2014 is a difficult year for me to describe. It had high highs and low lows, and for whatever reason, they were more pronounced this year than before. I can think of a few culprits. It was my first year of Official Adulting, or at least not spending most of my days in school. I went through two moves – from California back to Manila for a few months, and then from Manila to London (which was also my first time ever being in Europe). I went up a ski lift. I (barely) solved two Mystery Manila rooms. I endured three harrowing visa applications.
I also tried, as best as I knew how, to be a ‘working writer.’ A lot of the times it felt like patting my back with one hand and slapping my face with the other. But there’s a lot to be grateful for.
Read moreI’ve been meaning to post this for a while, but I’ve only just now had the brainspace to do it. 2014 is probably the first year in which I’ve read more original short fiction than any other kind of writing. When I read a beautiful story, I have an additional impulse to say what I love about it – the review mentality that I both loved and feared as a fic-writer.
Anyway, if you were looking for a new story/author to check out, consider this an incomplete list of my glowing recommendations. (These aren’t necessarily 2014 stories. They’re just stories I really, really want to share with the world.)
Read moreTokyo, Fall 2012. I am sitting on my bed, eating Lawson’s pudding and contemplating the future. In my diary, I write: I need to work on my Clarion stories.
Read more(or, please consider supporting me during the Clarion Write-a-Thon)
I’m late, and life has been extremely crazy over the past few weeks. Work has been intense, and I’m facing some serious situation changes over the next few months. I considered signing up for Write-a-Thon, then I forgot about it, then I remembered but thought there’s too much crap going on, there’s no way I can participate properly.
But then lots of my Clarion classmates started joining.
Read moreMy Fisher Queen, Alyssa Wong, invited me – along with the mad/brilliant/scientist/swordsman Patrick Ropp – to join the Writing Process Blog Tour. I’ve really enjoyed reading these, although articulation of my own writing process was definitely a challenge. Anyway, for all curious parties, here are my responses!
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