Currently Reading: He’s Just Not That into You

Dear Greg,

There’s this guy I met a couple of weeks back, and he seems really funny and cool and so interested in me. I honestly thought we were on the same page. In fact, we’ve “gone out” a couple of times (mainly to a fast-food place, because it’s the only thing open at 4 a.m.), and the conversations through SMS and chat (despite the fact that he’s just an arm’s throw away) have been warm, romantic, and intimate, I must say.

But the last two weeks, I’ve been getting a 404, which I initially dismissed as just a grumpy middle-age guy having those moments because of a recent operation.I mean, really, Greg, when you’re in so much pain, how can you think about romance? He tells me he’s just in so much pain, so he can’t text me back or go out for a walk, which I believed for some time.

And then a good friend at work thought she had to intervene because I was starting to fall, and she gave me your book, He’s Just Not That into You. I heard about this book years ago but never bought a copy because I didn’t want a complete stranger giving me advice about a guy I know very well. Hello? I get all that from my friends. Why would I want to know what you think?

I read the book in just one day. It was funny and wicked and enlightening, and you really had me there, Greg. You’re right. He just wants something else. He’s not a bit interested in the book I’m writing. He doesn’t seem to want to get to know me more. I really thought we connected, but then, it was just as well. I was starting to get distracted, and I can’t afford that. Not when I’m writing a book.

So thanks, Greg. You were a lot of help. But I’m still looking for a way to prove you wrong. He can’t be not that into me!

Currently Reading: This Is Not Chick Lit

This Is Not Chick Lit: Original Stories by America’s Best Women Writers, edited by Elizabeth Merrick, has been sitting sadly in my bookshelf for more than a year before I finally picked it up.

I’m thankful I brought it along on a media coverage and that I finally read it (an ex sent it to me on my birthday last year) because reading it inspired me to write, not another chick lit, but something more meaty, serious, and thought-provoking.

One of the stories I distinctly remember from this selection is “Selling the General” by Jennifer Egan, because it’s a storyline I can relate with. The female character, Dolly, runs a PR agency and is offered a hefty amount to do crisis PR for a South American dictator whose government had slaughtered masses. I loved the snappy dialogue, and while its New York setting and allusion to brand names and private schools for girls might mislead you into thinking this is part of the Gossip Girl series, it’s not.

(Did I mention that I was once a publicist for a former defense secretary? I lasted a little more than a month–not because I didn’t like him. I’ve sworn not to get involved with politics ever.)

The names of the authors don’t ring a bell, but what they’re doing–going out there to give readers something better– is admirable. As editor Elizabeth Merrick writes in her introduction, these are “female writers pushing the envelope of serious writing with depth and humor.” I’ve never written a short story before, but after reading this book, I think I’d like to try my hand at it.

What I’m Reading Now, Again

Over the weekend while recuperating from a bad case of gastroenteritis (something I must have eaten at the office buffet), I found time to catch up on books I started but haven’t had the time to finish.

One of them is Frances Mayes’ Under the Tuscan Sun, which has a back story that I will save for next post, when I have found the archived blog entry somewhere.

I love this book! I love how poetic Mayes sounds even when she’s writing prose. This is the nth time that I’m re-reading the book and I get carried away by her words each time.

Under the Tuscan Sun is the kind of book you’d like to read aloud at 1 a.m., when the entire household is fast asleep.

I don’t usually mark my favorite phrases–I write them down in my Moleskine–but I felt I had to, this time, because I want to go back and read and re-read my favorite lines and feel each word roll out of my tongue when I say them.

Chapter 1 starts out very simply, matter-of-factly, but the sentence reaches out to you, an announcement that, you know, will be life-changing: “I am about to buy a house in a foreign country.”

Each time I read this, I put down the book and I am lost in reverie. I am in Tuscany too.

More soon.

Reluctant (Chick Lit) Author

I had an interview today with Jaime, a senior sociology student at UP Diliman who is writing a thesis on chick lit in the Philippines.

Jaime tells she is a big fan of chick lit and has, in fact, the complete (well, almost, except for the recent one) series of books from Psicom Publishing, which produced this book.

