Month: December 2007

I was not able to attend the launch of Philippine Speculative Fiction vol. 3, but my mother and my cousin Marivic were kind enough to go in my place. My mother reported that everyone had a great time. But there was something she didn't tell me, and she blogged about it instead :P [ Reflections of a Writer's Mother ] Comments are most welcome!

Against All Odds

I take it as my chore to discourage as many 'aspiring authors' as I possibly can. Because you cannot discourage a real writer. I've said it a hundred times in print. Break a real writer's hands, and s/he will tap out a story with feet or nose. - Harlan Ellison, in the foreword to Dan Simmons' Prayers to Broken Stones

Charles is right: we do have a rather odd friendship. We disagree on quite a few things, but we don't normally end up hating each other because of them. As is the way with these things, though, it's probably just a matter of time >P I think Charles has blogged a few times about how he endorses a "proactive" mode of living. He's also elaborated on his thoughts on being "proactive" in private correspondence. I regret I wasn't able to provide a suitable reply, but I do respect what he has to say. I believe that what Charles is against is whining, more than anything. However, I think "whining" and "introspection" are separated by very thin lines outside of fiction. (more…)

I was looking forward to having more opportunities to write on this blog during my two-month vacation here in Wellington. Alas, I find myself having less control over my time than I'd hoped. Not having easy Internet access also leaves me out of the loop, so I'm afraid I'll be late passing on the news about many different things. Still, there are some remarkable advantages to not being "wired." One of them is, I get more time to think. And right now I think one of the many, many things about my New Zealand visit that I'm grateful for is access to a public library. I'm there at least twice a week, and in-between raiding my uncle's private stash, I forage in Upper Hutt and take home some titles that I'm sure I wouldn't easily find in the places I frequent in the Philippines. For me, the Upper Hutt Public Library is, quite simply, a little slice of heaven. It's been a while since I was last able to visit a decent library - in fact, the last time was over four years ago, when I was doing research for a certain writing project, and I was able to enter the University of the Philippines' Main Library again. Every time I step through the doors of the Upper Hutt Library, though, I'm bombarded by conflicting emotions. One of them, I was surprised to find, was guilt. I keep thinking about certain people back home who would love the gorgeous selections - I have yet to email a certain friend about the extensive Dragonlance collection there, another friend about the newer Iain Banks titles, and someone else about the surprising number of Storm Constantine's non-Wraeththu books. Hell, I even took pictures. And I feel like I don't deserve to be there. I no longer set aside a sizeable amount of my earnings to books, and while I do love to read I don't dare call myself a bibliophile anymore. I know other people - aspiring writers like myself, only more passionate and more talented - who would kill for the chance to be in the presence of so much quality reading material. Yet I'm the one who's here. (more…)