Meetings of Minds and Pens

These all happened last Saturday. I ditched the idea of going home and sleeping early, and I participated in my first writers' workshop and NaNoWriMo meet-up/write-in. It was a perfectly novel experience for me (pun intended) as I've never pushed myself to actually get out there, alone, and mingle with strangers during some event. My small talk skills are being tested severely as of late.

At 1 PM—or almost 1:30 PM, actually—there was the Talecraft Character Building Workshop at the event area of Powerbooks Live! in Greenbelt 3. Budjette Tan, writer of Trese, and Taga-ilog, creator of Pasig, both of whom and whose works I honestly have not heard of until then, each gave a speech on what makes good characters, whether they be on novels or comic books. Ria Lu, hostess of the event and creator of Talecraft, then discussed character building further and grouped us into fives and sixes and had us create a team of characters participating in some sort of Ghost Fighter (Yuu Yuu Hakusho) tournament.

Ria confiscated—er, retrieved—our character sheets when we left, but I found this online character builder which may prove useful when I really have no character ideas in mind.

From T to B: Budjette Tan, Taga-ilog, and Ria Lu.

At 3 PM there was the first NaNoWriMo write-in for this year at The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, also in Greenbelt 3. I was glad not to have been the only one writing in longhand; there was also Sam, that delightful teenager who looked like an anime character (that's a compliment), and another girl I'd seen once then just disappeared after I've ordered my chai latte and blueberry muffin inside (maybe she just happened to pass by and have something she wanted to jot down so she pulled out her Moleskine and did so on one of the write-in tables?).


My reason for writing longhand is that when I'm using a word processor a lot of things distract me. There's the great temptation of perpetual backspacing, the indecision when it comes to synonyms when I consult the Encarta dictionary, and totally forgetting I'm writing a novel when I switch windows. And there's also the Internet.

Later on I found it's still way better to go the high-tech path. I'd tried to transcribe the ten pages I've handwritten so far but could not get past page 2. The worst part was not the tediousness of it all but the fact that my word count only amounted to 400 for those 2 pages. I forwent longhand writing after that.

Unfortunately, as I've reassessed my priorities tonight (gatherings like JRev Night can do that to you) I've decided to forgo writing my NaNoWriMo novel totally. No, it's not procrastination or self-doubt—I have hundreds of fictional stories to tell and I know one way or another I can get each of them out in novel form. Most of those I met at the write-in were younger than me and it was inspiring to see them strive to churn out words and complete the jigsaw puzzles that are their novels. We all have stories to tell, and as rowdy as some of those youngsters are, they too have theirs. As for me, however, my first novel will just have to wait.

The Waiting Game

Let me share with you a simple but surefire way to make a perpetually tardy friend show up at a venue early (or at least earlier than you): Text or call him to say you're there already. The problem with this, however, is you can only use it once on any one friend. If you pull it off properly, for certain your friend's reaction when you arrive at your rendezvous will be something like, "You tricked me! Alas, what treachery!" And he'll be grumbling about how he'd waited for you for thirty minutes when he's supposed to be the one making you wait for more than an hour or so as per the dictates of tradition. Then of course he'll know better the next time he receives another "Am here now" text from you.

I tried this on my friend Carlo tonight. We had agreed to meet outside our high school alma mater so we could go together to our friend Joanna's house para mamiyesta (that means pigging out while catching up on each other's lives). Carlo had texted me to text him when I was almost there already. I decided to text him while our mini-bus was still a third of the way away from the rendezvous, thinking that should give Carlo extra time to get there, the slowpoke that he is. Unfortunately, I arrived before him. Took him ten minutes to reach the place, in his car. Thanks to Ministop's vanilla sundae that eased the burden of waiting. I'll have to adjust my timing in making the announcement next time.

Ditch the Apostrophe and Add an "E"

I was walking to the mini-bus terminal after a long day when I looked to my left, where SM Bacoor undergoing renovations glowed somewhat eerily, and saw one appalling thing after another: New Moon's book cover and a glaring grammatical blunder. I'm still in the process of desensitizing myself to all things Twilight, but the latter made my jaw drop. A grammatical error in billboard proportions, and from National Bookstore? I seriously hope the young ones won't hang on to that usage of "who's" in their sentences.

Remember: who's ≠ whose. Okay, kiddos?

Oye! Me Llamo Miguel!

This is where you'll find me for at least the next five weeks, cada Martes y Jueves.

It wasn't easy.

First, there was the fact that I was the only one who enrolled for one of last month's supposed semi-intensive beginners' class. Mr. Ronald, who seemed to be Instituto Cervantes de Manila's student services and accounting department rolled into one, called me to let me pick a different schedule. The soonest one was to begin November 3rd—today. I had to wait a month.

Then, today, I was informed by the bag-inspecting lady that my class was to be held in Room One. I entered the room fifteen minutes early, and continued to read the book I'd been reading as I waited. And waited. And waited. Until other students filed in. And they were talking congenially to each other. What social skills these people must have, I thought. I tried focusing on my book only to find myself distracted. Realizing these people could not have met just today as, aside from the overfamiliar small talk, they were clutching books and notes, I excused myself and went out of the room. I found out from the receptionist we beginners were to have our class in Room Four. I had just spared myself from what could have been a thoroughly embarrassing situation.

But it didn't end there. Halfway through the class, Señora Trinidad, our wonderful Spanish teacher, checked her class list. I wasn't on it. The other students who had had some problems with scheduling had already gone upstairs to the Admin Office during our break to have everything cleared with the female student-services-slash-accounting personnel. I wasn't told by Mr. Ronald when he called me that I needed to do something of the sort; I was under the impression he had arranged it for me already and that I just needed to show up in class. Apparently not. But oh, I'm still in Señora Trinidad's class. Muchas gracias, Female Student-Services-Slash-Accounting Personnel.

Now to learn the basics of Spanish and pass the beginners' level of the curriculum. I feel giddy being back in a classroom again and to be studying what I've always dreamed of studying since I was a kid (my maternal grandparents, particularly my grandma, sometimes spoke in Chavacano at home, but they couldn't teach me because Chavacano is not really Spanish). Here we are again, however, at trying to make acquaintances through small talk. And I am so not good in small talk though I've improved considerably. But lo que sea (whatever), we'll see how it goes!