The interview was very enlightening for me because for the most part when I was doing the writing, I never thought about the hows or whys of it, or whether I was actually being a responsible author and teaching readers to be more than what they were. I was simply writing, because I was asked to, and because it was a productive way to get over my depression at the time.

Among the many things we talked about was that chick lit, as a genre, deserves all the respect it can get and is not in any way inferior to “serious” literature.

When you get down to it, it’s simply writing. Writing as a craft should be respected. Whether one writes spec fic or creative nonfiction, news articles or e-mail campaign copy, blog posts or a thesis, it’s still writing, and writing does not come easily. If one agonizes over how to start a “serious” novel effectively, chick lit authors agonize as well.

We both agreed that, in most novels, families don’t figure much in chick lit. Characters in this type of genre are usually independent women who are earning their own money, sometimes living alone or sharing a condo with a friend, but are nevertheless confused over what they want to do with their lives. They are usually stuck in relationships that aren’t going anywhere, or want to get the attention of the boy they like. Call it trivial. Call it trash, but isn’t that what most of us were like when we were 21?

I also observed that most heroines in chick lit novels are focused on themselves (okay: let’s come clean: the word is selfish; it’s a me-me-me phase, after all), so you don’t hear of protagonists going to Tondo to help build homes for the poor or volunteering as teachers in Cordillera (my best friend Mona did, when she was 19, but she’s different). It’s not something we’re proud of, but that’s reality. Of course, I told her that I hope one day other writers (doesn’t have to be me) would come up with characters who are concerned about other matters, like poverty and politics. I don’t discount the fact that there are 21-year-olds who are more aware of what’s happening around them.

What amazed me was that here’s one reader who actually reads between the lines (and not just because she has a thesis about it) and tries to see the lesson that comes with the story. I didn’t mean to be all too preachy when I wrote Runaway, but I thought that writers have a responsibility to mold readers’ minds.

It’s not just about coming up with a happy ending because the editor or the publisher wants you to (and I really fought it because I thought a happy ending wasn’t realistic). It’s about giving them more than what they’re used to. Because that’s how we all grow as readers–by going beyond our comfort zones, exploring, learning new things.

That interview was a good mental exercise for me. Thanks, Jaime.

P.S. Am I going to write another chick lit soon? Never say never!

Trey Ellis’s Bedtime Stories, an Excerpt

When I read an excerpt from writer Trey Ellis’s book, Bedtime Stories: Adventures in the Land of Single-Fatherhood, the first thought that crossed my mind was “OMG, this is like the book I’m trying to write!”

About two years ago, on the prodding of a friend, an editor who was responsible for getting my first book published, I started compiling excerpts on single parenting from my now-defunct blog (rest in peace, baby).

I had some 15,000 words written already. They were mostly posts, lifted from another personal blog, that I improved on. In between coping with depression and moving from one job to another, I lost focus. Now the manuscript sleeps in my hard drive, waiting for me to find the time to resume writing.

Over Christmas I actually thought of going back and editing, but with another edited manuscript due a Singapore pub house in January, I didn’t have much time to write.

Anyhow, go over to Salon and read the excerpt. It will make you laugh. And if you get to read the book before I do, by all means come back here and tell me about it.

Excerpt: How does a single father ever get laid?

Read Trey Ellis’s blog here.

P.S. In case you’re wondering, my version doesn’t refer to anything silicone or rubbery. I made sure it was GP. Didn’t want to have my parents disown me. Nah.

P.P.S. I discovered another kindred single-parent writer’s blog. Now I’m starting to wonder if it was indeed a good idea to close down my personal blog.

Runaway Available Online

Allow me to plug this again shamelessly, because it will be some time before I will do another one: to my friends abroad and in Mindanao who want to order my book, you can purchase them online at National Bookstore.

I won’t be getting any royalties from these sales, but still, do buy a copy and you will buy me an ounce of joy. If it reaches the top 10 best-selling titles, I owe it all to you.

