simplest excuse and the most difficult obstacle to overcome. If you're truly serious about writing, you'll find the time to write now instead of later. And I think that's an important fact. Because honestly, if you don't find the time now, when will you find the time? A student might have an upcoming project, term paper, or exam. But if you don't find the time today to write, when will you find the time? Tomorrow, when there's another quiz, another test, or even another party to go to? Of course there will be dire situations when you simply won't be able to write but barring those situations (and they should be rare), the rest are simply excuses. How badly do you want to write? What do you need to give up in order to write? While I'm not exactly the type of person who'll tell someone to not read a book, if you end up spending more time reading books than writing, you might want to cut back on the former and increase the latter. If you don't consider blogging writing (I do) and you're blogging quite often, cut back on it and start doing some writing (whatever your definition of writing is be it poetry, fiction, nonfiction, etc.). Better yet, stop reading this blog and go write!

Now this entire article might seem too preachy for you. Well, here's some practical advice: learn to write on the go. We live in a mobile world and here are some suggestions to help you in your guerrilla writing endeavors:

1) Laptop: The best alternative next to having a computer. You carry your files with you wherever you go and you can do your writing nearly anywhere. The problem? It might be too heavy and if you live in a country like mine that's plagued with security checkpoints, it might be too much of a hassle to bring along. There's also the problem of being able to afford one and I honestly don't own one (damn you third-world income!). But if you're the type that goes out on business meetings very often or meet with your friends in a coffee shop, investing in a laptop might be a wise choice: keep yourself preoccupied and instead of getting angry while waiting for other people, start writing!

2) PDA: All the electronic goodness of a laptop minus its versatility. Still, most PDAs are packed with a word processor. The only downside is that a stylus isn't necessarily the best method to write with. If you invest more money into such a device, you can purchase yourself a foldable keyboard. Write wherever you go and even keep your notes without the laptop's heavy luggage.

3) Flash Drive: I work in an office (most of the time) so this is the best method for me. I keep all my documents in a flash drive and I carry it with me everywhere, whether I'm at home or at work. This is easily the best bang for your buck as long as you have a computer terminal you can use (even the Internet Cafe's). It doesn't solve the problem of idle time when you're stranded in a deserted island however.

4) Google Docs: In a perfect world, everyone would have Internet access wherever they go. This isn't a perfect world so it limits the usefulness of Google Docs. But still, if you're that much of a cheapskate that you can't afford a Flash Drive, writing (and saving) your documents in Google Docs is the next best thing. Access it wherever you presumably have Internet access.

5) Notebook: Go treat yourself to a Moleskine notebook, a new fountain pen--whatever as long as it encourages you to write on paper. I find paper to be the most inefficient means of writing but beggars can't be choosers and if it worked for writers centuries ago, it'll work for you today.

Call for Submissions: Growing Up Filipino II

From Panitikan

This is a call for submissions of short stories for an anthology tentatively titled, Growing Up Filipino II - Stories for Young Adults. The book will be edited by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard and will be published by both Anvil and PALH. Contributors will receive copies of the book as compensation for the use of their work.

The manuscript should be approximately 8-10 pages long, typed, double-spaced (approximately 1,800-2,300 words). This should be emailed to CBrainard@aol.com. You may also send it by air mail to:

Cecilia Brainard
c/o PALH
PO Box 5099
Santa Monica, CA 90409
USA

This book project is a follow-up of an earlier short story collection entitled Growing Up Filipino: Stories for Young Adults (published by PALH 2002, and Anvil). The following review describes the 2002 collection:

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up-These 29 short stories offer a highly textured portrait of Filipino youth and an excellent sampling of creative writing. Thematically arranged, most of the pieces have been written since the turn of the 21st century. Each story is introduced by a thumbnail sketch of the author and a paragraph or two about some element of Filipino culture or history that is relevant to the story. Authors include those born and continuing to live in the Philippines, emigres, and American-born Filipinos. Tough but relevant topics addressed include a gay youth's affection for his supportive mother, the role of religious didacticism in the formation of a childhood perception, consumer culture as it is experienced by modern teens in Manila, and coping with bullies of all ages and stations in life. … The high caliber and broad but wholly accessible range of this collection, however, makes this title a solid purchase for multiple reasons.

The 29 stories in the 2002 edition of Growing Up Filipino were written before 9/11 (September 11, 2001). The editor would now like to collect a second volume that continues to address the young adult audience. The stories in the collection will still be about the Filipino experience in the Philippines or any part of the world. But in this second volume, the editor is seeing contemporary stories, or post 9/11 stories. The editor is seeking the best stories about growing up Filipino. The editor is not looking for stories written by young adults, but about Filipino young adults. The editor envisions the stories dealing with relationships, family, falling in love perhaps, and other issues that the young adults deal with. Character-driven stories are encouraged. Those interested in submitting are encouraged to read the first volume of Growing Up Filipino: Stories for Young Adults, to get an idea of the kind of stories the editor is looking for.

Deadline for submission has been extended. Please send your bio (approx. 150 words) in people-friendly narrative form. Make sure your contact information is included with the story.

ABOUT THE EDITOR: Cecilia Manguerra Brainard is the author/editor of over a dozen books. She has a website at www.ceciliabrainard.com and a blog at cbrainard.blogspot.com

I originally heard about this from luckychan but there was no deadline mentioned so I sent a query. Here's the reply:

Hi, Charles, I'm accepting stories from men until Dec. 7, thank you.