On writing...

On any given day, I have about a dozen storylines running through my head. Sometimes overhearing fragments of a conversation on the MRT, or a passing glance of a couple lounging on a terrace as I speed by on the road, is all it would take for my imagination to start creating possible scenarios and for words to start flowing into my head. I wish I had the time and energy to put them all down on paper (or rather, on my laptop). But time is a precious commodity these days. With a demanding 3 year old and an equally demanding 7 month old, an almost-full-time stint at a cultural conservation agency, plus a couple of private consultative projects, more often than not, I find myself strapped for time.

But that doesn't stop me from dreaming.

Sometimes I find myself working snippets of the stories in my head into the stories I write. And sometimes they interest me enough to warrant a story of their own. But each fragment is treasured and each is an example of a fragment of humanity that made me laugh or cry or made me go 'Awwww!' with kilig. And I think is is one really important aspect--- to believe that these characters can be someone like us, that fairy tales can come true, and that true love exists...maybe not just in the exact forms and ways we expect them to. 

Whenever I feel myself starting to go cynical and depressed that I never really finish anything (it happens when you work for the government), I try to take a moment and remember why I write. Partly I think its because I'm essentially a dreamer, but basically I cannot ever imagine not writing.

I like to reread one of the first articles I ever wrote, which was published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer's Youngblood in 1998 and republished in a compilation (Youngblood 2.0) in 2000. It was an idealistic piece of a fresh graduate working at her first job and hung up on the TV series, Ally McBeal. It constantly reminds me that rainbows come after the rain and that dreaming never really costs a thing. It also reminds me, that despite my often contrarily illogical ramblings, I can relate to people, and they often get what I want to say.

So here's to everyone who ceaselessly pounds their keyboards to give us the flights of fancy we crave. Never stop dreaming! ;-)