Thanks to those who have bought theirs and had me, ehem, sign it. Feeling

One Reader Left Behind

I’m usually resistant to anything popular: a new movie, a book, a band, a diet, or a fashion trend. I tend to be suspicious of people who jump on the bandwagon.

So when I was browsing Twitter (I still don’t have Twitter, by the way) and saw someone announce to the Twittering populace, “I feel like I’m a loser! Haven’t read Harry Potter yet!” I had to stifle a laugh.

This was not a teenager under peer pressure but a girl in her twenties who seems like a very grounded online personality. And it made me think, Is this how we are now? Are our preferences dictated by the choices of the rest of the population? If we’re all after being “cool,” isn’t it way cool to choose something that very few would? Isn’t it more cool to be a trailblazer?

Not to say, however, that I haven’t picked up a Harry Potter book. I read the first two leisurely. The third book I read in a professional capacity because one of the manuscripts I edited several months back is a fantasy series patterned after Harry Potter.

So it makes me wonder, especially with probably more than half of the blogging community agog over the recent Harry Potter book, Do they like Rowling because she writes well? Is it because they can relate to her characters? Or are they only compelled to read because they don’t want to feel left out?

My Book’s Out!

So I clutched them in my hands–five copies of my first book, Runaway, which slept for eight months before its number got called for publishing.

I’m published! my inner self shouted as I caressed the glossy cover. I flipped through the pages, seeing words pop up–my words, these.

I lifted the book to my nose and breathed deeply. It smelled like every newly printed book should. It smelled like ink. It smelled like photocopied paper.

The light was bad in the jeepney I rode home as I riffled through the pages. Amid bumps and jolts, the editor in me saw something it was dreading. . .

A missing space between an ellipsis and a comma in a quotation.

I gulped. I wanted to be mad, but there it was, several instances of it (maybe all instances of it!), missing a space. Since when did it become the style to omit the space after the ellipsis? I remember telling the editor to correct it during the many times the PDF manuscript was flying between us. Actually, I remember asking her to correct many things that never showed up in the final copy!

So much for being finicky. So much for being anal.

So anyhow, my first book should be available in National Bookstore soon. Please disregard the typos and don’t tell me about it–unless you really want to ruin my day.

But phey, for one second there, I was quite happy.

Books, More Books

Fresh from LBC: William Zinsser’s On Writing Well and Elizabeth Merrick’s This is Not Chick Lit. Gifts from Norman in New York. The second, especially, is a reminder to write more non-chick-lit stuff (after my admission that my maiden break into the publishing world will be in the form of a chick lit through PsiCom).

The books actually passed several hands before getting to me. Thanks for these, Norms, no matter how delayed. You did promise to get me The Art of Confession, remember?

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman is a compilation of short stories by Japanese author Haruki Murakami, a gift from my good friend and jogging buddy Leila, who writes for the Inquirer.

I’m tempted to bring them all to Hong Kong so I can say that my books are jetsetters (I actually lent some of mine to a friend in Shenzhen, and I think the books are still stuck in HK through a messenger), but I know I wouldn’t be able to read them all. Erwin wants to borrow On Writing Well, so I better finish it soon.

Anyone else wants to borrow? E-mail me! Just promise to return it and we’re good.

Shameless Plug: Runaway

My first book is coming out in two weeks, I was told today. Runaway, a chick lit, is produced by Manila-based Psicom Publishing.

The novel is about a girl who moves to a different city to forget an old love, eventually finding a new one who also moves away. Should she leave the city to forget, or should she stay and go on with her life? It’s a case of finding love at the wrong time. “Your timing is really off,” one of the characters says. Sounds familiar?

The title, obviously, was inspired by the Corrs’ song “Runaway,” which was my anthem when I was fresh out of college eight years ago and very restless. I was initially wary of using my real name because I wanted my first work to be something really serious.

Fictionist Nikki Alfar, who has won two Carlos Palanca Awards for Literature for a one-act play and a short story for children, really inspired me when she said, “Just because we put the word ‘chick’ in front of the phrase doesn’t mean it ain’t literature, baby.”

So there. I hope you get a copy for yourselves when it hits the bookstores. Enjoy!